Dreams in the cans- A Filmmaker’s worst nightmare
A few days ago I was having a conversation over coffee with one of my friends who works in the industry and had just attended the first screenwriting workshop organized by Kamal Haasan’s Rajkmal Films in a tie-up with IIT-Madras. While my friend was sharing his insights about the workshop, he mentioned that apart from the various films screened as part of the course, they were also shown the teaser of ‘Marudhanayagam’, Kamal’s magnum opus which got stalled after the shooting started with a bang. Since I had seen the trailer myself, both of us went on an overdrive, discussing the merits and demerits of the project (as it appealed to us). I still remember the way the muhurat function was held. The chief guest for the event was none other than Queen Elizabeth who was in India at that point of time.
The trailer shows a glimpse of what the movie could have been. It in all probability could have certainly been India’s answer to movies like Braveheart as it falls in that genre and was deemed to be an extravagant affair. Unfortunately all that is left of the movie is around 30 mins of canned film and a dream that’s still not forgotten by Kamal Haasan for sure. Around the time when the shooting had to be stopped, the budget seemed to be something that Indian cinema would have found it hard to support. Now with bigger projects like Endhiran and Blue getting made, there’s still some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of getting some funding for Marudhanayagam. But the question to be asked is will that day be too late?
The reason for that is that Marudhanayagam in the present form requires extremely high levels of fitness and agility from Kamal Haasan and with every year that’s passing by, this is only going to get tougher and tougher for him. Some time last year Kamal even tried to come up with another mega project, again a period movie called Marmayogi. Pyramid Saimira who were initially picking up a lot of projects to produce and/or distribute had decided to produce Marmayogi and then had to back off after their losses suffered due to Kuselan. So now only time will tell whether Kamal Haasan would be able to fulfill his long pending dream of completing Marudhanayagam or whether it remains as just another incomplete dream in the cans.
This discussion made me realize that no matter whatever technical advancements that Cinema is witnessing, some things just don’t change. For one there’s still no safe formula for a successful film. Fortunes are still made and lost on Fridays. And yes luck is a crucial element in this business. That being the case isn’t it extremely heart wrenching for a film maker to see his/her movie getting stalled or lying in the cans unsold? Time and again we have seen so many film makers facing this predicament. This is a phenomena witnessed by both established and new filmmakers.
By now everyone (on PFC at least) knows the kind of struggle that Anurag Kashyap has had to face for Paanch ( still unreleased ) or what Pankaj Advani has had to face for Urf Professor ( again unreleased as of now ). These are just 2 popular examples that I have mentioned to explain a very common phenomena. That people like Anurag Kashyap and Pankaj Advani have a lot of conviction is evident as Anurag has gone on to make movies like Black Friday,No Smoking, Dev D, Gulaal etc and Pankaj Advani is right now gearing up for the release of his ‘ Sankat City’. But not every other filmmaker can carry within themselves so much of conviction, especially if it’s a new comer.
At the moment while I’m writing this my heart goes out to 2 other filmmakers, who share something in common with each other- their first film as a director was well recognized and fairly successful too. On one hand you have Sagar Ballary who made the popular Bheja Fry and whose second film Kachcha Limbu was completed quite some time ago. On the other hand you have Vasantha Balan who made the acclaimed Tamil movie- Veyyil and whose 2nd movie- Angadi Theru is also ready. So what else is common between these 2 directors apart from their first film being noticed? Well simple enough, both their 2nd movies are ready but still unsure of their release.
While Kachcha Limbu is a Sahara production, Angadi Theru is an Ayangaran production. Till recently both Sahara and Ayangaran were fairy serious players in production of Hindi/Tamil movies, but with the recession setting in, both these production houses have been affected to some extent. Sahara already has asked Sagar Ballary to try and find another entity to buy the movie from Sahara and then release it. While in case of Ayangaran as of now the release is still likely though a bit delayed. I just hope for the sake of Sagar and Vasanth that they manage to get their respective films released at the earliest and focus themselves on their other projects.
When my fellow PFC author Shivajee Chandrabhushan’s first film Frozen finally got released in India last month after doing the rounds of 30 odd festivals and winning 20 awards internationally, Shivajee was a much relieved man. And why not, for finally his dream was not in the cans anymore and was there for the whole world to see. And yes the wait can be sweet if it does not go beyond a point and the movie still gets the same reception that it was expected to receive. But if the waiting period goes beyond a point, then sometimes things can certainly go out of hand too.
A classic case in point is the Tamil movie- Kutrapathirikai directed by R.K.Selvamani. The movie was highly controversial for being based on former Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi’s assassination. It was banned by the censors in 1992/1993 and after a prolonged court battle, the movie finally released in early 2007. For old times sake I did go and watch the movie but was thoroughly disappointed for 2 reasons- first of all the movie did not have anything objectionable for getting banned and secondly after nearly 15 years, the movie looked so out of place in terms of technique and sensibility that it was not surprisingly a big flop.
For the sake of all filmmakers and wannabe filmmakers I would certainly hope that as far as possible celluloid dreams lying in the cans should not go on to become a cause of concern. The celluloid dreams deserve to hit the silver screen and not lie around in the cans, unseen. Let the audience then deserve the fate of the movie, at least the filmmaker would have received his/her realistic chance of seeing his/her dream come true.
Tags: Angadi Theru, Anurag Kashyap, Bheja Fry, Black Friday, Dev D, Gulaal, Kachcha Limbu, kamal haasan, Kutrapathirikai, Marudhanayagam, No Smoking, Pankaj Advani, Sagar Ballary, Vasantha Balan, Veyyil
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
To be fair to Kutra pathirikkai – it had a whopping 170 + cuts which effectively meant what u saw was a glorified trailer and not a movie.
Regarding Ayngaran and angaadi theru – even the much publicized and anticipated ‘nandalaala’ is still in cans – their problems are attributable to the Srilankan crisis than anything else to do with the distribution network of Thamizh movies – so I hear from sources.
Setu, Marudhanayagam sure looks like an intersting film.the first part of the trailer looked like Apolocalypto & Kamal Haasan is quite sensitive about this film. in the workshop when someone asked him ” when will Marudhanayagam happen?” he said something like this” it will not happen, it is happening”
@ Jai-
True there were numerous cuts in Kutrapathirikai, but inspite of it the end product was still a 2 hr + movie allright.In case you haven’t seen it, please do and I’m sure you’ll wonder what was all that noise about.I would say movies like Cyanide
( Kannada- dubbed into Tamil as Kuppi ) and Mission 90 Days ( Malayalam ) were much superior movies in this aspect as they also dealt with the same theme from a different angle.
You are certainly right about Ayangaran and the Srilankan crisis.Nandalalaa is a good example similar to Angaadi Theru- but I can certainly tell you that Ayangaran’s fortunes took a dip after they passed over Endhiran to Sun Pictures.Right not the Srilankan crisis is not that big an issue anymore and there’s still no firm commitment on their side.
Mysskin has already gone ahead and is working on his other scripts while we discuss this.
@ Rony-
Yes I got to know from Shripriya that you attended the workshop too.Oh!yes the first part of the trailer certainly has an Apocalypto touch to it.It would certainly make for an interesting film.No wonder Kamal is so sensitive about it.
Sethu…Hopes become high when you hear an announcement from Kamal…but once the movie releases…everything falls flat…Read that now he has roped in a French guy to re-write Maruthanayakam screenplay…hope its original atleast..Frankly I dont expect anything now from Kamal…he has given one disappointment over another for years together now…The current Marudhanayagam trailers floating around in Youtube is not promising either…has too many influences to my liking…
Jaiganesh…great info on Ayngaran and KPathrikai…Pulan visaranai was RKs best and he has never been able to repeat that feat…even with ‘Suryan’ and ‘Makkal Atchi’…
What was the reason KPathrikai was cut to pieces? Did it have overtly political dialogues by Liyakhat Ali Khan with reference to person ‘dead or alive’…any idea???
Sethu…you opened up a little bit of your knowledge kit…this is what you are best at…keep them coming more often…
bro, thanks for raking up this touchy issue which has made many hearts bleed over ages. the solution IMO could be ppl like anurag, abhay and other creative keeda log who r hopping on to other side of the fence (production). they bloody well understand the pain / frustration one goes through, to dream up a story and develop that severe itch to put it on celluloid for the world to see. abhay deol has named his prodn house ‘forbidden films’ :-) now thats something which shows that there is still hope.
to answer yuor question “But the question to be asked is will that day be too late?” lies in gulaal. its a classic case in point. another thing that i have promised myself and would request other film-makers, budding or otherwise, give due respect to the marketing aspect of cinema. actually, it would be great if you write a post on Film Marketing 101 and put it up here or on your personal blog. it just might come handy in times of sankat. :-) thanks.
@Ram V,
Totally agree with you. Kamal’s movies are getting disappointing. Dasavatharam was the final straw. Maruthanayakam’s trailers arent very exciting either.
Though I have often tried to look at Kamal the actor only and not at his relegious tendencies…. it does get a trifle irritating when he puts down one religion completely. The trailer talks about Islam being the religion of peace. Not to put down any religion but every religion does have its own ups and downs and its share of violence.
@ Ram-
yes I’m aware of Kamal having roped in a Frenchguy ( Jean Claude Carrier if I’m not wrong) to collaborate on Marudhanayagam.
as far as I know the censors felt that there would be a lot of embarassment to a lot of political leaders in the movie ( Kurapathrikai )
and hence the cuts, frankly after such a long delay it didnt make any difference at all.
RK was a good director and one time was riding a success wave with consecutive hits like Pulan Visaranai,Captain Prabhakaran,Chembaruthi,etc but he seems to have faded away and is more known as Roja’s husband these days.BTW Suriyan is not an RK film.it was directed by Pavithran.he’s the one who directed Indhu,I Love India etc.
Will surely open up my pitara ( if I can call it that way
) a lot more in the coming days.
@ Magik-
good to know your thoughts on the same.I have been thinking on this issue for ages.Fair enough majority of the films made ( be it in any language ) are trash no doubt, but then I believe they need a chance in bringing it in front of the audience atleast and then allowing them to decide the fate of the movie.
and yes you are right, marketing is often neglected or not given enough importance.will surely write my lekh on the same sometime soon.
@ Ganesh-
The post is not about Kamal or Marudhanayagam.I started off by mentioning it because it acted as a trigger in this case thats all.The bigger issue here is about a filmmaker’s worst nightmare- that of seeing his movie not getting completed/released.So lets discuss on that.I’m sure we can discuss on Kamal and his thoughts on religion, some other time.
nice article sethu…
recently one old saif movie got release and flopped without any notice…sanam teri kasam…i feel even movies do have an expiry date, if they cant come out in time, then its gone case.
Do you know any movie which was in can for long time but became hit after it was released???. I cant remember any…
@Sethu…yes ofcourse..Sooryan was by Pavithran…Memory got mixed up by the presence of Roja in it…:-)…
Looks like RK is into making Pulan Visaranai-2 now…with Prasanth in the lead…
@ Prashant
Yes the Saif movie- Sanam Teri Kasam was lying in the cans for a long time.It was earlier called Sambandh and then changed to Yeh Pyar Hi To Hai.
Movies certainly have an expiry date.Beyond a particular time frame the movie can look stale, the concept can get outdated, the sensibilites might get distorted etc.
I cant think of any movie which became a hit after waiting for more than 5 years or so and without getting reshot.But yes Kamal Haasan’s Vettaiyadu Vilayadu and Ajith’s Varalaaru ( both in Tamil ) were lying in the cans for around 2 years due to certain financial reasons ( both the original producers were in deep mess and couldnt bring it out ).But finally when the movies released, they went on to be hits.
@ Ram-
Pulan Visaranai-2 is a project that is on air for the last 2 years or so.If you remember Prasant hasnt had a single release in 2007,2008 & 2009.his last releases were Adaikalam,Thagapansamy and Jambhavan way back in 2006.So I’m not sure when this movie is going to see the light of the day.
Prashant is also supposed to doing the remake of his father, Thyagarajan’s old hit- Malaiyoor Mambattiyan.
@Ganesh…even though I agree with you on the fact that ‘Hindu’ bashing , direct or indirect, is a norm of psuedo intellectuals, which include some film makers, let us discuss the same elsewhere…Sethu’s concern are genuine…if a couple of Kamal fans or Psuedos step in…the post will be hijacked away from the core issue of discussion…which is ofcourse the nightmare of those whose dreams are closed up in a can…
It is ok if a film never kicked off…but if the production is complete and is waiting for release…its like unending incubation…
Censors should release every movie…with varied certification..why curtail release…I dont know
Its even worse if censors have no objection but producers or distributors back off…unknown hand of the market is unavoidable though….
I think Jean Claude Carrie was right from the first part of Marudanayagam who had written the script for its french version. I loved the trailer and to me it was very impressive. It had traces of bravheart and Apocalypto, though the trailer was made way before even apocalypto was thought of. There were several people who were completely put off by his over indulgance in Dasavatharam , but remember there were people like me who were able to enjoy the movie every bit.I Though it had a very good script and nice screenplay to keep the temp going rite thru the movie. Vettaiyadu vilayadu was ok. Mumbai express was indeed brilliant but some how never found anyone who liked it. Virumandi was nothing short of a master piece but for its terrible last half an hour. Inspite of the criticism and failures he faces he will keep coming back. Wish Marudhanayagam and Marmayogi gets some financiers and is able to see the daylight in the near future.
Sethu,
A minor crib. ‘Angadi Theru’ is not the second movie of Vasantha Balan. It is his third. His first movie was a dud called ‘Album’, starring Rajesh and Sruthika. Only thing it is remembered for is some good tunes by Karthik Raja.
@ Venky
My bad, Album is indeed the debut movie of Vasantha Balan.I do remember the movie mainly for one song-
“chellame chellam…..da da da darshini”
I guess just as Vishnu Vardhan’s debut is considered to be Arindhum Ariyamalum by the majority while his actual debut was Kurumbu, in case of Vasantha Balan too, a good movie like Veyyil has made people forget Album completely.
I think album would also be remembered as the only thamizh movie to star Balachandra menon – correct me if i am wrong. it started pretty much allright – but went nowhere later on.
@Prashant
If I’m not wrong Ghatak is one movie to have succeeded even though it was in the cans for a long time(though not sure how long)
@Sethu and Ram,
Oops for that. Not my intention to move crowd away from the topic. Sorry abt that. All the same, we should have a discussion on that
One more example would be Ullam Ketkumae, a tamil movie and a moderate hit. But it lay in the cans for quite a long time. Guess it was due to some money issue.
@ Sudip,Prashant-
Yes Ghatak definitely is an example for a movie to have succeeded after being in the cans for a while.In fact originally the music was to be given by R.D.Burman alone ( he did compose 2 songs for the movie- like nigaon ne chheda hai dil ka taraana & badan mein chandni ) but then I guess the movie was appearing a bit stale and to add some freshness and zing Anu Malik was drafted to compose an item number- koi jaaye to le aaye, which was picturised on Mamta Kulkarni and it did become quite popular
@ Ganesh-
sure we’ll discuss that too in a seperate post/forum
and yes Ullam Ketkumae was lying unsold for some time and did moderately well. In fact it was supposed to be the debut movie for people like pooja,asin ( in tamil ) and arya but due to the delay they had other releases before it.
@ all- the song in the previous comment should read as nigahon ne chheda hai ( ghatak ).
Mughal E Azam anyone? The mother of all succesful delayed projects
@ plum-
you are certainly right about Mughal-E-Azam, it took some 9 years to be completed I think.
Hi Magik,
Good that you brought the topic of Film marketing. Can any one here please post an article about movie marketing? Actually, I am a B-school student waiting to enter the Indian movie industry in production/marketing management.
Recently, I read a synopsis of a research study where in hollywood actors like Will Smith spend considerable amount of time doing market research (on whether the movie will work out or not!) before they commit to a movie. Do we have such stuffs in India?
What the hell? Pakeezah, 14 years!
And a piece of art does not come with an expiry date, a story yet to be told does not come with an expiry date, all that shit is mostly in the Indian film industry cause we have worn out actors and actresses..Art is timeless, a painting made by MF Hussain saab 40 years ago is still as fresh and as intriguing even if he showcases it now.
Yes you take out a David Dhawan story and make it 20 years later, yes it will certainly be trash. Technique and Technology doesnt matter, the content does.
I honestly didn’t really get the post, more of facts and public news. Most of us know the struggle Anurag sir and all have had to go through, or Shivajee sir for that matter, and it’s been mentioned quite a few times. No offence to anybody, but Sethu sir, cut down on the frequent writing, increase the quality. I might sound like a stuckup tape recorder, but please provide some variety
@ Sivakumar- good to know you are interested in movie marketing.While I haven’t yet written a full fledged post on the same, would request you to look at the following posts on movie marketing and re-distribution – written during my i View days – maybe you’ll find something there.
do let me know your views on it.
http://passionforcinema.com/movie-re-distribution-an-area-of-potential/
http://passionforcinema.com/movie-marketing-the-telugu-cinema-way/
@ Jehan-
Pakeezah or even Mughal-E-Azam took a long time
( 14 years and 9 years ) in the making for various reasons. But they did not lie in the cans after completion for ages.My post here is about movies lying in the cans unfinished like a Marudhanayagam or unreleased like a Paanch.K.Asif’s Love and God in fact is an example of a movie which lay incomplete in the cans and was hastily released in the 80’s with disastrous consequences.
yes art is timeless, no doubt.But if you or me make a movie today and it lies in the cans for more than 5 years and is released without making any changes to it then the movie can only succeed if any of the below reasons are true-
1. The concept and feel is fresh
2. The cast and crew are still popular
3. The audience has no better choice
4. Plain luck
and btw I have just cited Anurag and Shivajee as examples here – even mentioned by now that their story is a common knowledge.This post purely came up as a result of a discussion which emerged over a movie like Marudhanayagam & nothing else.
I’m sorry you didnt like it,will try to write better, the next time around.Thanks for the concern though- and yes I probably will anyway not be able to maintain this pace of writing forever
so guess I’ll keep this in mind too.
Thanks a lot Sethu,
Those were really helpful.
I’d be pleased if we bring in guys from the movie marketing business to write in PFC. It will be good to hear their side of the story too.
Great topic, i think it would be every film maker’s night mare to his film completed and not release due to reasons beyond his control.
I think it is more unfortunate when censor does not pass movie on silly grounds and film maker has to make changes or lengthy court battle .
I think Mughal-E-Azaam and Pakeezah worked inspite of delay becuase they were period movies, so there was no question of outdated, the delay may have added ti it’s old world charm.
Hum tumhare Hai Sanam had a decent run in box office even after long in making.
@ Cinemausher
You have a valid point about Pakeezah and Mughal-E-Azam and yes Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam is a decent example.
And after this workshop, Kamal Hassan and K Hariharan come up with an idea for a film on Chennai..on the lines of Paris, Je T’aime….
http://screenwritingindia.com/
Students done this course can be a part of this project…their stories in here….
@ Arthi – yes the students of this course are all
working on concepts for the same now.
Lets see how this works out.
well it looks like Ayangaran’s problems are getting taken care off.Their line-up of completed projects is now getting a release.This friday-24th July sees the release of C.Sundar’s Aindham Padai.Sources tell me that next in line would be Nandalala and then Angadi Theru.In fact trailer of Nandalala would be shown with Aindham Padai.