Past Tense, Will Flick No 2 Click?

When asked whether life had changed for him in the aftermath of Rang De Basanti, the two-film-old Rakeysh Mehra had this to say: “I now have the respect and appreciation of my seniors in the industry, and these are people whose films I grew up on.” That is exactly what Meghna Gulzar is looking for. Filhaal… her career is poised at the crossroads. As she launches her second feature, Honey-moon, starring Fardeen Khan and Esha Deol, the challenge before her is to makeahigh-qualityfilm that also ends up appealing to movie goersat large.

Directors like Suparn Verma (Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina), Shoojit Sirkar (Ya-haan), Leena Yadav (Shabd) and Bap-paditya Roy (Sau Jhooth Ek Sach)are also up against the same kind of challenge. Their first films came un-stuck at the box office; so their future hinges on their second essays.

For these directors, striking a balance between commercial viability and the nuance soft he irownvisionisn’t going to be a cake walk. Nobodyknowsthat betterthantheythemselves.“I’mnotin-terested in making safe films,” says Meghna, who debuted four years ago with the critically acclaimed but com-merciallytepidFilhaal. Suparn Verma, too, has no inten-tion of changing tack. He had un-leashed the quirky, low-budget con flick Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina last year. It did not make the sort of waves it was expected to. “Indian audiences do not have a taste for black humour,” says the director. “All my characters were either gray or completely black.”

Verma’s next film will be cast in much the same mould, although he promises that it will be stylistically differ-ent from Ek Khiladi. “It will have 20- odd characters, all of them with deep shades of grey. I love people with twisted minds,” he says.

Shoojit Sircar, who debuted with Yahaan, is now working on a period love story that is being co-scripted by Gulzar. “I had no reason to be un-happy with the response to Yahaan, but the film certainly could have done better commercially. The Mumbai floods of 2005 washed away our chances,” says Sircar.

Leena Yadav’s maiden film, Shabd, had everything going for it—Sanjay Dutt and Aishwarya Rai as leads, a production company like Pritish Nandy Communications and strong pre-release word-of-mouth publicity. Yet, it sank without a trace. “Shabd suffered because of industry politics,” says Yadav, adding, “The media killed the film.” Yadav is now readying her-self for another shot at glory with a film to be produced by Ambika Hin-duja’s Serendipity Films, the banner behind Homi Adajania’s Being Cyrus.

Bappaditya Roy, whose first release was the barely-seen, off-mainstream Sau Jhooth Ek Sach, a film based on the 1946 JB Priestley play, An Inspector Calls, is currently firming up a more saleable script for one of Bollywood’s biggest banners.

“I’ve come to the conclusion,” says Roy, “that it is always better to work with an established production outfit if you want your film to be packaged and promoted well.”

Getting it right the second time aroundis crucialfor herandall theoth-ers like her. These young filmmakers have their work cut out—they have to deliverahit tostayafloat. If thereis any-thingworsefor a Bollywood filmmaker than high expectations, it is scepticism.

Meghna Gulzar and others like her have a point to prove—to themselves, the audience and the industry.