Noted filmmaker Mira Nair, acknowledged for her revered features like ‘Monsoon Wedding’, ‘The Namesake’
and ‘Salaam Bombay’, opines that creativity is not lasting and thus, artists
must continue to develop and nurture their craft.

Nair, who as per PTI was
present at a virtual meet of the India Film Project festival on Friday said, “You
have to cultivate stamina in your craft and by that I mean you have to practice
the craft as much as you can to understand that creative energy is not
limitless.”

The prolific Indian-American
filmmaker also believes its better if film writers obtain inspiration from
real-life nuances rather than being reliant on any success mantra.

Adding the significance of
being humble and grounded for artistes she said, “Most people look at
other movies. Engage in life means, have opinions, to read, like newspapers the
stories that came, feed yourself and not think you want to be successful,”

Citing the example of her
National Award-winning movie “Salaam Bombay” (1988), the director
said that a lot of research was put in to bring the real story of street kids
to the big screen.

Filmmaker Nair also disclosed
that she was marveled at Veteran Actor Naseeruddin Shah’s work in ‘Zoo Story’ but
got disappointed when he said no to Baba, a local drug dealer’s role in Salaam
Bombay.

“We had written the role
of Baba for Naseer, it was a lust thing, he had to be there. I remember my
devastation. I got a phone call from him, he said, ‘I will not do it, I didn’t
like the character.” She was quoted as saying by PTI

However, Shah recommended
that she scout for a suitable actor in Marathi theatre for the role and that’s
how she discovered Nana Patekar.

She managed to work with Shah
however in Monsoon wedding where he was the first actor to come on board.

Talking about Monsoon
wedding, her Golden Lion-winning movie, Nair she wanted to create an authentic
Indian wedding with genuine real life characters and stories.

“I wanted to have fun;
it had to feel like a ‘Shaadi’ but in reality check version and not ‘Hum Aapke
Hai Koun’ version. I called it an intimate family flick. I finally got Nasser
as he was the first to be cast. That film never goes away.” She added

She also weighed in on how important
it is for her to work with the people in her community.

The Indo-American filmmaker
recently made her television debut with the six-part BBC drama “A Suitable
Boy”. The show made its Indian debut on Netflix on Friday.