Without pause for breath, Night segued into a dissertation on cooking, likening Hollywood to a master chef who, as he develops, gets ever more subtle in the use of flavour and spice, to the point where the nuances are lost on the average diner. "You don't want to get to that place where your voice gets too rarefied. This is something I have been thinking about a lot, with regard to my own work, constantly going back and touching universal cinema, thinking about why is it that Indian cinema is so powerful, why has it lasted so long?"
The answer -- and equally fluent others to India-centric questions, which dominated the media interaction -- satisfies those of us constantly seeking reassurance that all things India is shining bright. Night is clearly adept at playing to such galleries -- but where he comes into his own is when discussing the elements of his craft.
For instance the director, who has not just linked his name with a genre -- paranormal stories, with a wait-for-it twist ending -- but pretty much made it his own spoke of finding the voice that works best for you: "I was teaching at an inner school in Philadelphia; it was a charity thing, an English class for kids, and I sat them down and I told them I have a mystery for you.
"I am probably the highest paid writer in the world, and I wasn't even the smartest kid in my class, and I am not the strongest writer, and I had no connections anywhere in cinema, so how do you explain that? Other than luck, put luck aside for a second, so what's going on?
"Some of the kids had interesting answers like determination, belief system, all that stuff for sure. I have an answer -- I am more me than they are them. The point is, all your strengths and all your limitations, they are all part of who you are, and don't try to be anything else. When a person speaks without self consciousness about who they are it shines right through, it pops like a light. You are not trying to be funnier than you can be or cooler than you actually are, you are trying to be yourself, and when you do that, you erupt. The moment you try to fit in, you go into the general pot, and then it is entirely about luck, because you are in the same pot with everyone else.
"It sounds trite like that, but the point is each individual person is unique, with a unique point of view -- and if you can convey that... First of all you have to know yourself and be comfortable with who you are, to be very self aware of who you are, and if you convey that in your art form your voice will be very powerful."
Being aware of who he is and what he wants to be, and being true to that inner voice, has been a Night trademark through his career. Self-awareness started early -- and in an over-the-top fashion, when as editor of his school yearbook he carried a full page inset on himself, mocked up to look like the cover of Time magazine. On it, he was featured in bow tie, cummerbund and trademark smile, below the headline: 'Best Director. NYU grad takes Hollywood by storm.'
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