Success important but creative satisfaction drives me: Vishal Bhardwaj

He does not shy away from admitting that the desire for success pushed him to become a music composer but after spending almost three decades in the film industry, Vishal Bhardwaj has come to believe that "creative satisfaction" is the driving force for him.

The 52-year-old filmmaker says craving for success is in human nature and he is no different but with time, his priorities have changed from money or fame to creating the cinema he believes in.

"If one says he is not looking for success, he is lying. If somebody is not bothered about success, they are actually close to nirvana. Success represents greed. If one doesn't want success, they have overpowered their greed. With success comes three things---money, fame and power.

"But now creative satisfaction is more important for me. I have never had great success with my films, but the creative satisfaction I got was on some other level. That is why even after failures, I keep coming back to make films," Bhardwaj told PTI in an interview.

The filmmaker, who was in the city to attend the ongoing Habitat Film Festival in Delhi, says failures do affect him.

His last directorial venture, "Rangoon", bombed at the box office.

"If films don't work, we are criticised so badly by people and critics. It makes me disheartened. At that time, I think why am I doing this? Why am I bringing myself to this court where people are judging me? But then I realise, they are not judging me but my work. I feel low for sometime and then I bounce back."
"Working with stars becomes important because as a filmmaker I need people to invest in my film. I remember, when I was making 'Maqbool', I went to a bank to get my lone sanctioned but nobody believed that a film based on a literary work will do well."
"Aamir is one such star who tries his best to become the character. But otherwise, stars have the tendency to bring the character to their stardom and not leave their stardom to play the character."