The Second Time Director
iView Author: Hitendra Singh (Mumbai, India)
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The Second Time Director
Something curious crossed my mind while watching ‘Chamku’ and ‘Rock On’. I noticed that both the movies were the second coming of their respective directors - Kabir Kaushik and Abhishek Kapoor. But the similarities ended there.
While Kabir had made a much acclaimed debut with ‘Sehar’, his ‘Chamku’ clearly had left those who were waiting for the movie disappointed. On the other hand, ‘Rock On’ suggests a herculean growth in Abhishek’s previous work, Aryan. Undeniably, there are some murmurs about Deol Paji and Farhan Akhtar calling the shots from behind, and may be that could explain a lot (and I would love to read if someone throw some facts on these rumours), my question essentially assumes both the films to be the work of their respective directors.
The question pertains to what the director goes through from his first movie to the second. What explains such a variation in the work? Does success create an unrealistic expectation or do the failures create a more than adequate willingness to accommodate changes? Or is it as if the first movie was pretty much an idea that one lived with for 5,10,15 years and one creatively dries up or is not able to match up to the first one? Or something else…
When I thought more about it, I found that I could broadly categorise these directors in 3 categories:
Directors who disappointed: Mani Shankar (16 December, Rudraksh), Kabir Kaushik (Sehar, Chamku), John Matthew Mathan (Sarfarosh, Shikhar, and his third called ‘A Love Iiiisshtory’ for T-Series toplining Himesh Bhai doesn’t inspire much confidence)
Directors who delivered on their early promise: Farhan Akhtar (Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya) , Sriram Raghavan (Ek Hasina Thi, Johnny Gaddar), Imtiaaz Ali (Socha Na Tha, Jab We Met), Anurag Kashyap (Black Friday, No Smoking)
Directors who improved by leaps and bounds: Of course, Abhishek Kapoor, and may be Ashutosh Gowarikar too (if Pehla Nasha and Baazi can be taken together)
Since I am naming the names and quite a few of these names either contribute on or visit PFC, I am wondering if we could get to hear some of them. Also, there are those whose second work should be around - Navdeep (MSFU was my favourite movie of 2007 and I am looking forward to your next) and Kabir Khan. And most importantly, comments from everyone who has an opinion, a comp, and access to PFC.
Cheers,
Hitendra
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This is a good topic to discuss about. For any Director, his second film is more important than his first…
Some others who delivered on the promise
RGV…Shiva and Kshana Kshanam
Kamal Haasan..Chachi 420 & Hey Ram
Mysskin..CP & Anjathey
Shimit Amin..Ab Tak 56 and Chak De
Rajiv Menon..Minsara Kanavu & Kandukonden
Fazil(in Tamil)..Poove Poochooda vaa and Poo vizhi vasalile
Bala..Sethu & Nanda(was a bit disappointed but he more than made up for it in Pithamagan)
Best first film..I think in the last decade, my award would go to Bala for Sethu and Aamir for TZP.
its about finding out the type of story you want to tell and the way you want to say it. directors whose first film was good and they tried to do something radically different in their second films have often failed.
if you look at directors whose first film has been a success followed by a successful second film, they have primarily tried to stick to the “formula” that worked in the first one.
for example if you look at imtiaz ali’s socha na tha and jab we met, they are both molded in the same fashion.
by saying this by no means do i mean that directors should stick to formula but they should first find their own style,master that find a audience dedicated to them and then start experimenting with different styles and genre.
telugu:
Sekhar Kammula–Dollar Dreams(National award),Anand(National award),Godavari and Happy Days.
Chandrasekhar Yeleti–Aithe(National award),Anukokunda Oka Roju.
Bhaskar–Bommarillu,Paragu.
@Krishna…Are you sure Sekhar won a national for Anand? I know he won for Dollar Dreams
hmmm Om Prakash Mehra…???
Aks( i liked it) and Rang de..(loved it)
so, where do we categorise him?
Upscale :
kunal kohli : mujhse dosti karogi -> hum tum -> fanaa
rajkumar hirani -> munnabhai series
Downscale :
shaad ali : saathiya -> bunti aur babli -> jhoom baraabar jhoom
pradeep sarkar : parineeta -> laga chunri ..
had some more in mind, but not getting it right now
@OM—i am not sure…
Kunal Kohli upscale?
aur woh Om Prakash Mehra nahi Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra hai..
@Krishna…i dont think Anand won a national, but it did win 7 Nandi’s including best director and best film…
A abit of self promotion…hehe..i had written a piece( which was incomplete, but still published) abut 2 years ago on Sekhar..
http://passionforcinema.com/sekhar-kammula-passion-for-cinema/
@ Tejas.
Is there another Om Prakash mehra?
@Tejas - u may not have liked his work, but there was a marked inmprovement in hum-tum over mujhse-dosti-karogi. and tats the intent of this post anyways…
@Om - Don’t know but I always thought Rakeysh is the first name and Om Prakash may be the middle name, or may be name of his father. Lekin bhai ho sakta hai aapko jyada pata ho..
@Tejas..nahi yaar..
They both are one and the same…i guess…while commenting, i didnt quite remember his first name…btw..off topic..have you seen his episode on Koffee with Karan? the director spl…he and raju hirani were awesome..and brought in a very pleasant point of view..it was fun watching them
@1 Sivakumar: interesting thought, why would u say so?
@2, 4, 7 Anand, Krishna, crazyrals: thanks for expanding the list, Shimit Amin is an interesting case! Though can’t comment on many others as haven’t seen their works. Crazy, I think Kunal is more like topsy turvy: low to high and back to low, wat say
@3 RR: nicely spotted that one. Actually even Sriram Raghavan, Raju Hirani stuck to the track. But Shimit Amin, and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra seem to be exceptions here.
@6 OM: I think, I will put him in the second category.
@1 Sivakumar and @15 Hitendra,
I think Siva meant that 1st film is not fluke. So if you can do it second time, I guess you have it in you. Not necessarily though.
@7 crazyrals
what about thoda pyaar thoda magic ? Kunal is a sine wave, it seems.
Also, Adi Chopra, his DDLJ was fantastic but he came some notches down with Mohabbatein.
If we extend the theory for 3 movies then nobody has shown as much growth as Ashutosh Gowarikar and he followed it up with Swades.
@vishesh
if u r adding adi chopra then sooraj barjatiya falls in the same category, fall from grace
rohan sippy did well to recover from ‘kuchh na kaho’ and came-up with ‘bluffmaster’
off-late, jp dutta and rajkumar santoshi r not doing justice with their talent. but lets just restrict ourselves to 2-3 movies only. tat wud mean, leave out the old timers and look ahead
I was shocked by the trash that Mahesh Manjrekar gave after debuting with “Vastav”, though he later recovered a bit with “Astitva” and “Virudh”.
Mel Gibson—
The Man without a Face >> Braveheart >> The Passion of the Christ >> Apocalyto
The last 3 movies were all superb.
So he has maintained his standard as a director.
@avn..astitva was before vaastav..
I feel the director who most disappointed with his second work was Pradeep Sarkar, Shaad Ali and Pankaj Parashar (this guy’s Jalwa was superb and from there Chaalbaaz and Rajkumar was pathetic to say the least!).
Improvement in second work - Revathi, Mani Ratnam and lately Abhishek Kapoor & Nagesh Kukunoor
Avn,
Vaastav was anything but thrash ….
Extremely insightful and pertinent topic, Hitendra.
The 2nd work is also taken as a big benchmark in the publishing industry as well, more so than films I guess. It’s pretty much taken that the first book is more or less a retelling/rehashing/rearrangement of the writer’s own life and experiences. So everyone who is serious enough to take up writing as a career has a natural first book in him - his own life, that is. It’s what comes after that, when he looks for external sources and is put to a far sterner test of imagination, shows his mettle.
I think the 2nd piece of work is where it really begins, the 2nd work is the 1st. That one and the subsequent ones form the real litmus for any creative guy.
My vote as far as movies go: Sudhir Mishra for Yeh Woh Manzil Toh Nahin and Main Zinda Hoon.
@Anand……I meant he followed up a good movie like Vaastav with a load of trash movies…..
@Indraneel….you sure Astitva was before Vaastav? At least it was released later as far as I know, right?
avn my bad ….he started with Vastav followed by astitva and then his downfall started with movies like jis desh mein ganaga rehta hai, ehsas,vastav part 2 et al ….
@15, Hitendra,
22. Inca has summed up for me. That was exactly what I wanted to say.
@krishna: Sekhar Kammula’s Happy Days was the worst film I ever sat through. I’m not saying this because I had high expectations for the movie, my assessment is purely objective.
If we talk about a director who always dissappointed after his first film then first name comes in my mind of N. Chandra. After Ankush in his every film we can see his downfall and now he is nowhere.
I think the high expectations can get to many. You are a nobody and make a movie that you always wanted to make, on a relatively low budget, on your own terms and if it works then you are suddenly talk of the town. Now every producer is at your door with a shoddy script hoping that you recreate the magic. If your better judgement doesn’t prevail then you could easily get sucked in to signing up for a disaster!
And lets face it, “Sehar” did not exactly set the box office on fire. It was critically acclaimed and admired by a selective audience so that may not necessarily mean a lot of creative freedom for the director when he is signed on to a bigger banner for his next release.
On the other hand you have directors like Madhur Bhandarkar and Mahesh Manjrekar who created such waves with their earlier works that producers and the media created this aura that they could do no wrong. I am sure they got final cut on their later films but you can tell the ego trips these guys may have been on - below average movies at best! Manoj Night Shyamalam falls in that category - just a coincidence their names begin with “M”
One person who appears so far “untouched” by the hype is Dibankar Banergee of “Khosla Ka Ghosla” fame. I think he is either waiting for something very exciting to come along or is just sitting it out till the pressure eases a little…
Hi Rajeev @ 27,
N Chandra followed Ankush with Pratighaat and Tezaab. Both were extremely impactful, landmark movies. It also showed his versatility with scale.
It was only with Narasimha that he got onto the path of super-duper muck. But I agree with you, he looks so defeated today.
@SJ
dibakar bannerjee is not sitting it out. he’s making “oye lucky..lucky oye”
@ankur - did not know that (imdb did not list anything besides KKG under his name); thanks.
Looking forward to it; is Jaideep involved in this one too?
I actually had a few names after reading this post but i guess they’ve all been exhausted in the above comments.
But I think Kunal Kohli has gone dreadfully downhill with thoda pyaar…
And then there’s Nikhil Advani… who went down with salaam-e-ishq…
Not to forget, Siddharth Anand… who too made a nice salaam namaste but couldn’t follow it up.
Farhan Akhtar has gone downhill with Don.
Ketan Mehta with the mangal pandey film.
Vikram Bhatt too i think made a decent effort with “ghulam”… his other films were nowhere close.
@16 vishesh: lol, Kunal sine wave. totally agree on Gowarikar.
@17, 32 crazyrals, Sameer: seems malaise is deeper that what one initially thought. no wonder, good movies are going down in numbers.
@18 Avn: yeah, Mahesh Manjrekar, another one. What days has he fallen to?
@19 Sougata: Not just Gibson, but generally the lot does remain consistent there. Or may be we don’t come to know of that many trashy ones from there.
@20 Indraneel: Must catch up with Jalwa. Chaalbaaz, guess was the product of its day. Btw, if you are still with the same company, that’s half a year gone. Time for another post!!
@22 Inca: yeah, like the dialogue in Ugly and Pagli, Mumbai mein to har kisi ke paas ek kahani se - Doodhwale se Bhansali tak. So reckon, you are from the publishing world?
@27, 29 Rajeev, Inca: Admit it. I think his crowded shots used to be fantastic. To think the guy who made Ankush and Pratighat also made..err, excuse me.
@28: lol, SJ. Seems you are doomed if you do well, and otherwise too. But seriously, it must be a tight-rope walk.
Reading through all your comments, another article idea is forming in my head. Will post it once I get some more time.
1)Sanjay Bhansali-Started with a very well made Khamoshi,HDDCS tilted more on the commercial side,Devdas was loud,and Saawariya ….well…
2)Mohit Suri-Zeher was good though copied,Kalyug was better,Woh Lamhe was superb,came crashing down with Awarapan.But still a good storyteller.
3)Anurag Basu-Murder though a scene to scene copy of Unfaithful was adapted well,Saaya again a copy,Gangster saw him coming into his own,Life in a Metro was very promising.He is my dark horse for the future.
Hi Hitendra @ 33: Actually, I am an advertising copywriter. After surprising everyone with my alarming levels of sloth and incomprehension, I have pushed my agency topdogs to humour me with the designation of a creative director now. Which basically translates into: “Just keep answering us on stuff like why that idiot art guy turned up drunk to office and stay away from any real work”. So there.
Hi Anindya @ 34: Yes, Mohit Suri has a lot of promise. Woh Lamhe stunned me. I thought any other director would have launched into supersonic melodrama with the subject of schezophrenia at his disposal, but he brought a lot of balance to the table. He looks poised for better.
Onir : My Brother Nikhil & Bas Ek Pal
I’ve not seen BEP but MBN was indeed a good film.
Even if you restrict to two films Vishal Bhardwaj surely is league ahead of all who started after Y2000.
Makdee -> Maqbool followed by Blue Umbrella and Omkara. I am sure his next film Kameenay will be good too.
Another promising director started (or already at)downhill is Hansal Mehta.
He started with Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar-> Chhal and then he gave medicore movies like Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai, Anjan, Raakh and latest Dus Kahaniya and Woodstock Villa.
Some others;
Milan Luthriya: I thought Kachche Dhaage was quite likeable. But then Chori Chori, Deewar…? Taxi No 9211 was okay, though.
Vinay Shukla: Godmother, and then Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe. What to say?
E Nivas: Superb debut with Shool. Love Ke Liye Kuchh Bhi Karega was also deftly handled. But then, Dum??? Bardaasht???
Sanjay Chhel: Khoobsurat (quite fresh), followed by Kya Dil Ne Kaha (who cares?).
Two directors whose 2nd film I’m looking eagerly for are Shashank Ghosh (Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II) and of course, Aamir Khan.
too many from the yashraj/yash johar camps going awry
starting with KJo and Adi Chopra themselves, followed up by all their proteges like kunal kohli, siddharth anand,nikhil advani etc; even shaad ali and pradeep sarkar seem to have been afflicted by it.
but i dread the likes of anees bazmee, farah khan, sajid khan, nadiadwalas more than the above mentioned directors. wonder what they will come up with, in the next few years
ashwini chaudhary:
Dhoop and then Good boy bad boy.
Aditya chopra
DDLJ… mohabbatein