Adgully Exclusive | Mobile and digital marketing is the future: Film Director, Siddhart Malhotra

It is said that to break into the close circuit of Bollywood is very difficult and next to impossible. Debutant actors, directors are mercilessly scrutinized and either ripped apart or appreciated with a pinch of salt. And yet this year has seen the entry of numerous debutant directors from "Peepli Live' to "I hate luv stories' to "Aisha' and so on. Some of them break into the circuit because of contacts while others come on their own credit.

Director Siddhart Malhotra have actually been in the film industry for a while now but it is only with his directorial debut, "We are a family', he's became widely recognized.

Malhotra began his career in the film industry with the film "Kareeb', and then went on to do television shows called "Sanskruti' and "Sanjeevni' and so on. He then assisted Karan Johar in Kal Ho Na Ho. Karan Johar goes a long way back with his family. And therefore the comfort zone was already created between them.

"My world opened up to cinema because of "Mein ne Pyaar Kiya' and I eventually became a director because of "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'", he said

He has always been interested in films and speaks of movies with a passion that is hard to capture in words.

He claims "Stepmum' to be one film which he always wanted to remake, though he says it is not a remake but more of an adaption. He goes on to say that the screenplay is very different from "Stepmum'. The concept of "Stepmum' is not spoken about much in the Indian society. He tries to explore that in his movie with adaptations that Indians can identify with. He believes he has been very honest to the movie. There are many things in this world which are universal, like a mother's emotions, he says.

Kareena and Kajol were always the first choices he had while casting for this film. And while shooting for the film, there was never once an event of ego clashes and the atmosphere was always cordial and pleasant. Kareena is his second cousin and therefore well known to him.

"I have directed a movie almost every day in my head because of my film background", he says with a quick smile, so directing "We Are a Family' wasn't exceptionally hard at all. He believes a director like a captain of a ship must have everything under control and must know each and every thing related to his movie. "The director should be crystal clear about everything on his sets. There will only be difficulties if someone on the set grilled you about your movie and you are unable to answer. As a director you must be able to convince everyone about your movie", he said enthusiastically.

The name "We are a Family' was decided by Karan Johar and Siddhart Malhotra jointly after putting it up on Facebook and Twitter to check its popularity.

"I strongly believe that mobile and digital marketing is the future and is there to stay forever", he says.

More directors today are availing the use of social networking sites to check maybe the popularity of a film title, or a story line or lyrics, anything that is possible under the sun. It is an easy way to connect to your viewers at an immediate level and receive responses in real time. So when Malhotra says digital is here to stay forever, there are far deeper implications to this.

Malhotra after his film, "We are a Family', which released last week and unfortunately didn't do that well in the box office, now has plans to direct his own script. It is a family comedy, which Karan Johar will be producing. The name of this film is still under discussion. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]