Mr. Apurva Lakhia visits ZIMA

9th August '07 - 11.00 A.M

Apurva Lakhia, the Director of the recent box-office success “Shoot out at Lokhandwala” and films like Ek Ajnabi, Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost to name a few  visited ZIMA on 9th of August’07, the director with the conglomeration of style and aesthetics. Apurva has set an example for all the young aspiring Directors that nothing is impossible.
 
At Zima, Apurva took part in a guest lecture. The students’ questions ranged on topics like his personal convictions which led to the creation of ‘Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost and ‘Shoot Out’, his methodology of making a screenplay, his technique of dealing with different actors, his skills of team-management, his thought process which leads to the visual design of his films.
He shared his experiences with the students about all his films especially his recent super hit “Shoot out at Lokhandwala”, how it happened and as to how did he shoot the film. He narrated an incident in which the last scene of the film was shot almost 16 times and the way it was handled with the star cast like Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Vivek Oberoi. He also talked about the various production technique and approach when working with a variety of actors. He also talked about how the story of ‘Shoot out’ was planned as it was based on ‘true rumours’, and nobody knew what happened inside. It wasn’t a random, isolated incident and the script was a result of carefully designed scenes of a series of incidents.

Apoorva interacted for over an hour with the Zima students and touched upon various topics of movie-making and stressed on the creativity and skills of a Director. He said that, “a Director has to be a people’s person.”

Talking about the job of a Chief Assistant Director, he cited interesting examples from his personal experience while working in Lagaan with Ashutosh Gowarikar and Amir Khan. Since Apoorva had also worked in Hollywood in films like Die Hard and a few others as an Assistant Director, he differentiated between the functioning of Hollywood and Bollywood films. “In Hollywood the job of an Assistant director is a flourishing and a lucrative career option whereas being an assistant director in our country is a ladder for becoming a director.” He specified that in Hollywood only professionalism matters but in Bollywood emotions also count. He emphasized on the hierarchy to originate a successful Director. He successfully convinced students that to be an independent Director one has to be well organized, planned, particular and with specific thoughts. He presented a new style of working in which he explained students that he normally took years to plan a movie but only days to complete it which is really amazing and equally attractive.

He applauded the efforts of Zima in imparting real film education. In his note he says:
“Thank you for inviting me and keep up the good job. Teaching & Learning are two of the most important things in life. Never Give In".