Rahul : I didn't set out it out to be a political film, it was straight from heart. Of course, we were making a statement about the riot. The whole film is so much more about what pain people are going through. It had to do with even though they were Parsis they were attacked. It wasn't the politics . but the family story.

Anurag: Babel is completely different from what we trying to do film. One thing that was clear was that the film will stick to that statement by Mahatma Gandhi: "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind'. We wanted to remain factual, most of the incidents didn't have a balance, they were one dimensional.

Shubhra: Did you ever think of doing Parzania in Hindi?

Rahul: I was disgusted with my last Hindi film. Parzania was made was made during BJP rule, so the issue of censorship was already there, we thought it would never et past the Indian Censor Board. Also, I felt that an international issue needed to be addressed. For me, what Bush was doing was no different. But I am trying to dub it in Gujarati and Hindi. I didn't start making the movie on film, some footage of the riots was taken from TV stations, but gradually the film became bigger and bigger.

Manini: Anurag, how did your years in Jan Natya Manch (an overtly left leaning theatre group) that makes no bones about being political, impact on you as a filmmaker?

... contd.