Mahadevan's Maths : 70 percent art plus 30 percent commerce = cinema

- Cinema is not just a medium for laptops and mobiles, it is a medium that spans the big screen. When a filmmaker thinks of a frame for a scene, it is for 70 mm.

Anant Narayan Mahadevan is as good an actor as he is an accomplished director. His film 'Life is Good' starring Jackie Shroff in the lead role has been released in theatres. At the heart of the film is the philosophy that life is worth living, no matter how adverse the circumstances, because life is so beautiful. In an interaction with the media ahead of the film's release, director Ananth Mahadevan was asked, 'Do you think this film can change the audience's outlook on life?' Mahadevan replies, 'I am confident that the story of my film will change the audience's approach to life in a very interesting way.

This is one of my favorite films till date. Because its theme is very close to my heart. Secondly, in my opinion there could not be a better time for the release of the film. Today, after the corona period, we all urgently need some kind of hope. People need a reason to live. 'Life is Good' has a great saying that when life seems to be over, it is actually a new beginning.'

Referring to today's films, the filmmaker says, 'Frankly speaking, we don't take cinema seriously. Sometimes I feel that we are making completely meaningless films. If someone has one camera and two stars, the stunts they create are consumed in the cinema. It is not really cinema. Cinema needs to relate to society. Cinema is an art, which contains deep thought. We should stop seeing cinema only as commerce. It is a beautiful blend of art and commerce. According to me films should have 70% art and 30% commerce. We see cinema as a mint that prints rupees. That is the biggest problem. That's why I keep saying that I don't make meaningful cinema, I just make cinema.'

Shankar Mahadevan's filmography, although one can see a number of pointless films, it was a different story!

Only when 'Life is Good' has been released, Hindi films have started running again at the box office. When it was pointed out, Mahadevan expressed his happiness, 'It is very good that the films are running again. I have already come to believe that cinema is a medium that spans the big screen, not laptops and mobiles. When we think of a frame for a scene on set, it is for 70mm, not for close ups. When you take a close-up, that's for the small screen.'

Shankar Mahadevan has been an advocate of keeping cinema ticket prices affordable. Elaborating on that, he concludes, 'You have to bring the audience to the theatres. They will come only if you keep the ticket prices affordable. This is very simple common sense.'