Art & Entertainment

We're Running A Donkey's Race

Have things really changed in Bollywood, or are we believing our own hype and hoodwinking ourselves?

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We're Running A Donkey's Race
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Films by relative unknowns that need to be encouraged are wilfully ignored by these awards which are dutifully held annually by prominent newspapers and magazines whose postscripts always sound wanting for great cinema.

What is 'great cinema'? Can we define it? Is it the film that makes money at the box office? Is it the film that makes a critic's day and column? Is it the film that makes it to the film festivals? If it isn't, then what is 'it'? And who is the judge?

Hrithik Roshan in Koi Mil Gaya was the best performance of the year. A good performance, yes. But is that the best we can do? Where does that performance stand when held up against Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot or Sean Penn in I Am Sam? What are our standards?

If we feel we should be marked in bold fluorescent letters on the world map, shouldn't our standards follow?

Why is it that a unique talent like Rajpal Yadav in Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon is not even considered for those awards? Is he not 'star' enough? Is it only because he doesn't speak English? Because of the absence of a lineage?

Quite simply, in a nation and industry of a thousand dynasties, are we ashamed of recognising one of normal birth?

We are running a donkey's race, swimming in the shallow end of mediocrity, believing we are masters of the sea.

We are surrounded by mirrors that make this world of cinema appear as gigantic as our very own desi Bollywood. These mirrors make us look like horses, like thoroughbreds. And sadly we begin to feel like them too. We feel we can win the race. But who are we up against? We don't even aim to compete globally. Our boxing ring is relegated to the local box office.

There is a lack of funds. We don't have bigger budgets. These seem to be everyone's complaints. Then why do those simply-made, low-budget Iranian films put us to shame?

A certain Pang brothers in Thailand have recently made three films in a row that everyone wants to see. No precedents. No influences. They just walked their own road. And suddenly Bangkok Dangerous and The Eye were on everybody's must-see lists. Instead of looking to them for inspiration, we watched their films for it. Now get ready for Delhi Dangerous and Aankh—The Eye!

What's the conclusion then? Are we insecure? Are we not confident of our own original ideas? Are we so scared of failure that we want 'stars' to underline our projects to make them safer investments? We are not on the lookout for the next great idea but for the next Monsoon Wedding or the next Shahrukh Khan blockbuster.

One of the most powerful people in the Indian film industry, Manmohan Shetty, who has done a lot for Indian cinema, recently gave an inspiring interview in Kodak magazine, but ended it with "...Where are the actors? Except Shahid Kapoor there is no one you can make a love story with...." Are those the only kind of stories we want to make? Love stories?

One Vinay and one Mridul go out and collect money to make a film for Rs 27 lakh and shoot it in 12 days. And we can't wait to see it and laugh at them. Do we deserve to be called an 'industry'? Are we objective and mature enough to appreciate ideas that don't fit in with our individual brand image?

Does brand equity really exist? If so then why do two 'Yashraj' films have different openings at the box office? Why is it that Hrithik can't open seven films in a row and then breaks all records with Koi Mil Gaya? That's because Koi Mil Gaya smelled like fun.The others had no odour. The only brand that has worked consistently (of late) is Shahrukh Khan. There is no other brand equity in Bollywood.

Why and how do we expect to satisfy all the eyes looking at us? "God knows," we say. "Who cares?" But then are we really, really doing our own thing, as we would like it made out to be? When was the last time any of our filmmakers became an adjective? Where is the passion? Where is the eye that spotted a Shahrukh Khan when he wasn't a spot on the force that he is today? Why can't we find newer pastures? Whatever happened to the newer, better actors? What is our 'next, great idea'?

Every time I, as a filmmaker, go to a producer with my script, he asks me, before so much as laying a finger on the document, 'Who is the star?' Directors who don't have a single 'good' film (or a 'successful' one for that matter, as the two are not synonymous in this country) to their credit are heading corporates, taking decisions on how films should and shouldn't be made. They are so plum in their newfound job security that they don't take a decision until and unless it is everyone's decision. So that if they fail, everyone is responsible, not just them.

One head might roll. A bunch of heads generally gets a second chance!

They never say 'no' to that filmmaker sitting across the table, bound script in hand because they see the potential and the talent. But... "We all want to play safe, Anurag. You are not yet a race horse."

Whether or not I am a race horse, sirs, (I humbly submit) none of you is a gambler yet.

Who would want to lose all their perks, that too for the sake of 'cinema'? It takes Ram Gopal Verma to give patient audience to a new director like Saurabh Narang or Vikram Sawant, hear their scripts out, read the conviction in their faces and take just five minutes to say, "You're on." Because he's his own boss. When you look around, you'll notice that all the films that work today are made by directors who produce these films themselves.

Filmmaking is an intuitive art from. Be it commercial or fine art. A body of people or a board of them who never had the intuition to start with can't change the landscape. We need individuals who know and understand how a film is made. What the audience wants is not the criteria. What can we give them? 'What can I do to make my film an experience they won't easily forget?' is the question every filmmaker, aspiring or established, needs to ask himself or herself before exposing a single millimetre of film negative.

We need reforms like every other industry. Firstly, the films we make should stop being pre-sold. This creative product should be made like any other, without a pre-sale value being tagged on to it. This puts the producer at the risk of losing money, hence he pays attention to his film. First and foremost, he makes sure the scriptwriter delivers. Then to cut costs, he plans his film within a minimum expenditure plan. This forces him to look for options. Which in turn puts pressure on everyone involved to deliver a better product. No one takes the film for granted any more. This will save the film from being a proposal or merely a collage of model faces. Now when everything is seemingly in place, the film should be sold. The distributors and exhibitors should then be compelled into more transparency and accountability.

This might sound too utopian, too idealistic to be implemented. Perhaps business is not done this way, period. But then if a change is not wrought, things will always remain the same. And, if I am not wrong, no growth has ever been possible in any corner of history or the world when things have remained the same.

We shall have to content ourselves with the odd LagaanM or Monsoon Wedding.We shall also have to stop bandying about 'good' cinema and allow things to be as they are.

The true responsibility for the situation we are in lies with the individual producer who handles his film like a general store owner. If he seeks to minimise risk, he'll end up with a 'safe' product. Maximising the risk will make it a better film. That probably is too far-fetched a wish. But wishes are meant to be made. Despite all the ugly realities and debates, we are after all the dream merchants. And you can't stop anyone, least of all a non-conformist, from dreaming.

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