UA Exclusive | Quashiq Mukherjee: My Own Scripts Attract Me The Most

Quashiq Mukherjee who is famously known as ‘Q’ is a famous film director who is known for entertaining us with many of his critically acclaimed movies like Gandu, X, Brahman Naman and many more.

UrbanAsian got a chance to interview this amazingly talented director, Quashiq Mukherjee who spoke about stepping into the world of web series with Naseeruddin Shah in Zero KMS and his choice of films.

Read out here:

Your name is Qaushiq Mukherjee but you are famously known as Q. Any particular reason behind it?

I call myself Q. The main reason is that it doesn’t define about my class or where I belong to. ‘Q’ is an actual name and it doesn’t really mean anything. I could be from Turkey or Japan or I could be Bengali. So that is why the name Q.

How was it working with Naseeruddin Shah in Zero KMS?

I have never worked with major actors before. I normally work with non-actors or actors whom I know personally. Normally I work with young people who haven’t got so much exposure. I and Naseeruddin know each other for quite some time and we both were keen to work with each other. Overall it was wonderful working with him. He is a great actor.

How was it working with ZEE5?

It was very good and specially Nikhil who is the content head was very good and refreshing because we didn’t have to go back and forth explaining again and again what to do. The process was also simple and so far it had been quite easy to work.

What kind of scripts attract you the most?

My own scripts attract me the most. The scripts are something related to my life. Something that I have lived since last 5 years. People who inspire me to think out of the box. I am often in situations that are extremely weird and strange and that easily can be imagined in a cinematic way.

How is working in cinema different than web series?

It is entirely different. The formation is extremely different because of the duration. Unlike series programming, this is an end to end story just that the format is longer.

Majority of your movies are critically acclaimed, so what is the special element that you use in your script?

I often don’t have scripts actually. A script is not necessary for the kind of cinema I make. But when it comes to series the script becomes quite important though out of the films that I have made I don’t keep scripts. I think my taste is extremely specific and I watch very specific kind of films or series and they influence me so much that I function only doing that type of movies or series.

How did you come up with the idea Zero KMS?

I have been a big Kung Fu fan and I am also the fan of Hong Kong side of action in movies. When we were talking we decided to do something similar and we crafted the story around a fight and at the same time the thriller angle came in and they live in Goa and such and general issues that keep happening which needs to be stopped. So basically it is a crime thriller action drama combined series.