Filmmaker M Night Shyamalan talks about his stint in India, his next film The Happening and how he didn’t know that bagging the Padma shri was a big deal to Udita Jhunjhunwala

Night is back in Mumbai after almost a decade to promote his next film The Happening and to receive the Padma Shri. Night’s first film, Praying with Anger was set in Chennai in 1992. Every film after that has been set in his home state, Philadelphia, US. In conversation...

Considering your disjointed relationship with India, how do you feel about bagging the Padma Shri?
When my office first got a letter about the award, my assistant said it’s an award from some organisation in India. A lot of groups from all over the world offer me awards. We usually draft a polite letter of regret. But when my relatives started calling and congratulating me and my parents got all excited, did I realise this was a big deal. I find it very touching. I take my position as an ambassador of India in the US and Europe very seriously. 

You are working with an Indian producer. Any plans to set a film here?
Working with UTV (co-producers of The Happening) has been good. I am lucky that people are willing to finance my work. I’m coming closer to working on something in India. I might set some part of my next project Avatar—The Last Airbender here. It’s a fantasy film with a lot of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy.

Your later films have been compared to The Sixth Sense. Does that bother you?
It’s a matter of perception. I have made four movies that I think are better than Sixth Sense. For Spielberg there will always be Jaws and for Bob Dylan there will be Blowin’ in the Wind. You can’t fight the hysteria but you can quietly build a body of work. I can either continue to make derivative versions of The Sixth Sense or battle through a perception.

What is your perception of Bollywood films?
I appreciate the intensity of the vocabulary and find the unbridled artistry and lack of pretence of intellectualism refreshing. 

The Happening, about a family surviving a global environmental crisis, is releasing on Friday, June 13...
Yes. There are bizarre unexplained events in a particular area and my protagonists are trying to get out of there. Though it is set in a US town, the subject has global implications. Hopefully, Friday the 13th will prove lucky for me.