I Am Kalam director on Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

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Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's death has affected the entire country in ways unimaginable. As the ex-President breathed his last in Shillong last evening, people all over India were overcome with grief. It was as if a loved one had passed away. The love and respect that Dr Kalam commanded is unparalleled in recent public memory.

Director Nila Madhab Panda, whose I Am Kalam, inspired by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's life had taken India to the Cannes International Film Festival in 2010, says that it's a personal loss. In a chat with India Today, the filmmaker speaks about his hero, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.

Inspiration behind I Am Kalam
My first inspiration for I Am Kalam came when I was doing a film on child labour. I met millions of children, working in brick kilns, living by railway tracks, footpaths, beggars, all kinds of children. A common thing I found in every child is the ability to dream. Nobody wanted to continue living in that sada hua haalat. Everybody wanted to get out of it and be something.

Hard work to change one's destiny
The reason Dr Kalam is the hero of I Am Kalam; metaphorically, is because he's a superstar. So despite not being part of the film, Dr Kalam was omnipresent in it. You search for Spider-Man, Superman, Iron Man in a film. My Superman is Dr Kalam. Because APJ Abdul Kalam changed his own destiny. Where he came from and what he achieved - he rewrote his destiny by sheer hard work. It is that hard work, that dream, that passion that made him become the President of India. He taught common people to dream.

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I've lost a hero in Dr Kalam
Can I tell this to you frankly? In today's India, I don't have a hero to follow. I don't have an icon to look up to. We've become so greedy; there are corrupt people everywhere. No matter how successful we are, we always want more. Dr Kalam was the last hero of my generation; of this generation. And I've lost him today.

There's a Kalam in every Indian child
It was not difficult to introduce Dr Kalam to Harsh (Chhotu, the protagonist of Panda's I Am Kalam). Every Chhotu is a Kalam in a way. Dr Kalam's past was the same. He was a catalyst who accelerated my film, because he is an iconic figure. There is a Kalam in every child. Every child dreams to break out of situational shackles and achieve something in life. Dr Kalam is important to all of us, all of these children, because he had made it true. He had dreamt, and had achieved his dream by hard work. We love to follow people who have done something in their lives. Dr Kalam was a person one could follow, especially children.

If a biopic on Dr Kalam is made, it'll be the best in recent times
I would love to make a biopic on Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. If a biopic on Dr Kalam is made, it will be the best biopic in contemporary times, because of what the man was. It's not just because of what his childhood was; the son of a boatman, who had to battle such hardships; but he's a fun character to capture on camera. He was so childlike, a friendly person, his romantic side is something that everyone would love to know. It's fabulous to see a person like Dr Kalam on film.

RELATED: Bollywood mourns the loss of the People's President APJ Abdul Kalam

Humbleness of Dr Kalam overrode everything else
I've met Dr Kalam before making I Am Kalam, after the film, too. I'm sorry to say this, but this India is an arrogant India. With the new money, power, economy boom, we've all lost the simplicity somewhere. When I'd met Dr Kalam, the thing that struck me more than anything else is his humbleness. That despite holding the highest office in the country and commanding such respect, Dr Kalam was that simple and that humble. It's absolutely incredible. We still have so much to learn from him. He told me something very interesting: "When we were in joint families, there was prosperity, love, affection, bonding, success, everything. In nuclear families, you're finished. Your life is over." His understanding of India, its culture, the heritage, is all incredible. And his understanding and knowledge was not bookish. He could grasp the tiniest of nuances brilliantly. His death is a massive loss to India.