SS: I was there when the Rajiv Ghandi assassination happened. I couldn't believe that somebody could actually go in and do it like that, however committed she was. It made me wonder, what would have made her not do it? So I wanted the film to be about what you might feel like at that moment, rather than making a very violent film, or a political film.

C: You don’t provide much information on the bomber’s background. Is she supposed to be Tamil?

SS: When you talk about a suicide bomber in India, this is what comes to your mind. But there are so many others, all over the world - it's not really about a particular group of people or any particular movement. I was watching on television about that guy who did the Oklahoma bombing; it could be someone like that. Which is why I think people are interested in The Terrorist, because it's to do with everything.

C: What look were you aiming for in the visuals of the film?

SS: I wanted to have a very probing effect. I wanted to be in a crowd, but be with her. Because she doesn’t talk much, I wanted to have that probing effect all the time. And I wanted to shoot in real time, so it doesn’t seem created but captured. I've used my low budget as an advantage; the light and interiors are not much interfered with. When I went to the Sundance festival, American Cinematographer magazine picked up this film for its visuals, because they'd not seen anything like it.

C: There are a lot of shots where she looks directly into the camera.

SS: I like the whole idea of people looking into the lens - I really like that. It's like looking at the mirror, it's got that feel to it. It's like looking at yourself, looking at your conscience. I’ve made a whole documentary of people looking into the camera - just a documentary on that.

C: What would you compare The Terrorist to?

SS: In India, I don't think there's anything like it. And I can't think of a lot of films anywhere made for $50,000.

C: As such a low-budget independent film, the Terrorist is a big departure from what you’re best known for, which is your cinematography on big Bollywood films.

SS: It’s true that I shoot highly stylised, big commercial films. I've worked with some of the top directors, people like Mani Rathman. I've shot 4 films for him. In one of them, Dil Se, there's a song on top of a train - it actually influenced Von Trier’s Dancer In The Dark.

C: Who are your influences?

SS: Stanley Kubrick's my favourite - I think no-one's ever done films so varied. I also admire Kurosawa, very much, and of course Satyajit Ray. Spielberg, Scorsese, Coppola, Herzog - I studied all these in the Film Institute. And Bollywood directors as well, but Bollywood cinema is something very different.

C: Do you think people watch Bollywood films differently to western films?

SS: Bollywood cinema has to have every emotion. You go with your family, your friends; it's a whole experience. A typical example of a Bollywood film story is Titanic - nothing different except it doesn't have songs.

C: What are you doing next?

SS: The next thing I'm making is a Bollywood kind of film. It’s about a very big king, Ashoka, who waged terrible wars, but then went to the battleground and realised what a terrible thing he had done - he had only conquered people's bodies but not their spirits. So he decided to conquer their hearts – and went on to spread Buddhism all over the world.

C: Is it a bigger budget than The Terrorist?

SS: Yeah, it's a film with big stars. I have 450 horses, 50 elephants - it's very big, and very different. I like the idea of making different things - documentaries, commercials, feature films, musicals.

C: Will you ever make films in English?

SS: I've been offered a few. Maybe I will.

SF Said