‘Ghatiya’: Anurag Kashyap says Bengali cinema has witnessed a downfall, Bangla film industry weighs in

“The fall in the quality of Hindi films is a fall from the first floor. Bengali films used to be in a far higher position. And hence, the fall is so evident,” a report in OTT Play quoted him as saying.

In a panel discussion hosted by The Indian Express, independent filmmaker Pardipta Bhattacharya said Kashyap’s views were true as the industry is going through a quality crisis since the last “two-three decades.”

“It doesn’t matter who said it, it is the truth. There are different reasons for the downfall, one is that Bengali producers have no money. All big producers of Bengal are non-Bengalis. So, it is very difficult to make them understand the nuances of Bengali culture. Benagli’s never had money, but they at least had cultural capital. Now, they don’t even have that,” Pardipta Bhattacharya said.

The filmmaker added that Bengali cinema industry is technically sound now, but the writing is in the “dumps.” Pardipta Bhattacharya added that there is “no creativity.”

“People who write in Bengal, can’t survive anymore. Good cinema is not possible without good writing. Yet, it will be untrue to say that nothing good comes out of the industry. There are one or two good films that come out every year but they get dwarfed by the sheer scale of mediocre films, that won’t help. There should be a sustained, collective effort to make good cinema. If we have fallen from the Everest, we rise from that position too. There is no need to be churlish about it. Anurag Kashyap is back in Mumbai, sipping his coffee, unaware of all this drama,” he added.

Actor Tota Roy Chowdhury agreed with OTT Play about the Golden Era of Bengali cinema. “Anurag perhaps used a harsh word but instead of reacting randomly, I would like to go a little deeper into what he meant. We all agree that during the Golden Age of Bengali cinema, we had a plethora of talents like Ray, Ghatak, and Sen and they took our films to new global heights. The ’60s, ’70, and ’80s were the golden era. There is no denying it. That’s our legacy,” he said.

He, however, felt cinema is not director’s medium anymore. Tota further argued that filmmaking is not just the director’s medium anymore. “The new millennium brought some incredible changes. Films are now weighed in terms of return on the investment. Films are now often made only to be sold. Cinema is no more solely a director’s medium. Producers, distributors, and even, actors have their say in it. I would like to take Anurag’s comment as a backhanded compliment as he correctly identified the zenith of Indian cinema,” he said.

On the work front, Anurag Kashyap is awaiting the release of his next feature, Kennedy, co-starring Rahul Bhat and Sunny Leone.