Those beautiful happy days when I was directing Masoom. Making that film was such a joy. For everyone. And that joy can still be seen in the film, even though it’s so long ago.

That why today, all these years later, I cannot go anywhere without people coming to me and talking to me about Masoom. Most of them so young that they were not even born when the film released. They’ve seen it on TV / YouTube/ etc ..

Now as I am heading to make Masoom – the next generation, I really want to recapture that sense of joy of film making .. but I worry ..

I’ve just come back from an extensive trip in Mumbai and all my film maker friends speak of film making as a ‘task’ .. not as something joyful.

Most talk about ‘interference’ from funding sources. I find that really surprising.

Masoom was my first film. I had not assisted anyone, nor even read a book on film making .. I just wanted to tell a story, and told it as best as I could .. and as simply as I could ..

And as honestly as I could ..

Is it true that words like simplicity, joy, honesty , story telling has gone out of films in Mumbai ? Have the new systems of funding created a system that is anti-creative .. a system of interference by those that have come from (for example) MBA and management backgrounds .. ?

.. by those that forget that true creativity comes from intuition. From Instinct. From a sense of individuality.. with large dollops of humility ..

Well.. I am about to find out , aren’t I? Hopefully Masoom – the next generation, will be made with the same sense of joy you see in the picture above ..