“Cinema is more powerful than God,” the filmmaker asserts. Elaborating on the statement, Venkatesh says, “See, even a teacher has more powers than a God. In fact, all the mediums command that kind of power, because you can install any thought in one’s mind. However, people seek entertainment. While only those who want to get educated go to a teacher, every individual, regardless of their educational and societal background, comes to watch films. It is easily accessible to everyone. You can simply sit on a sofa and watch a film without any effort.”
“We absolutely believe that the thoughts we are planting in the audience’s minds should help humans win at the end of the day. That is our major principle. We strongly believe that cinema impacts the audience. I don’t like the argument that cinema should be consumed just as cinema. People don’t see cinema just as cinema. If people see a film just like a film, why would ugly fights take place on social media? Even recently, a man committed a murder and cited a film as an inspiration. By employing dialogues, songs and background score, we are creating and sending a new person out of the theatre. When the impact on the society is evident, we have to take responsibility.”
This, however, is not a simple, binary argument though. If a person is mental state is volatile enough to commit a heinous act like murder purely instigated by a film, aren’t his/her social environment, parents, and teachers complicit too? Isn’t it a collective failure of the society? Venkatesh says, “Yes, it is the collective failure of society, I agree. But since we are making films, let’s all be responsible about what we are saying.”