‘Movies should be judged on their excellence,not their business’

Rampal talked about how language is not a barrier to enjoying a film. Citing the example of his most recent movie,Raajneeti ,he said,“The Hindi used in Raajneeti was so difficult that my wife didn’t understand much of what was being said. But she enjoyed it,because she connected with the characters and the story. It’s the relationships explored in the movie that really connect with the audience. When we made Rock On!!,90 per cent of the industry had written it off,because they said that it was too urban. But the film worked even in places like Nagpur,Kanpur and Jabalpur because it is about relationships.” Agreeing with Rampal was D’Silva who said that he doesn’t believe in ‘crossover cinema’ and gave the instance of Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon which was a global hit. “It was a deeply Chinese movie. Ang Lee didn’t try to make it Western at all and that’s what worked for the movie,that it was so true to itself. In fact,even in India,the most successful ‘crossover’ filmmaker is Satyajit Ray,who made such deeply Indian movies.”

The discussion also addressed the problem of ‘experimental cinema’ not finding an audience. Onir pointed out that given the high ticket prices,it’s little surprise that audiences are wary of watching different kinds of cinema. “With tickets costing Rs 300 at multiplexes,families think twice before spending so much. Besides,multiplexes will not wait for a movie to gain popularity through word of mouth. If it doesn’t work in three days,then it’s removed.” As for Nandy,he said that it is up to the media to promote good cinema. He also said that the reason why small but good movies fail to find an audience is because there’s an unhealthy obsession in our society with numbers. “Any creative endeavor needs to be judged on the basis of its excellence and not on how much business it does,” he said.

Catch SCREEN — The Big Picture Special Issue dated June 25,2010 for more