'The most important star is the story you are telling. It's not who you put in the movie'

In this Walk the Talk on NDTV 24x7 with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta, Hollywood director Steven Spielberg speaks about his trip to India 30 years ago, his meeting with Amitabh Bachchan and his future projects

There are only two words that describe my guest this week—a living legend. Not just a living legend, but somebody who is getting younger, more creative and more entertaining by the year, redefining himself and also rediscovering himself. Steven Spielberg, welcome to Walk the Talk.

That was a good introduction, I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

What else can you do? I can eat up the rest of this time talking about a frightening shark, a dinosaur lost in time, a loveable extra-terrestrial, concentration camps, a most wonderful horse, and now this brilliant political drama on Lincoln.

Which one of those do you want to talk about?

Steven Spielberg in India is a special occasion. We don't see you in India that often.

No, this is my first trip in 30 years. I am ashamed to say it, which essentially means that I've been very busy for the last 30 years. But I love India. I made a part of my third movie—Close Encounters of the Third Kind—here in India.

I think you recorded some of it during the Emergency in India, which is a remarkable feat because we had so much xenophobia then.

Exactly. We shot a little bit of the second Indiana Jones here. I found this country to be so spiritually free in contrast to my own country where everybody is a little uptight. I used to come here in the early 1980s just because I found a place that made me feel unnoticed, at one with everyone and a beautiful spiritual home.

That will not happen now because we have changed India completely in those 30 years. Mostly for the better I think, but in various areas for the worse. So there will be no anonymity for you.

... contd.

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