Filmmakers, Step Across This Line
“When you think of what is true of India….the opposite is also true”
- John Kenneth Galbraith (progressive economist, liberal and former US ambassador to India)
So what’s true of India – a rapidly growing economy, burgeoning affluent middle class and a young vibrant working populace making its mark in a globalized economy? But then as Galbraith had accurately observed, the opposite is also true.
Do we know of this other India? Of over half million farmer suicides in the last decade, of a quarter of its 500 odd districts where the writ of the state has wilted in the face of naxalite terror, of sleeper terror cells spread across the country who strike at will with remarkable regularity and of large swathes of urban educated India where female foeticides has led to a skewed gender ratio (1000:900) worse than sub-Saharan regions.
This India pops up on odd occasions in mainstream media jarring the stream of feel-good news of soaring stock markets, increasing headcount of Indians in the club of global billionaires and a GDP growth of over 9% annually. But these are uncomfortable truths? And we have learnt the convenient art of sweeping them under the carpet or deliberately ignoring them. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that no mainstream TV news channel has a dedicated rural correspondent. Or no mainstream newspaper, barring The Hindu or a few from the vernacular press, has a dedicated columnist for agriculture and labour issues which concern more than 70% of our population. While there are over dozen of them covering the capital markets which directly concerns less than 3% of India.
How does our cinema fare in confronting these issues? Cinema, the other medium which holds a mirror to the society. Have Indian film-makers thought about these stories that we ought to watch? Surely, we need our escapist fares for who can argue against the trite logic that the aam aadmi pays up Rs. 100 to enter a fantasy world which takes him away from his daily travails. But is that all in terms of responsibility?
More than the responsibility, I think Indian film-makers are losing out on an excellent opportunity? Of capturing a society undergoing transition, of the daily skirmishes between the modern and the conventional and of the stark contrasts that abound everywhere. Naipaul was a tad ahead of his time; this is the India of a million mutinies. Great cinema requires these stories and they are available all around us. Over the years, societies in transition (Italy and France of the 60s and 70s, Korea of 80s and 90s) and nations in duress or in strife (Iran, the Balkan regions, Middle-East) have produced great cinema since the film-makers there turned their attention within. And it was commercially viable and successful cinema too!
So when such an opportunity of capturing transition presents itself like it does today in India, do we see film-makers making the most of it? Forget about taking a considered stand on such issues, I see most film-makers living a cocooned existence and making a virtue out of it. In a recent interview, one of the most celebrated film-maker reveals that of late, he has hardly left his home and that he continues to draws upon his experiences of real world from what he had seen of it as a child. What stories should we expect from him when the repository of varied experiences has already run dry with no desire to replenish them?
May be these are the stories that the new wave of ‘indie’ film-makers will pick up. Possibly, this is the time for someone to write the Indian version of Rick Schmidt’s ‘How to Make a Feature Film at Used Car Prices’ to launch a generation of aspiring film-makers who will make our versions of El Mariachi or Slackers. May be a tribe of intrepid film-makers will emerge who will give voice to these skirmishes around us not bound by the conventions of commercially safe cinema.
There are new frontiers beckoning us and I hope we as audience will not fail those storytellers who will fearlessly want to explore them. I will leave you with an excerpt from Salman Rushdie’s essay ‘Step Across This Line’ (from where the title of this post is inspired):
“The frontier is a wake-up call. At the frontier we can’t avoid the truth; the comforting layers of the quotidian, which insulate us against the world’s harsher realities, are stripped away and, wide-eyed in the harsh fluorescent light of the frontier’s windowless halls, we see things as they are. …. Will we become the suits of armor our fear makes us put on, or will we continue to be ourselves? The frontier both shapes our characters and tests our mettle. I hope we pass the test.”
I hope as hell we do.
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
AMEN!
HEAR HEAR!!!!!!!
We do miss Manoj ‘Mr. India’ Kumar.
Subrat, nice topic but you have to understand, the “breed” of film makers who want to bring a “change” in society or even make a difference in fast vanishing.
They are only concerned about the Multiplex audience who bring in fast and large revenues and if they start showing such fare to them, that audience would feel ashamed of their lifestyle and stop watching movies! We don’t want to show anything that would make our “customers” cringe right?
A Laaga Chunari Mein Daag could have been a wonderful movie, but here again…the makers were more bothered about the B.O….The haveli’s, the gloss, the topic stupidity of the screenplay destroyed a great subject…..especially Abhishek Bachchan, the prince who comes to rescue the damsel in distress!
Some people argued that didn’t Rani get any other job that she had to become a hooker? She could have worked as a maid servant…She could have done this done that…
Well…It is a fact that many women in India are forced to sell their bodies even today! Yes…Even in this age of call centers and globalisation. Just because we are not in that situation, we should not try to under-estimate their real issues. Only the makers of that movie could not present the story properly…
The same way, corruption in villages. The benefits meant for farmers hardly reach them…The whole rural administration is corrupt through out India. We see India shining on one side and on the other, are embarrassed by the news of farmers suicides.
Give me a sting operation and I will prove that “everyone” is corrupt. This whole nation is corrupt. All you need is the right price!
So what can the film makers do? No one wants to invest so much just to give out a message to the society! Who is bothered?
I had a story on corruption but never worked on it much. There is this rich family abroad who want to do something for their country. So they get in touch with the officials of Indian government and decide to sponsor a college. Unable to travel to India, they send funds from there and come to know that the college is constructed, students enrolled, etc etc. Every month this rich Indian family sends money for the wages and other expenditure of the college.
After many years, the husband and wife decide to visit India to see their college. But when they land here and go to the town where their college was supposed to be there, they are shocked to find empty land. All these years, the district administration has been eating up all the funds without even constructing a building! haha!
These couple run around every govt office (saaransh type) for justice but to no avail…
Finally they decide to do something themselves. They decide to “burn” the college and kill all the “students”….Once they do that, they court arrest.
Now the whole effing administration is in a fix. They cannot arrest them because there “never” was a college or students. If they arrest them, then all of them will be proved guilty! So what to do? ;)
excellent post!
The problem is that movies reflecting these problems will be inevitably depressing and hence will have few takers. Cinema as an art, has an essential responsibility of holding a mirror to the society but, it appears that in India, cinema has been reduced only to business. Its just an industry.
Actually not only cinema, but even literature seems to be going same way. NRIs and their sob stories!
As machchar puts it very correctly, who is bothered?
I concur with Machchar and Neeraja. Unfortunate but true. Even if there are movies that are made with an underlying social motive, these are reduced to normal commercial fare due to industry pressure. As Machchar says, LCMD could have been a much better movie had the treatment been less glam and more real.
Talking about corruption – Most of Shankar’s (tamil) movies such as Gentleman, Mudalvan, Anniyan, Sivaji, etc. had a social theme but the viewer after coming out of the theatre would remember the songs, dances or the ‘fight’ sequences more vividly than the actual story. You have a Swades or a RDB that releases every now and then and pricks the conscience or invokes a reaction. But these reactions are as long-lasting as our cricket team’s winning streak. Lower budget movies such as Dombivili Fast have no chance of being noticed nationwide or to make an impact.
The lack of movies with a message within our domestic industry also means that the so-called ‘people of Indian Origin’ who reside outside get a chance to make movies with the wrong messages. I personally find Deepa Mehta’s movies distasteful, manipulative at the cost of our country’s reputation and lacking allegory.
These movies need not necessarily be art-house. At the same time, one can not deny that the addition of songs ruins the impact. But if it has to allure to the masses, it has to have stars, songs and manipulative marketing.
Am sure we have great scripts which have been lying around for years but hasn’t been picked up yet. Alas, the compulsory industry requirement of having to ‘pimp up’ movies kills these scripts when they do make it to the big screen.
I have my hopes pinned on some of these ‘one minute’ movies. Going by the titles and tag-lines, I suspect we will see a lot of good movies. Subrat, lets satiate ourselves with this whilst waiting for a miracle
AnandG: For a change, Shankar movies did inspire me a lot. After watching Anniyan, I became more careful about traffic rules and other small things like throwing trash on the road which we don’t even bother about. I am sure that apart from me, many other people would have learned something good from that movie.
Shankar at least makes an attempt. What about these big film makers like Subhash Ghai’s and Aditya Chopras?
Their fore-fathers were immigrants, farmers etc who have suffered a lot…Their country gave so much to them but they are still greedy…Did you even see ONE socially relevant message from Mukta or YRF? I am sure they can afford ten such movies even if they don’t run but blinded by money, they are not bothered.
Kunal Kapoor was almost a failed hero till RDB gave him a second lease of life…Again, it was not the traditional producers who produced RDB and made Kunal Kapoor a star but when he did become a star, they immediately grabbed him. Kunal, movies like RDB gave you what you got….not LCMD or Aaja Nachles. Concentrate on good cinema irrespective of the banner. People want to see you in powerful roles, not as arm candy to Konkona’s and Madhuri’s.
Neerja, Anand G – there’s hope in PFCOne!!
Machchar – some thought provoking stuff there. And that ‘college’ story is quite good.
Anand G, I think Deppa Mehta movies had interesting stories but bad treatment. But yeah, there is no point of a movie like ‘water’. We need movies which talk about social evils, economic disparities and/or political situation of modern india. There is not much point looking into the past unless we derive inspiration from it like in RDB.
I really admire Maniratnam for making wonderful movies like Roja and Bomabay which had simple stories against a backdrop of a serious issues presented beautifully on screen. What is important is that these movies were hits…people watched them, inspite of the fact that they were not of ‘only entertainment’ category. Shankar is also decent, I don’t like his style of direction but at least he picks up relevant subjects.
I guess, a bit of commercialization is important to reach a larger audience but LCMD looks plainly disgusting! (I haven’t watched it, did not have the courage! Also I have issues with the name of the movie :D )
In India today, while some people make millions over night in some deals which seem too easy for them, on the other side there are people who struggle to make even 5 grand a month…educated people are actually jobless. Families are crumbling. What does the government do? Every day the newspapers have some or other news about how the poor are looking for help for their medical assistance, which is paltry thousands….
What is the government doing? Where is all the trillions collected as tax going? Forget dole, there should be quality medical benefits to every citizen?
Why does some one NOT make a movie where the villain is the government? Not our typical bollywood masala fare. We show this mammoth machine that is eating away our resources and slowly destroying everything from within? It can be a docu-drama like BF….It can have a young guy…like that Pramod Mahajan’s secretary…who gets into the world of power and sleaze…when he finds out the amount of money these fuckers are gobbling up….Taxes collected, trillions, the amount CM makes every day…the amount a minister makes depending on his port-folio (no wonder they fight for the best)….how much all the licensed bandits called government officials make…how they subvert the system….
Imagine a traffic cop, he at least catches 50 guys per day…Even if he takes 100 bucks each from 20 guys into personal account, that would be 2000 rupees!…His cut would be 1000! That’s 30,000 per month and not counting some good days! (EVERY TRAFFIC COP CAN BE BRIBED)
The pimps…I mean the cops at the Police stations actually have a great business running? They are experts in “settling” things…and taking their “cut”! Mera Bharat Mahan!!!!!!
Nana Patekar shouting at roof tops will not make a difference to this system…Nothing will….
The system is too corrupt…Our nation is going to the dogs…
Machchar,
Good idea. Happy ending or tragic?:d
Navdeep: Haha! Well…In the end I see our man running a small Kirana store in Sholapur….So does that make it happy or tragic? :D
Subrat, glad to see pfc has a post on films and social change. I’m surprised at the pessimism of some who think socially relevant films cannot be made a success especially when the change in India happening right now is multidimensional. Mainstream media as usual harp about all the positive economic bullshit leaving alone the lesser known mortals – unless the lesser knowns are affected greatly like the farmers’ suicides. Something extreme always has to happen to anybody to take action. We as a society are so used to mediocrity in govt-related, socially relevant service that we tend to ignore them and go in search of a bigger hope.
But I think socially relevant filmmakers should not be bogged down by commercial successes of big budget, star-cast films. ‘Commercial’ films will not stop being and so must issue-oriented films. We gotta have the faith and the courage to pursue and support them for if we don’t, we cannot ‘pass the test’.
kirana store guys make loads o money what with adultrated products being sold…so that makes it a happy ending machar.
@ machchar –
if i may make a suggestion…
The way to make movies on or against corruption is not from a bleeding heart or soapbox perspective. Or I guess not the ONLY way. For the film to have an impact, it must be watched by a lot of people and not just the 17,586 NGO activists.
Satire or black comedy is the way, and it HAS got to have BELLY LAUGHS. Make it entertaining. An example is Jaane bhi do yaaron in India.
Other examples to look at –
Idiocracy
Network
Hospital
Dr. StrangeLove
Exaggerate and dramatize. Why don’t you set it in 2050, and show India infinitely worse than what it is today. Should be easy to shoot ;-) You can satirize the India Shining slogan. Project how bad things can get when people are blind or oblivious to what is actually happening around them, but do it in a funny way.
For example, have people bribing a govt. official to breathe.
Keep the premise simnple for the masses to understand. Have a baba try to get some govt work done, and have your protagonist be a corrupt official. The baba in frustration uses his powers and banishes/teleports him to 2050.
Now our anti-hero becomes a hapless victim in a society that he helped create and fuel. Give him a purpose there, such as finding the baba who is the only guy who can bring him back and the baba (who is still alive and has not aged cos’ you know, he’s a baba!) can make him do 3 simple tasks which will be impossible to accomplish since the hero has no money, no contacts and no influence to bribe anyone.
Finally, somehting something happens, hero comes back to the present, and tries to lead an ethical life. Happy ending, and sermon accomplished.
It could be Idiocracy meets It’s a Wonderful Life with the flavor of Jaane Bhi do yaaron.
Dabba – good suggestions to Machchar’s story! It’s turning out to be quite a script. Where’s the story that you had planned to send to IView?
Dabba, You’re right. Humour is sometimes the best way to lower people’s defences. Methinks ‘Lagey Raho…’ is a good example.
Dabba great story! Well, It can be another story but for what I have in mind, humor can actually take the seriousness out of the topic. I agree Lagey Raho was a perfect example but end of the day, I remember the message in Anniyan much clearer than Lagey Raho….
This “India for Sale” can be a dark and grimy subject, which starts off with a bright and “will do anything” to reach the top guy who gets an opportunity to become the secretary to the secretary of a high profile Minister/Power Broker.
Every scene in this subject should be thrilling.
We definitely would need to do lot of research on this topic…A plot is slowly forming in my mind….
A political satire at this time will become something like “Office Office” of the big screen. People would just laugh it off. I want something where after seeing the movie, they don’t sleep!
@ 16 Subrat -
It’s done but it is my first attempt at short fiction; my toolbox is woefully inadequate as I have not given any study to this medium. I have all kinda problems with tone, tense, grammar, an ability to evoke and even blaady punctuation. I have become so used to terse sentences that I can’t form complex sentences with more than one subordinate clauses and dang that dangling participle!
It needs several re-writes before it can see the light of the internet gods. I thought it would be a quickie while I was kinda in limbo between projects, but one thing I have realized is that nothing creative is ever a quickie unless you are Stephen King, who bursts through a novel and has enough gas in him, to fire of a novella at the end. Not that I have read any of his books.
Shee-ite, why should I when everyone is made into a movie?
It will come soon enough though. I am eager to get feedback from those that have more experience writing short fiction, and hopefully getting yelled at, hated on and lectured which will shorten my learning curve.
@ 17 navdeep –
Yes, lagey raho did this quite well. It’s not actually to my taste cos in the end i would have liked to see sanju baba and circuit doin the same ol same ol, but have boman use the same gandhigiri to get what he wants and turning people against munnabhai. Now that would have been satire!
the lambs need to see themselves for what they are…
@ 19 machchar –
To each their own. I may have watched one episode of office office on TV, if that’s what i think it is. Parody not satire. Big difference.
OSO is a parody of itself, Jaaney bhi do yaaron is satire.
If you are serious about your plot/script, read the scripts of any rise and fall gangster story (goodfellas, hoodlum, american G, even our very own Company). That may be a good template for yyou to structure your screenplay.
good luck.
@ subrat –
Just read your post carefully again (i usually speed read). The film i’m raising money for is directly based on one of the issues you mentioned in para 3. But dabba ishtyle. I would love to share more, but I’m at a very precarious situation regarding funding, and can’t share any further details yet.
I am sorry, I don’t quite understand what did Lage Raho… do?
In my opinion, it was just another funny movie, nothing more than that.
I guess People, nowadays, are so used to corruption in daily life, that its a challenge to come up with a hard-hitting movie on the issue.
Though I do see lots of interesting ideas here
@Dabba
does dabba ishtyle mean satirical? black comedy? that’ll be great!
Good luck with funding issues, hope we’ll be able to watch your movie soon
Subrat, I recently read a print media report which claims that some film production houses are setting up seperate units to exclusively produce films having small budgets,say under 5 cr.Amongst those mentioned were YRF,Subash ghai,UTV and percept.
The reasons could be commercial,i.e the risks are lower and a hit would lead to a windfall.Obviously the success of Chak de…Bheja fry…and more recently Johnny gaddar would have influenced this decision.
Indie filmakers have always crossed the line.All they need to do now is to pull the big film companies across too.
dabba ishtyle means not going for the obvious way to tell a story and burying the issue or “message” for lack of a better word, deep within an entertaining film.
@ subrat –
email me when you have a chance. i have a favor to ask. thanks…