Jubilee creator Vikramaditya Motwane: I love silences, find films of Buster Keaton & Charlie Chaplin phenomenal | Exclusive

Vikramaditya Motwane also spoke at length about tackling the risk of his research that many wouldn't identify with or accept today since it would seem dated.

Vikramaditya Motwane

Now that the whole series is out, Jubilee has become one of the shows that are well-discussed on the Internet. The series, which premiered on Prime Video, has all 10 episodes streaming and is also becoming an instant hit. Created by Vikramaditya Motwane, the filmmaker sucked people into the world of the late 40s and early 50s, which was called the "golden era of Indian cinema." During an exclusive interaction with OTTplay, Motwane dished out details about his research into making this series, be it costumes, locations, or even language.

The filmmaker was asked if there was ever a concern about accurately depicting a period and how he tackled the risk that many wouldn't identify with or accept it today since it would seem dated. To which Motwane stated, "So there is a general research that you do for everything anyway, with costumes and for the rooms and for the kind of art decor they would have and the kind of colours they would have; that kind of research is easily available. It's kind of like normal research. Once you've done that, make sure you're not doing anything wrong. That's when you can do your own thing and, creatively, take off and create your own words. Yes, you're not incorrect in what you're doing. But it's also your own palette, your own colours, your own choice of costumes, and your own choice of building personalities, whether it's the personality of somebody's room or whatever. So there is that."

Talking about the language spoken in Jubilee, he said, "Again, the language is something that we've tried. When it comes to period dramas, it's very easy to get sucked into making them feel so period. It's like, 'They are speaking right, but isn't it too much Urdu or wearing too many khadi kurtas?' That's also dangerous. I think that was something over here that we didn't want to get into. So the language of Hindi is very correct, but it's also very accessible in the modern world. We're not trying to say, 'Suno, period ke log kaise baat karte the.'"

While talking about the usage of cuss words in the series during that era, Motwane quipped, "This is true because people are reacting today. Yes, there used to be cuss words in that era too: Woh zamaane mein doodh ke dhule koi nahi tha. I know this because I've known my great-grandfather; I've heard the stories of how he used to wake up every morning and sabko gaali deta tha! (laughs) So it is normal."

One of the most beautiful parts of Jubilee is the silence between the characters, where only the eyes do the talking. On being asked if that's a conscious decision, Motwane shared, "I love silences. Francis Ford Coppola once said that he felt that the talkies were coming too early into cinema and that cinema hadn't yet discovered its own language apart from theatre. So what happened is that when the talkies came in the late 20s and early 30s, films basically adapted to the theatrical format, and that same thing you're seeing in the theatre, you're not seeing on a screen, as opposed to letting cinema discover its own language. I really believe in that."

He added, "I find the films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin just phenomenal because they think that by just action and movement and stuff, you're telling entire sorts of stories."

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