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Honesty in Film Making
“It’s a great film”, we use this term often and,”it’s a really bad film” a little too often? What is there in a film, which strikes a chord amongst audiences? What pisses them off? Off course there will be people who like and hate a particular film. PFC has provided an awesome platform to interact with passionate film-makers. Their company introduced me to the term ‘honesty in film-making’. The outcome of a film heavily depends on this term. The following is the typical situation a film-maker faces
A film maker has a story he passionately believes in. He is desperate to tell it. By the grace of all mighty the day ultimately arrives, when he has the required resources. The shooting begins but alas theres an interruption. The film completion is delayed or the resources get exhausted. Without getting bogged down the film maker waits for the right moment. Does not compromise. Faces difficulties personally and professionally. The universe conspires; the resources appear out of nowhere. The show begins and goes on to create history. This seems to be the process of making of an honest film. A typical example would be the making of ‘Pather Panchali’. I remember reading somewhere that Satyajit Ray started the shoot using personal funds. A point came, when he had to sell his wife’s personnel jewellery. A bad patch came, the film got stuck because of lack of funds. Then the Bengal Government intervened to finish the film. The rest is history. Recently met the cinematographer of ‘Hyderabad Blues’ Amar. According to him Nagesh Kuknoor came from the USA, with a saving of 18 lakhs and invested the whole amount in the film. During the shoot Nagesh’s mother use to make idlis and dosas for the crew. Our own Anurag Kashyap’s films ‘Panch’ and ‘Gulal’ share similar stories. Offcourse there are a lot of other examples. Please share a tale if you have one!
One of the other motives in film making is commercial success. To make a film, which would drag the people to theatres. One necessary ingredient is Star power. The bigger the star greater the pull. Typically it’s the same old story, which has proved its might on the screen several times in past. Its something the whole family will come and watch. Now a single star is not enough so we have multistar package. The best music director is hired along with the best cinematographer. When the film is released, people madly flock to watch it. It’s a good escape for three hours. They forget it the next day.
Then there are film makers who have to make a living. Agree to do a film as long as they get a handsome amount. The story line does not matter. The budget is not big enough to rope in big names. Everybody in the film is there to survive. But nevertheless the film is made.
Critical acclaim is another motive. A subject, which is currently hot, is chosen. A storyline is setup. Actors of repute are hired. The film is not bad. It’s missing something. It did hit the surface but failed to get beneath it.
There must be a lot of other reasons, why a film is been made. Until unless the story is told with honesty it’s results would fall where the majority is. Having said that it’s not at all easy to make an honest film or even to make a film. Even the people, who are not able to make film in spite of sacrificing their whole lives for the cause, are worth appreciating and saluting. But the people who do, glory awaits them!
9 Responses to “Honesty in Film Making”
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Manjeet, while I agree that “struggle” (whether before, during or after making the film) is an attribute that draws us, I would hesitate to say that films that focus on commercial success are not honest.
To me, commercial sucess is not just about packing the theaters and star power. It is about returning the money that someone gave you so that you will live to make another film.
Why is that not honest? Is there struggle? Sure. But there is also the goal of making it viable.
At some point in the future, I hope I will have to borrow money (friends, family, producer?) to make a film. While I will give them the caveats of “don’t expect your money back”, I will try damned hard to get it back to them. Otherwise, I technically remain in debt to them until I repay even if I may not legally remain in debt.
So… to me, dismissing commercial success is not being honest with the people who enabled you to live your dream.
Thanks for this post - made me think. :)
That’s an interesting take, Manjeet.
Personally, I would have defined ‘honesty in film making’ as being true to the story and intent rather than the ’struggle’ involved in making the film.
Thus for me a ‘Main hoon, na’ while being in the ‘commercial’ format is an honest film because it is true to it’s intentions whereas a ‘Black’ is dishonest because it dresses up the film in superficial gloss that detracts from the story.
Truly thought-provoking piece, Manjeet!
A little foot note to the Ray-Pather Panchali story. The money provided to him by the erstwhile Govt. of West Bengal was from the Public Works Department under the head of Roads Improvement, for the simple reason that the name ‘Pather Panchali’ translates to ‘Song of the Little Road’!
Shripriya, Navdeep and Amborish: The whole point was that the film needs to have soul. It should be about what the director believes in, without caring for the results. Make a film you really want to make and leave the result to people. If it gets commericial or critical sucess well n good if not, it does not matter. The reverse process of starting a film with impact in mind, does effect the soul of the film. The struggle part is not a requirement. I just tried to put forth the pains and passion involved in film making.
I have no problems with a commericial film if intentions r good:)
you all have a point… for me, i see it as two different cases. for a first time filmmaker who, after years of struggling to finally find a producer, there is a lot of pressure, mostly because the producer has entrusted him with getting his ROI (return of investment). in such a case, it’s even tougher for the filmmaker to make a film that is creatively satisfying (for himself) yet monetarily beneficial (for his producer).. and most of the times, this would separate those first time filmmakers who make their second film much sooner from those for whom it would take another few years to find a producer.
for established filmmakers (yashraj, KJ, ghai etc), when you see some of the crap they produce (they produce good stuff too, but it’s been a while since we saw it), you know they make it with the money in mind and don’t give two shits about the story. why else would they take stars as their safety nets? if they’re so confident about telling a damn good story, let’s see them take some newcomers in lead roles and then see how their film fares at the box office. they won’t do it. one more reason i love ramu, and i didn’t include him in this “established” list. he makes a story because he wants to make it, and that’s that. the cast is picked according to the story, not the other way around.
well said Striker.
Made me think.. :)
The universe conspires; the resources appear out of nowhere. The show begins and goes on to create history. This seems to be the process of making of an honest film……very kewl.. :)
i love that line manjeet..i think the universe always conspires when you are true..everything always falls into place..its the law and the biggest and the most simple secret.
The universe conspires; the resources appear out of nowhere. The show begins and goes on to create history. This seems to be the process of making of an honest film……very kewl.. :)
i love that line manjeet..i think the universe always conspires when you are true..everything always falls into place..its the law and the biggest and the most simple secret.. o:-)