At a time when filmmakers are grappling with the unpredictability of what will connect with audiences, actor Saurabh-Sachdeva believes uncertainty might actually be cinema’s biggest creative advantage. The actor, known for his roles in films such as Animal and Jaane Jaan (2023) and most recently Satluj and Ishqnama, says, “We don’t know what kind of success we will get from which project. We don’t know which film will work or not.”
He adds, “I always think that’s the best place because uncertainty is the mother of creativity. The more uncertainty we have, the more curious we will be and the more on the edge we will be to make the right project.”
The actor’s remarks come amid conversations around increasingly formula-driven film-making and after Diljit Dosanjh-starrer Satluj recently made headlines when it was removed from ZEE5 in India just two days after its digital release.
For Sachdeva, unpredictability should encourage filmmakers to experiment rather than retreat to tried-and-tested formulas. “If there is no uncertainty in life, we don’t know what will work. We are uncertain, then it works more. I feel it creates more great work. And I think that should happen. If we start playing safe, then we will get bored and we will start making bad films, which was happening,” he says.
He adds, “We don’t know what will work, so we are trying to do something new. And the formula that we are trying to do is not working, so it’s better to do something new. I think that’s right.”
However, the actor acknowledges that creativity cannot be divorced from commerce. “Business and creativity have to go together,” he says, explaining that a producer’s investment ultimately determines the scale and resources that go into bringing a film to the audience. But he cautions against reducing films solely to their box-office numbers. “With the numbers, the film cannot be judged. That film can be judged itself, because the numbers are eating the film. We are only running after that. So we are selling anything, let’s run after the numbers, and we are lying to people in any way,” he ends.