Indie director Anurag Kashyap says he has an audience of one lakh in a billion. But then Aamir Khan only has a crore. Yet, independent films will eventually make the difference.

Comments on Tere Bin Laden?
It's a great movie, highly original. I just tightened it a little, reduced the seriousness at the end. A 'terror' movie shows terror is created by politics. We don't have the answers for it. No solution will fit universally. Why not take it less seriously? People start laughing and look at things differently. We should subvert such stories. Of course, they could do it to Osama bin Laden since he's not Indian. But could they do this to a Gandhi? All the politicos would instantly ban it. We need to learn to laugh at ourselves, subvert things, make people think by using undertones rather than explicitness. That's why I love indie movies. These films are going to change cinema in India.

What does making a 'terror' film entail?
When I made Black Friday, I realised I had to be extremely objective. Terror is such a powerful subject, it has an impact any way you look at it. The problem is when films start giving solutions to everything, including world peace. They take sides. You cannot do that in a terror movie. You can't deliver a simple message or give speeches. In India, we don't do much research or have a developed understanding of issues. We don't have a culture of nurturing knowledge. But we do have a culture of giving advice. Every Indian will give you their take on terror, history, nationalism. These are simplistic views. They're not coming from a study of issues. I just go by Oscar Wilde's dictum - what you don't know does not exist.

Does that help you connect with your audience?
I have an audience of about one lakh people today. Look at the big picture. Aamir Khan has an audience of one crore in a country of one billion. Ninety-eight crore people did not see 3 Idiots. That's mind-boggling. The numbers are slowly changing though. Multiplex audiences are growing. There is an awareness that independent films must be supported. Today, if I can make a film within three crores, I am safe. I can make films with complexity, which are reaching out now.