Movies like affairs, series are relationships: Vikramaditya Motwane

It's tough love for Vikramaditya Motwane.

The director of critically-acclaimed films such as "Udaan", "Lootera" and "Trapped", has turned his lens to a new medium with Netflix's first India Original Series "Sacred Games".

Motwane is happy that the series, based on Vikram Chandra's 2006 novel of the same name, has found such a connect with the viewers.

The filmmaker believes it is an exciting time for writers, directors and creators with the coming-of-age of streaming services.

"Now we know that there are two genuinely different avenues that we can go into. If you have to compare them (streaming services), movies are like affairs while streaming services are like relationships. That's the difference.

"You have a relationship with 'Game of Thrones'. It has been there for seven years. (And now), you have a relationship with 'Sacred Games'. Next year, you're waiting for it to come back. Then, it's a relationship, right?," Motwane told PTI in an interview.

With the dialogues like 'Kabhi kabhi lagta hai apun hi bhagwan hai (Sometimes it feels like I am God) finding a place in day-to-day conversations and myriads of memes on the characters, the show has firmly found its place in the popular culture and Motwane has his favourites too.

"My favourite was this guy and girl are walking and he turns back to check out another girl. But in this meme, the one walking away is Sartaj (Saif Ali Khan) while the man is Katekar (Jitendra Joshi) and his wife Shalini (Neha Shitole)."
"The moment people saw the show, they were like 'oh that's what that is'. Actually, the theme and feel are very different. The moment you see the entire thing in context, the comparisons stop."
To be a showrunner and a director is beyond exhausting. That's all I'll say."
"I talk to them a lot before (we roll), where I tell them in a certain place what I expect. But I think most of the homework is already in the script. Jeetu (Joshi) would ask me 10 different questions before every shot. 'Should I do this, sir? Should I do that?' I used to tell him 'Do this, don't do that.'