To judge a film, count how many liked it: `Talash` director

Mumbai: Box-office collections indicate how many people watched your film, not how many liked it, says Reema Kagti, whose second directorial venture ‘Talaash’ is set for release Nov 30. "All these numbers tell you how many people went to see the film and not how many people liked the film. So I feel if you want to judge a film, you can`t just take the numbers approach. It`s a creative art form at the end of the day," Kagti told reporters in a group interview. After the success of her debut film ‘Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd’, Kagti teamed up with Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor for thriller ‘Talaash’. Having assisted in the making of ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, both starring Aamir Khan, Kagti said she enjoyed directing the superstar. "I didn`t find him very rigid. I had worked with him in `Lagaan` and `Dil Chahta Hai` and I had seen how he was. So, honestly, I really wasn`t worried. He was very supportive. He really took the trouble to understand my vision and supported me with it," she said. "I always felt that Aamir had the deepest respect for my vision. We never had a difference in opinion. I told him what I wanted to do with the film and he liked it. In this case, I don`t think I had any fears of my film going out of my hands," she said. Kagti said she believed in taking suggestions from team members while making a film. "I feel that a part of directing is giving your crew a fair hearing. Taking good ideas from people, taking inputs never diminishes a director`s control. That`s just the way filmmaking works. It is a collaborative art form," she said. Kagti, who co-scripted ‘Talaash’ with friend Zoya Akhtar, the director of ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’, said the two are "not stuck at the hip all the time", but they were "best friends" and "enjoy writing together". Kagti and Akhtar are working on two more scripts together. "Zoya and I are developing two new stories. One for me to direct and one for Zoya and, hopefully, we will have something in our hands in the next couple of months," she said. IANS