For ‘next Spielberg’, every sign spells success

Having opened on the Number 1 spot when it released on August 2, Signs collected $60.8 million in its opening weekend alone.

The Philadelphia-raised Indian insists ‘‘I’m trying to find my place in this business’’, but believes the weapon he has to combat the blockbusters and the art-house fare that compete for attention, is his originality.

What he’s probably acquired from being Indian, he guesses, ‘‘is this unexplainable connection to spirituality.’’ Because, like he himself says, he wasn’t raised that way. ‘‘I think it’s the genetics of my make-up. I believe in spirits and in ceremonies,’’ he says on telephone from the US.

Elaborating, Shyamalan explains that ‘‘although I’ve grown up on burgers and basketball, every time I sit down to write, something spiritual comes out.’’

‘‘Big on my list of things to do in the future’’ is a trip to India with his family, but the filmmaker says he’s waiting for his two-year-old daughter to get a little older before he brings her here.

Shyamalan is not unaware of the clout and the respect he commands in Hollywood. And perhaps the first time he realised that, was when he didn’t have to go through too much of a struggle to get Mel Gibson on the phone. ‘‘I called and asked if he might read a script of mine, and Mel said he wanted it right away,” Shyamalan remembers.