Tracking LIVES

The charm of slice-of-life films lies in the fact that they allow the audience to connect with the characters.

The charm of slice-of-life films lies in the fact that they allow the audience to connect with the characters.

In Kiran Raos debut film Dhobi Ghat,the director pulls a few pages out of the lives of a photographer,an artist and a dhobi. Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkars next experiments with a simple story of three clumsy friends and their routine struggles to get themselves hitched in Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji. Four short stories of love and betrayal by women that comprise Vinay Shuklas Mirch are receiving critical acclaim. And the journey of the character Happi who believes in sharing the simple joys of life makes for Bhavna Talwars movie by the same name. No superheroes these,the stories of all these films are merely interesting bits in the everyday lives of common men. And even though some of the biggest films to come out of the Bollywood stable in the next year are larger-than-life,a few filmmakers are looking to focus on the interesting aspects of the common mans mundane life through these slice-of-life movies.

For Aanand Rai,the director of Tanu Weds Manu,the charm of such films lies in the fact that they allow the audience to know each character intimately. Slice-of-life films are more real and the viewer often forms a connect with one character or another,which allows them to indulge themselves and become a part of the film, explains the filmmaker whose next move is the story of an NRI who gets engaged to a seemingly simple girl only to realize that the Indian woman does not necessarily conform to the image that is often portrayed.

Interestingly,most such films have done away with heroes and heroines,enjoy an ensemble cast of character actors. Most of us dont lead single-tracked solitary liveswe all have friends,parents,colleagues and what happens with them every day affects our lives as well, points out Bhandarkar who has chosen to veer away from his usual brand of expose films.

Its for this reason,feels Rao,the genre works better when the cast comprises non-stars. The filmmaker,who has Prateika fresh faceand singer-turned-actor Monica Dogra in two key roles was unhappy about having Aamir Khan play the third protagonist. I looked for as many as four months to cast an actor to fit that role. Eventually,Aamir offered to audition and he fit the part well. Thats why I chose to go with him, she explains. Talwar too has cast a rather understated Pankaj Kapur to play the title role. The aura of the star does not loom over the character this way, she adds.

While Rao,whose film is set in Mumbai,feels that urban cities lend better to slice-of-life films,Shukla contests that. Cities have multiple facets to them,she explains; in comparison,village life is slower and lacks dimensions and the two stories of the four in Mirch are based in rural and historical India,says that the filmmakers are likely to make films in the milieu they are more comfortable with. Most writers and directors are not in touch with their roots and hence unable to explore the lives of rural India, he quips.

But does comedy have to be at the core of these films? Inspired by the Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee brand of films,Bhandarkar feels so. But Rao thinks that a real story will also portray real emotions and will hence evoke mixed feelings. Shukla,however,puts it in perspective as he says,The unexpected twists are what make our lives interesting. So be it a light-hearted story or one that makes the viewer pause and think,its irony that will be at the core of slice-of-life films.