Active Voice

With Paromita Vohra around,it’s a crime to limit yourself to the prescribed round of questioning and subject her to the sheer torture of answering the same. For one,you’d be missing out on an amazingly intellectually charged conversation the award-winning filmmaker can strike,and two,if you insist on the usual,she’ll slap you out if it with a ‘that’s ridiculous’. “Like when they say documentaries are not for the masses! What is a mass audience? Was a 50 crore Drona for the mass audience? These questions are meaningless to me for this is perhaps the most exciting phase in documentary making. It’s the only form that’s challenging,it combines politics and creativity and you are not asked to dumb down anything,” shoots the filmmaker and writer whose work focuses on urban life,popular culture,gender and politics. “Gorkahpur,Madurai,Allahabad,Bhopal….they all have running film festivals,” she surprises us,and gives info on three major documentary distributors – Magic Lantern Foundation (Delhi),Kriti (Delhi) and Pedastrian Pictures (Bangalore).

“Bollywood produces some 400 odd films in a year,hardly 4 to 5 are hits….nobody questions that because nobody questions the logic of big numbers in this country,” for Paromita,Bollywood comes across as a complex character,one that’s inherently conventional and commercially-driven. “We hardly have two per cent of experimental filmmakers! Sadly,in this industry,there’s an understatement of life. Travel,and you’ll find how there’s a strong sense of irony and humour in the folk culture,how people understand life,face it and live it,” Paromita uses this potent ingredient in her films,ideas,issues that stem from her surrounding,from her passion to travel and meet people,initiate dialogues,hold conversations,and then rope it in her writings,seasoning them with the lighter side of life,yet leaving an impact on the psyche of her audience. Check out her works – Where’s Sandra,Q2P where she explores the priority of development in this country using public toilets as a theme,Un-limited Girls,Khamosh Paani et al,or log onto her blog,Parotechnics,and you’ll come face to face with the talent Paromita is. “For me,filmmaking is an act of love. It makes the audience think,feel,and give them delight,and I want to make such films,” Paromita’s in town to research for her next film,and is also working on three books,one being a non fiction book on love. “Love in contemporary times,something like Operation Majnu,on love,romance,intimacy like Sanjay Dutt and Manyata. I feel that when we talk about social change,we forget to involve love as a contributing factor. If there’s no love between two people,the world will never change. It is the trigger point to patience,giving,caring,tolerance,” she makes a valid observation.

She’s a feminist,and hails the movement that allows us to enjoy our freedom. She finds it tragic when women employ tactics to keep a man. She loves the medium of filmmaking for the sheer presence of music,glamour and beauty in it,and the zillion emotions it evokes. She lives life honestly,for this is the only life we’ll ever know. “I’m a curious person,and interestingly,it’s fashionable to be ignorant these days! But what you see from the corner your eye,I,as an artist,endeavour to bring that to the centre of your vision.” Zoom in!