Filmmaking enriches my world view: 'Sherni' director Amit Masurkar

Filmmaker Amit V Masurkar is never in a rush. He takes his time...In an industry obsessed with volume, Masurkar's cinema is about being meticulous, well-researched and detailed -- Vidya Balan starrer 'Sherni', being streamed on Amazon Prime being the latest example.

Masurkar feels that every filmmaker has his/her own 'reasons' for making movies. "Frankly, I enjoy the process of filmmaking. It enriches my worldview and teaches me many things The director, whose second feature film, 'Newton' was selected as the Indian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, says though he did feel a certain pressure post the critical response that 'Newton' garnered, it did not really last long. "Yes, I felt some pressure for a few months, but as I said, I am a kind of filmmaker who enjoys the process. The moment I immersed myself in work, everything went back to normal."

Masurkar, who dropped out of an engineering course at the age of 20 to pursue filmmaking and later acquired a BA degree in History from Mumbai University insists that there is no set pattern when it comes to choosing themes/stories. "I trust my instincts when it comes to zeroing in on a story. I don't have a set process in place. After all, filmmaking is an intuitive process."

Talking about the research that went into making of 'Sherni', he says that Aastha Tiku, the film's writer, worked on the material that was collected by her research associate and analyzed it to find patterns which formed the rough plot. "She then did long interviews with female forest officers, people who lived in villages near jungles, zoologists and conservationists.