Filmmaker Muzaffar Ali feels that Hindi cinema has completely lost the plot. Where are the movies which turned legends out of people, movements out of ideas, and destinations out of places, he asks.
Who would you rate as the most promising directors and actors from the current generation?
A classic film is a phenomenon you want to experience over and over again and each time see new shades and new meaning in them. The future of memorable films lies in the mind of those who have the fire in their belly and are aiming very high and who will not be burnt by success. Age is the mind. I have seen a lot of promise gone with the wind. Anurag Kashyap backed with his writing skills holds reasonable promise.
Unfortunately actors although having a lot of potential are refusing to becoming real and legendary. I hesitate to take any name because I don't know what they are doing next. I certainly don't see a Dliip Kumar, Nutan, Meena Kumari or a Rekha on the horizon. But most of them have the potential of becoming one if they find the right plot. But there are some who have shone even through poor plots and poorer production design and Hrithik , Amir , Sonam , Priyanka and Shahrukh can be named. I'm sorry if I have missed anyone.
It is finally the synergy of a director and the actor that creates the legend. When I took Rekha for the role of Umrao Jaan everybody said how can a South Indian epitomize the anguish and joi de vivre of a 19th century courtesan of Lucknow but she did it. Today the Actor is the face of the Director, he or she is his passion and his dramatic need which makes the audience take the illusionary journey in celluloid.
Do you think we’ll ever have another Smita Patil or a Shabana Azmi? Any one from the new crop who can take up the mantle?
I like the way we keep moving from Bollywood to parallel art cinema and suddenly switching to artistes who have made their mark through art cinema. Birth of great artistes is the best measure of the creative health of the medium. Artistes are being so badly typecast that even Smita and Shabana got mauled when they entered Bollywood. In the west the artistes bring a lot of realism and texture to the role. In India it gets lost when superstars start designing their own incredible over the top roles.
Even in the Eighties, the so-called classic movies were few and far between. We had different schools of film-making within the mainstreamcinema and a few filmmakers like Benegal would work in what we canloosely term a classicist mould. But the majority of Bollywood movies have always been formula products, you agree?
Yes and No. Eighties could have been a big breakthrough decade for Indian cinema when interest in the Orient and India was at all-time high with films like Gandhi and The Last Emperor running to packed audiences in the West. The so-called classicist mould of Indian cinema didn't rise up to those expectations due to low budgets and lack of evolved production design and screenplay with universal appeal. That's when we embarked on Zooni, the last Chak Empress of 16th century Kaahmir written by an American writer James Killough who stayed in the valley for two years to imbibe the lost culture of Kashmir , with an international Costume and Production , Mary McFadden, Oscar winner Music Composer Riyuchi Sakamoto with Kashmiri composer Mohan Lal Aima. It had a separate negative for the Urdu version with Music by Khaiyyam and Lyrics by Shahryar and voice of Asha Bhosle. Unfortunately the film was only 30 % shot when insurgency broke in 1989.
The Mira Nair genre of Hindi cinema appealed to hilarious and eye-opening contradictions of Indian society and have continued to succeed in West. I would put Slumdog Millionaire in a similar genre.The Bollywood suffered from the formula syndrome which was crude in the eighties and has been refined by adding realism and hardhitting violence accompanied by loud and innovative sound tracks.
What has really gone wrong in that equation over the last decade?The formulas of popular movies have evolved and we have a Ghajini or a Dostana. But we also have film-makers like Vishal Bhardwaj and their timeless takes on contemporary reality. Do you find films like Maqbool or Omkara any less classic?
The unfortunate phenomenon has evolved with a young breed of savvy directors ushered in by Ardsatya kind of product is that they inspired a sameness of theme packaged differently with a fresh idiom - a dark realism which is move over the don formula to the coarse and callous political milieu of UP Bihar Haryana. Use of language bordering on being abusive without which the characters are unreal. Certainly it is this abusive language that gave a new force to cinema coupled with stark cinematography and innovative music a la Rahman.
Why only Vishal Bhardwaj, the emerging new Hindi cinema – from mega hits like Rang De Basanti to honest experiments like A Wednesday – is dealing with subjects that touch our lives. Don’t you agree that the emergence of this new Hindi cinema is a big positive? Is a film like Black Friday any less significant than the classics of yesteryears?
Certainly Omkara was a commendable effort and the genre of dark realism that brought out credible performances and camerawork added to Vishal's music gave it it's cutting edge, a next step to Sholay but certainly a far cry from Shakespearean dexterity in handling character arcs and analogies. Unfortunately even potentially potent plots are way laid by the Bollywood song dance fight trio. Black Friday is a commendable effort in which both screenplay and cinematography is intelligent and innovative. Maqbool unfortunately I haven't watched. Rang de Basanti I found lacked a cohesive design sense and therefore couldn't grip my imagination, couldn't transport me anywhere. My major reservation is that most successes finally gets trapped in their own formula and get type caste.
Maestros like Ray, Ghatak or Adoor were filming outside the mainstream industry. Today, the Bollywood churns more watchable films than ever and a host of new film-makers have broken the shackles of box-office to experiment within the mainstream. So will it be more appropriate to say that not the Hindi film industry but the parallel art film movement has lost the plot?
Indian cinema needs a different evolutionary process to arrive in the category of creating original universal classics. The makers detachment to Bollywood and deep rooting to his organic reality is important for that which Ray , Ghatak and Adoor could achieve. Certainly Bollywood has learnt how to say things but the aesthetics and culture of what to say, a simple truth, is consumed in the burning desire to outdo the other.
What is the plot is the big question. My criteria is that it has to get into people's blood stream using cinema to its highest human end. This gives a film shelf appeal and repeat viewership. In a growing global scenario in which we are being affected by the west are we creating anything to engage the world on equal terms? We need more reasoning. More logic. More East West talent fusion. More credibility to achieve that end
Who would you rate as the most promising directors and actors from the current generation?
A classic film is a phenomenon you want to experience over and over again and each time see new shades and new meaning in them. The future of memorable films lies in the mind of those who have the fire in their belly and are aiming very high and who will not be burnt by success. Age is the mind. I have seen a lot of promise gone with the wind. Anurag Kashyap backed with his writing skills holds reasonable promise.
Unfortunately actors although having a lot of potential are refusing to becoming real and legendary. I hesitate to take any name because I don't know what they are doing next. I certainly don't see a Dliip Kumar, Nutan, Meena Kumari or a Rekha on the horizon. But most of them have the potential of becoming one if they find the right plot. But there are some who have shone even through poor plots and poorer production design and Hrithik , Amir , Sonam , Priyanka and Shahrukh can be named. I'm sorry if I have missed anyone.
It is finally the synergy of a director and the actor that creates the legend. When I took Rekha for the role of Umrao Jaan everybody said how can a South Indian epitomize the anguish and joi de vivre of a 19th century courtesan of Lucknow but she did it. Today the Actor is the face of the Director, he or she is his passion and his dramatic need which makes the audience take the illusionary journey in celluloid.
Do you think we’ll ever have another Smita Patil or a Shabana Azmi? Any one from the new crop who can take up the mantle?
I like the way we keep moving from Bollywood to parallel art cinema and suddenly switching to artistes who have made their mark through art cinema. Birth of great artistes is the best measure of the creative health of the medium. Artistes are being so badly typecast that even Smita and Shabana got mauled when they entered Bollywood. In the west the artistes bring a lot of realism and texture to the role. In India it gets lost when superstars start designing their own incredible over the top roles.
Even in the Eighties, the so-called classic movies were few and far between. We had different schools of film-making within the mainstreamcinema and a few filmmakers like Benegal would work in what we canloosely term a classicist mould. But the majority of Bollywood movies have always been formula products, you agree?
Yes and No. Eighties could have been a big breakthrough decade for Indian cinema when interest in the Orient and India was at all-time high with films like Gandhi and The Last Emperor running to packed audiences in the West. The so-called classicist mould of Indian cinema didn't rise up to those expectations due to low budgets and lack of evolved production design and screenplay with universal appeal. That's when we embarked on Zooni, the last Chak Empress of 16th century Kaahmir written by an American writer James Killough who stayed in the valley for two years to imbibe the lost culture of Kashmir , with an international Costume and Production , Mary McFadden, Oscar winner Music Composer Riyuchi Sakamoto with Kashmiri composer Mohan Lal Aima. It had a separate negative for the Urdu version with Music by Khaiyyam and Lyrics by Shahryar and voice of Asha Bhosle. Unfortunately the film was only 30 % shot when insurgency broke in 1989.
The Mira Nair genre of Hindi cinema appealed to hilarious and eye-opening contradictions of Indian society and have continued to succeed in West. I would put Slumdog Millionaire in a similar genre.The Bollywood suffered from the formula syndrome which was crude in the eighties and has been refined by adding realism and hardhitting violence accompanied by loud and innovative sound tracks.
What has really gone wrong in that equation over the last decade?The formulas of popular movies have evolved and we have a Ghajini or a Dostana. But we also have film-makers like Vishal Bhardwaj and their timeless takes on contemporary reality. Do you find films like Maqbool or Omkara any less classic?
The unfortunate phenomenon has evolved with a young breed of savvy directors ushered in by Ardsatya kind of product is that they inspired a sameness of theme packaged differently with a fresh idiom - a dark realism which is move over the don formula to the coarse and callous political milieu of UP Bihar Haryana. Use of language bordering on being abusive without which the characters are unreal. Certainly it is this abusive language that gave a new force to cinema coupled with stark cinematography and innovative music a la Rahman.
Why only Vishal Bhardwaj, the emerging new Hindi cinema – from mega hits like Rang De Basanti to honest experiments like A Wednesday – is dealing with subjects that touch our lives. Don’t you agree that the emergence of this new Hindi cinema is a big positive? Is a film like Black Friday any less significant than the classics of yesteryears?
Certainly Omkara was a commendable effort and the genre of dark realism that brought out credible performances and camerawork added to Vishal's music gave it it's cutting edge, a next step to Sholay but certainly a far cry from Shakespearean dexterity in handling character arcs and analogies. Unfortunately even potentially potent plots are way laid by the Bollywood song dance fight trio. Black Friday is a commendable effort in which both screenplay and cinematography is intelligent and innovative. Maqbool unfortunately I haven't watched. Rang de Basanti I found lacked a cohesive design sense and therefore couldn't grip my imagination, couldn't transport me anywhere. My major reservation is that most successes finally gets trapped in their own formula and get type caste.
Maestros like Ray, Ghatak or Adoor were filming outside the mainstream industry. Today, the Bollywood churns more watchable films than ever and a host of new film-makers have broken the shackles of box-office to experiment within the mainstream. So will it be more appropriate to say that not the Hindi film industry but the parallel art film movement has lost the plot?
Indian cinema needs a different evolutionary process to arrive in the category of creating original universal classics. The makers detachment to Bollywood and deep rooting to his organic reality is important for that which Ray , Ghatak and Adoor could achieve. Certainly Bollywood has learnt how to say things but the aesthetics and culture of what to say, a simple truth, is consumed in the burning desire to outdo the other.
What is the plot is the big question. My criteria is that it has to get into people's blood stream using cinema to its highest human end. This gives a film shelf appeal and repeat viewership. In a growing global scenario in which we are being affected by the west are we creating anything to engage the world on equal terms? We need more reasoning. More logic. More East West talent fusion. More credibility to achieve that end
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