Bollywood has woken up to the fact that independent can be both liberating and lucrative.
Filmmakers tell Nandini Ramnath why it’s now or never for the Hindie indie.
It’s hard to tell what is a Bollywood movie any more. The rules seem to change with every new release. Entertainment remains the singular purpose of the Hindi film, but the idea of what is appealing and how many people it is appealing to has changed significantly since the early noughties. Last year, several small-budget movies managed to stand up to the big-ticket entertainers. The minnows included Mithya, A Wednesday, Aamir, Welcome to Sajjanpur and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! At last, it seems that Hindi indie movies – or Hindies, as we like to call them – have become viable enough to support a mini-industry.
The quirky stories of the Hindies are getting more than just critical attention. They’re also making money. In 2007, Bheja Fry, which was produced for Rs 53.5 lakhs, reportedly grossed Rs 7 crores. That may have been a freak case, but it signals that audiences want to move beyond formulaic material.
This shift towards offbeat movies comes at a time when mainstream Hindi cinema is trying to reinvent itself by maximising the primary sources of its appeal (big stars, expensive production values, catchy music) and tailoring the stories to appeal to more sophisticated audiences. Forthcoming projects by mainstream directors such as Rakyesh Mehra (Dilli 6), Raju Hirani (3 Idiots), Kabir Khan (New York) and Vishal Bhardwaj (Kaminay) are in the news as much for their plots as for their cast lists. The surge of change isn’t only in the mega projects. Finally even inexperienced filmmakers can get the green light for unconventional story ideas, to cast actors who aren’t necessarily well known and still expect decent box-office results.
Yet, it’s also a disorienting time to be in the movies. Often, Hindie simply isn’t indie enough. Movies like Aamir and A Wednesday reinforced stereotypes rather than challenging viewers. Besides, several recent Hindies have been badly directed or poorly written or amateurishly acted – sometimes all at the same time.
Despite the criticism, Hindie supporters argue that, for now, the mere fact that there’s a new rush of activity is much more important than the final products. “The ratio is tilting in favour of the good ones,” said Anurag Kashyap, the director of Black Friday, No Smoking and this fortnight’s Dev.D. “Lots of people now feel that they can come forward and make films. In the last two months, I have been approached by five IIT dropouts who want to make films.”
Rajat Kapoor, who struggled for three years to find funding for Raghu Romeo before it was eventually released in 2004, believes that the moment is now ripe with possibilities. “For 40 years they told us a lie that we are making this crap because the audience wants the crap,” Kapoor said. “How do you know? Have you given them a chance to see other films? Now the audience has that choice. We wanted to put the foot in the door. That’s finally happened.”
Here’s how some notable Hindie directors see it.
Aditya Bhattacharya
Raakh, Senso Unico (Italian), Dubai Return (unreleased)
I define independence as freedom from the need to conform, from fear of the market, from convention. People didn’t know whether Madhumati [made by Bhattacharya’s grandfather Bimal Roy in 1958] was going to work. Lagaan [made by Ashutosh Gowwariker in 2001] is very populist but when it was being made, everybody was playing disaster pundit.
Until the 1980s, this used to be one of the greatest places to make movies. You pitched ideas, you owned copyright and you paid back the loan when your film made money. The Marwaris who financed you didn’t ask what your film was about.
Earlier, people came from some place that wasn’t Bombay. Their stories reflected that. We’re now a little less pure and naïve. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. You have an entire generation of city-bred people making movies. My hope is that digital technology will help us narrate movies with less capital. It will hopefully fuel a generation of people who’re not just Bollywood acolytes.
Anurag Kashyap
Paanch (unreleased), Black Friday, No Smoking, Dev.D (opens on February 6), Gulal (March 13)
A Hindie movie is the kind of film that nobody believes in to begin with. Even before you begin to make it, everybody will tell you that it’s too quirky or too niche. It’s often a personal take on something. Many have interpreted indie cinema as low-budget comedy, but it doesn’t always work like that.
There is now a community of filmmakers. We show each other our scripts and films. There is also finally an attempt by the mainstream to co-exist. Karan Johar is doing what he’s doing and encouraging other kinds of cinema. His production, Wake UpSid, qualifies as an indie, but it’s got Ranvir Shorey and Konkona Sen Sharma.
Dibakar Banerjee
Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!
Independent cinema is something that mixes entertainment with something that’s harder to digest. A viewer has to agree whether the film makes for lazy viewing or active watching.
Any time is good to think out of the box if the effort has been good. Sholay was very out of the box for the time it came in. So were Rajnigandha, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Katha, Parinda and Satya. Our film history proves that every time a new genre has been created, it is by this one guy who does something new and doesn’t look back.
The Bombay film industry is actually very intelligent. People retain their individualism despite working with commercial cinema. Exactly like audiences who watch a big budget film on one day and an offbeat film on the other day.
Homi Adajania
Being Cyrus, Thugee (shooting starts in November)
What constitutes this movement is the blooming of multiplexes and a perceptible shift in audience acceptance. Another important fact was the inflated market of 2008. There was a lot of surplus money last year. This year is going to be a very different story. Yet, I feel that though producers will be finicky, they will back different scripts.
We are seeing better stuff because we have the choice to be discerning. But we can’t ignore the fact that a lot of shit is also being churned out in the name of experimentation.
I got plain lucky with Being Cyrus. Today, it would be a very different story.
Rajat Kapoor
Raghu Romeo, Mixed Doubles, Mithya, A Rectangular Love Story (scheduled to open in April)
I have never understood how you can make a film for Rs 40 crores and be willing to lose Rs 30 crores – and you think that is safe. But when I ask for Rs 80 lakhs, it is not safe.
The idea behind independent cinema is not to make money. The idea is to make the film you wanted to make. Independent cinema means a new way of looking. It should be pushing boundaries. I don’t think our independent cinema is doing that. If you look at the 1950s, even in ordinary films, there’d be a song and you’d go like, “Wow”.
People have to take responsibility. You have to make a film that is out there, that is truly you, that makes a difference. But we are not doing that. We are playing safe.
Shashanka Ghosh
Waisa Bi Hota Hai Part II, Quick Gun Murugan (scheduled to open in April)
Indie cinema is mainstream cinema two years ahead of its time. An indie doesn’t fit into the studio formula but breaks new ground. Lots of things are possible now that were out of reach four years ago. It’s down to the basics of advertising – every piece of communication is being made for specific audiences. Earlier, the Rab Ne Bana Di Jodis and Ghajinis took 70 to 80 per cent of the industry resources. That’s been brought down to 50 per cent.
For the script narration of my first film, I was asked, acchha, kaun hai isme? When I first pitched Quick Gun Murugan around 1998-1999, somebody who was one of the most adventurous filmmakers of the time said, what is this? His jaw dropped. Now they want to know the story, the screenplay. They want it all.
Sriram Raghavan
Ek Hasina Thi, Johnny Gaddaar
On the one hand, we say that the viewer is tired of mindless stuff. But the biggest grossers are the mindless movies. A big film with big stars can often get away with weak content, but that’s disastrous for a small film. Indie films need to have strong ideas, solid content, innovative techniques.
I think of my own films as mass audience films. Yes, there is a streak of the indie in me. I wouldn’t dumb it down for the viewer or put in things just because it will attract the crowds. And yet I want the crowds.
The only indie film I made, perhaps, was Raman Raghav, which was shot on video on a budget that wasn’t even shoestring. It never got released, but it gave me confidence and a foot in the door. Today, thanks to technology and digital film equipment, it is possible to shoot on a really low budget. And have fun doing it.
Source : Time Out Mumbai ISSUE 26 Friday, August 20, 2010
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