Three Takes

Film-making escapes barriers and the confines of genres. Creative minds use this medium to reel out truths,or perhaps their perception of the reality of issues.

Film-making escapes barriers and the confines of genres. Creative minds use this medium to reel out truths,or perhaps their perception of the reality of issues. The play of human emotions and the nuances of human relationships could hardly be expressed better than in a well-scripted,well-directed and well-thought out film. And the ongoing 9 th Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) has strived to bring to Pune such films that have taken up varied issues and causes as their central subject.

French-Canadian producer Rock Demeres,and directors Rajendra Talak and Vikram Gokhale,whose films were screened at PIFF,are a part of the brigade of filmmakers who have sprinkled the existing issues of teen suicides,effects of rapid industrialisation on local cultures and the corruption plaguing the medical field,with positivity by way of plausible and achievable solutions. Teen suicides were cause of concern in Canada. That very subject made me decide to make children’s films so that the young impressionable minds could find a way to conquer this issue rather than falling prey to it. Children are most impressionable when they are 11-13 years old,and the films they watch during this period remained ingrained in their minds throughout their lives, Demeres says,while elucidating the reason behind his decision to stick to the genre of children’s films.

Just like this producer was flooded with scripts on various subjects,actor Vikram Gokhale too was inspired by the words penned by Dr Nitin Lavangare in his Marathi novel Nishkarsh. Gokhale has debuted in the world of direction with Marathi film Aaghaat that is based on the novel. A medical drama,the spine of the story is the triumph of the righteous over the dishonest. The medical profession is a caring one,but scratch away at its façade and one sees a horrifying amount of fraudulence in the system, says the actor-director,adding a strong statement with reflects his need to creatively portray this subject,My movie shows someone from the inside speaking up about the corruption,but in general,the dishonesty of this profession goes on,untroubled.

It is this very complacent attitude that Goa-based director Rajendra Talak is fighting against through his film Oh Maria. While the title beautifully captures the local culture of the beach state,Talak’s film is focused on how rapid industrialisation is eroding it. We always speak about the way globalisation and industrialisation are killing the local flavours of a land,but the truth is that we are to be blamed, he says pointedly. The film has been deliberately made in Konkani so that the Goans can realise,identify and connect with the issue.

That the audience should be able to relate to a film’s subject is crucial. And for that,the human element is essential, adds Demeres,whose film Haathi,that was screened for cinema buffs,shows how a young Indian boy fulfills his destiny of becoming a mahout. I loved the experience of shooting in India. I feel at home no matter where I am in the world. That,I think,is the magic of being associated with the talkies, he says. Demeres once hitchhiked from Paris to Tokyo,through Turkey,the erstwhile Czechoslovakia,Kazakhstan,Poland,India,China and a host of other countries,just to experience how beneath the veils of colour,language,creed and gender,all humans are essentially the same. And it is this realisation that helps him delve into issues that,through the boundless world of cinema,can reach out to one and all.

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