If people are criticising your work, take it in the right spirit and try to find out what is wrong. I made a lot of mistakes on my first film and told myself not to do it again. Remember that you’re not making a film to keep it in a box, it’s for the people.

If you have an opportunity to make a film, just do it. If you don't get it all right, the first time, try again, it's a process.

You have to not be arrogant and say you know better, and you have to not thwart their creativity because they are creative people and they have a very different point-of-view than a filmmaker on how to get people in the seats. So, it’s a balance, like everything in life, between keeping your focus and being overly constricting. So, if you want to be a filmmaker, you have to realize what a long arbiter a movie is cut of and shaped on, how many phases there are to it, and how long you have to be totally focused on your story and the movie itself, and how it seemed one way but making a film is really trench warfare.

Just make the film. Action is the first word you must learn. And the second is patience. As a filmmaker you must wait for many things. You have to wait for money, the weather, the cast, the release. So you need to have good patience. The process is so long and most of the time it’s frustrating. To be a filmmaker, you must first take action, then have the persistence to pursue it.

Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping.

Stay true to yourself. Let your voice ring out, and don't let anybody fiddle with it. Never turn down a good idea, but never take a bad idea. And meditate. It's very important to experience that Self, that pure consciousness. It's really helped me. I think it would help any filmmaker. So start diving within, enlivening that bliss consciousness. Grow in happiness and intuition. Experience the joy of doing. And you'll glow in this peaceful way. Your friends will be very, very happy with you. Everyone will want to sit next to you. And people will give you money!

Commend, Don’t Criticize

Never turn down a good idea, but never take a bad idea. And meditate. It’s very important to experience that Self, that pure consciousness. It’s really helped me. I think it would help any filmmaker. So start diving within, enlivening that bliss consciousness. Grow in happiness and intuition. Experience the joy of doing. And you’ll glow in this peaceful way. Your friends will be very, very happy with you. Everyone will want to sit next to you. And people will give you money!

The easiest way to avoid criticism is to avoid being open. It’s also the easiest way to avoid being loved.

I don’t mind being criticized. But there are some good and constructive criticisms that I might consider as that may be of some help to me. There are some people who would watch my movie, analyze it critically before criticizing it but others would just start criticizing me without any basis. The fact that a person has taken pains to watch my movies, before criticizing me shows that the person is being constructive and I confess, it makes me very happy.

Study your craft and know who you are and what's special about you. Find out what everyone does on a film set, ask questions and listen. Make sure you live life, which means don't do things where you court celebrity, and give something positive back to our society.

Spend your time and energy creating, not criticizing. 828

People always criticize. If they want to, they will find something to criticize. Hey, we all criticize. You like a film or you don’t. It’s up to you. You can’t stop that anyway. That’s part of human nature

You can't spend your whole life criticizing something and then, when you have the chance to do it better, refuse to go near it.