Crossover, Whatever….
Hi PFCians. Can you please help me resolve this dilemma? I am often left wondering – What is a ‘crossover’ film? This came to my mind recently, when “Loins of Punjab” got released and many reviews described it as a ‘crossover’ film.
If we go by the commonly-held perception (created by the media that is ever-eager to create a label), a crossover film usually will be one (or mix of more than one) of the following:
1. Its characters speak in ‘Hinglish’ (maybe with a smattering of a regional language).
2. It’s made by an NRI director, with Indian/NRI/mixed caste.
3. It portrays stories of the NRI community.
4. It’s an NRI/Indian film in English.
5. It’s low-budget (big budget films by big names of Bollywood, even if set completely abroad, would never call themselves a crossover film).
6. It’s a low-budget English film made by some foreigner (sometimes by some Desi too) with a part-Desi part-Firangi cast, and shot partly in India
But do these categories (there could be more, suggestions please….) make up what should be a ‘crossover’ film?
For me, a crossover film, in the Indian context, would have to fulfil only one criteria: It will have to cross the barriers of language(s), to connect with an audience that is not usually a typical viewer of Indian cinema. For me, all these films that are described as crossover films because they fall in one of the above categories, are never, never, crossover films. If we go by the criteria that I would like to follow, some true Indian representatives of crossover cinema are:
1. Without doubt Satyajit Ray’s “Pather Panchali”, which has been connecting with viewers across the world (and not just in film festivals) – and continues to do so – in the 52 years since it was made.
2. Raj Kapoor’s films, that connected so well with people of China and the erstwhile USSR that for many people there the only connection with India is the song “Main Awara Hoon” (or its numerous local versions, or with local pronuciations)
3. Amitabh Bachchan films that madly connect with Egyptians.
4. Mithun Chakraborty films that make people in Russia and some CIS countries go crazy.
5. Rajanikanth films that are wildly popular in Japan, with his fan clubs sprouting there too.
I am leaving out the numerous Bollywood or Tamil or Malayalam films released regularly abroad, some of them even earning the major part of their revenue from overseas markets, as their primary viewers are still the NRI/South Asian crowd.
What say?
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I guess nobody has an answer to your question…But, as DJ of RDB had said,…. erm, i forgot the exact line from RDB.. but something like, let me say it in Hinglish, Ek Leg Future mein Hain and Ek Leg Past Mein Hain. Ain’t that crossover films?
Crossover in my dictionary would be for that movie that goes on to be an universal hit with Indian form and content. PERIOD.
No, it shall not be an Hinglish film or an NRI film as it shall only be compromising on form and content and that would take away from the film rather than adding to it.
LOINS is a good movie but a crossover hit should have to be something on a larger and a more creative scale than what Manish &co. did in Loins.
Funding has to be from a major Indian motion picture company and it has to release in mainline theatres all over the world.
Personally, I think a movie like PYAASA or SHATRANJ KE KHILADI or PAANI (the Shekhar Kapoor project) or a major Historical like Shivaji or Amir Khusrau shall do the trick.
In fact, there are very few directors like Shekhar who can helm projects of these kinds. I am not so sure about some of our contemporary ones.
I was having a talk with a few investors who were looking to invest in movies that could be released worldwide. But, I did not have the answers myself. Vishal Bharadwaj is a possibility and so is Rituporno Ghosh. But..I don’t know…also the script..until we have at least 10 great scripts at hand every year, we shall never be able to surpass this creative abyss.