Working with Nicole was fun: Shekhar

Shekhar Kapur has more than filmmaking on his mind - he’s now thinking of international art too.

After shooting with Nicole Kidman at the Lake Palace, Udaipur, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur is off on another adventure — he has recently been invited to do an installation at the Swarovski Museum in Austria, which houses works of artists like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol and designer Alexander McQueen, to name a few. In a chat, Shekhar tells PT about this and how stress doesn’t bog him down, as he puts it, “I’m stressed out, but then, stress is highly motivating.”

You shot a commercial with Nicole Kidman recently. How was the experience of working with her?

It was fun working with her. And though we worked together for less than four days, I can say she’s a thorough professional, besides being a humble and warm person.

What made you choose Udaipur as the venue for shooting the commercial?

Udaipur was not my first choice. I had earlier thought of Rome or New York. But later, I decided that it would be wonderful to shoot it in India, especially since I wanted to do something on the lines of the Incredible India campaign. I even lowered my price and almost worked for free to get the commercial shot in India. Udaipur, with its small town charm, fitt the bill perfectly.

An invite from the Swarovski Museum — how does it feel?

Initially, I panicked at the thought, but it’s a great honour. My installation will be on the idea of how linear time is a part of the imagination, and how we create the former through a time tunnel. It’s like when we see images individually they seem like pictures, but when we run through them in one go, it’s like seeing a film. My friend David Adjaye, a renowned architect, is helping me with it.

Actor Vikram Chatwal recently said that he was more scared of you than learning to tango for the short film, while shooting for 3 Graces. How was the experience for you?

3 Graces is now called The Passage. Vikram is a charming guy and we came together to work because we’re friends. But, I must say, he’s quite an actor.