Every other day I run into one of my fellow filmmakers from yesterday, who inevitably grumbles about the same thing. ‘Those were the good old days of filmmaking. Where have they gone? They were such wonderful times and filmmaking was such fun wasn’t it?’ they say. And inevitably they get somewhat disappointed when they see that I don’t join in their chorus of crippling nostalgia, choosing instead to maintain a studied silence.
Why does a politically incorrect ‘me’ indulge in this rather uncharacteristic behaviour. The reason is that I’m not pining nor lamenting for the way the business of movies used to be. To be honest, I feel that ever since man stepped into the digital age and the world wide web hit human kind like a meteor, I find that the cinematic space in India has been more energized and every day you see new content, new markets and new media unveiling like the proverbial magic mushroom!
Just take a look around. I don’t think that young people yearn for the old days. They are dead and gone. Yes, there is no denying that the wells from which the present generation of filmmakers and actors drink from today were dug by us and in turn our predecessors before us. But yesterday is not today and tomorrow looks glorious from where I’m sitting!
As elders and thought leaders of the fraternity, we have to not only adapt, but also inculcate in those who are averse to change, to embrace the present, because I think that the times that we live in are far greater than the world that we existed in before.
Look what’s happening to our television… a film idea which I had launched in the nineties, which dealt with the reality of bonded labour died stillborn, because the market place was averse to dealing with such a serious subject. Isn’t it glorious that my concept of the girl child mortgaged in her mother’s womb, which was resurrected by my protégé Guru Dev Bhalla for Colors, has today taken wings and found acceptance by the people of India, as “Udaan”. Aren’t these interesting times? The nation has embraced the grim truth about child labour and at the same time, the Nobel Prize has been won by Kailash Satyarthi for crusading for the children who are forced into slavery.
Look at the amazing things happening in the arena of mainstream cinema! If I look at the present through the eyes of my young 21-year-old daughter Alia, I find that this is the platinum age for movies. In one year she does a path-breaking film with Imtiaz Ali which deals with incest, taking the breath of the nation away, because these issues are not handled by mainstream cinema ever; and then follows it up with a rooted romance “ 2 States” that does 100 crore business. This in turn is followed by a quirky mofussil romance, “Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya”. Alia has done for herself in the time-span of two years what took me two decades to achieve! Surely these are glorious times.
We live in an age where virtually every kind of content, as long as it is good, will find takers. This is because so many different ways to monetise content are available today. Ultimately, it all comes down to how you manage to grab eyeballs to watch content and the technology is creating a lot of diverse groups of platforms through which our content can pour into the human heart. Experts the world over are asking the question, can pay per view, streaming, and new platforms be an alternate revenue source to the DVD boom that the world experienced. Can these replace the traditional revenue streams?
For film directors, these are the most glorious times. Today, filmmakers can shoot content in so many different ways because there are so many different cameras and different editing tools available. In our own company we had a Hansal Mehta, who shot some stunning footage for our emotional sledgehammer of a film “Citylights”, using the Canon 1DC. The reason he could do this is because Hansal was not cynical and he trusted the new technology along with his DOP.
At the same time within my fold there was Vikram Bhatt shooting “Mr. X”, our tent pole thriller with cutting edge 3D technology, and with technicians who were flown in from Canada. All this happened because we were not averse to thinking outside the box and were open to embrace change. Anybody who is open to change will flourish in this environment. And I implore those who hide behind the high sounding phrase called tradition, to realise that they throw this word around only to mask their unwillingness to change.
The major menace of our times that we film folks need to deal with is of course that of internet theft. The Motion Pictures Producers Association of America needs all support from the Indian Film Industry to deal with this world wide problem, since they have done considerable research and have deeper insight into the problem than we have. Don’t forget we are living in a global world today. The movement of talent and capital from one part of the world to the other is going to be an everyday affair. Why shy away from partnering with the developed markets. We should have the humility of learning from them what we desperately need to know. This can produce outstanding results.
Recently Fox Star hired Andy Armstrong, who did the action of the last “Spiderman” to work on the action of “Bang Bang”, with spectacular results. It is because of Bollywood’s partnership with Fox in India that Bollywood with “Bang Bang” has penetrated into newer markets like Iraq, Lebanon and Burma. Not many know that in the Middle East, UK and the US, “Bang Bang” opened in theatres visited by local audiences, and this has enabled it to become bigger than “My Name Is Khan” in the Middle East.
More partnerships like this are going to be the rule of the day in times to come. So where is this industry heading? All I can say is that were heading for exciting times. All kinds of people will make all kinds of movies and hits will come from all over the place. But the future belongs to those who aren’t afraid of change. Very soon you will be making content which is not just catering to the palate of the consumer in Benares but also to the consumer in Iraq, Burma and South Korea. Is this not then, the Platinum Age of Indian Cinema?
(The writer is an eminent writer-director and activist.)
