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Making films for the Indian heart

Photo: Sandeep Saxena

Living his dreams: Film-maker Karan Chaudhary in New Delhi.

From doing an MBA to making films about the changing face of India, director Karan Chaudhary has come a long way. Madhur Tankha meets the new-age director who picked up tricks of trade by practical exposure and not from any film school.

Writing a script is an extremely personal experience for film-maker Karan Chaudhary who admits that he can’t bear the thought of sharing his script with any other director.

“I write only on subjects that I have personally experienced. After writing down the screenplay, I go behind the camera. It’s just like the way Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone insisted that he would rather burn his script than allow anyo ne else to play the role of Rocky,” says Karan, who was here in the Capital this past week for promotion of his latest film “Tare Sitara.”

Ecstatic about “Tare Sitara” that is from Kay Sera Sera’s stables, the film-maker says: “The film stars Darshan Zariwala, who portrayed Bapu in ‘Gandhi My Father,’ Manoj Joshi, Sanjay Mishra, Riya Sen and a number of actors from Aamir Khan’s film ‘Lagaan.’ In all fifty actors have been cast in the film.”

Satire on theatre

Talking about his latest venture “Tare Sitara,” Karan says the film is a satire on the sorry state that theatre has been reduced to in the country today. “It is basically about two theatre companies – Tare and Sitara – that are antagonistic to each other. While Tare is staging ‘Ram Lila,’ Sitara is showcasing ‘Mahabharata.’ I was inspired to make this film by the ironical fact that while legendary Prithviraj Kapoor did his best to popularise theatre across the country in his own special way, today artistes don’t see a future for themselves in theatre anymore. Just like the traditional Indian game of ‘kabadi’ is not finding any sponsors, the cash-crunched theatre is facing an identical situation.”

Sharing details of his debut film “Manoranjan,” Karan says the movie was something on the lines of parallel cinema. “Released in 2006, the film was made for small-town boys who get swayed by the glitter of Bollywood. Vijay Raaz as Subbuji played a film secretary. His friends Aryan Vaid and Sudhanshu Pandey, who starred in ‘Singh Is Kinng,’ want to emulate him but end up being a spot boy and driver respectively.”

Surprisingly, Karan had not planned the film as a commercial entertainer. “I have observed that corporate companies and overseas market have helped the Bollywood industry. Even my debut film did better on foreign shores than in our country.”

The young film-maker says that Bollywood’s future doesn’t lie in following the West. “Films that are remakes of foreign films are not creating a flutter at the box-office anymore. We must make films that are connected to our culture and heritage and not blindly ape the West.”

Shedding light on his agrarian background that has helped him in scripting an upcoming film, Karan says he hails from a village in Greater Noida. “My father Chaudhary Dhiraj Singh was a folk singer. As a child I was influenced by the filmmaking craft of Raj Khosla, Basu Chatterjee and Gulzar. Later I did an MBA from Institute of Management Technology in Ghaziabad. While working with a corporate company in Kashipur, I used to unofficially assist documentary filmmakers in shooting at the Jim Corbett Park and other picturesque locales.”

Self-taught director

When Karan got posted in Mumbai, his curiosity for cinema made him observe filmmaking from close quarters. “Since I couldn’t work for them, I learnt the tricks of the trade by simply observing them. Raj Khosla’s way of filmmaking had a profound impact on me. Filmmaking requires a vision and work experience on the sets. Even accomplished filmmakers like Mahesh Bhatt, Ram Gopal Varma and Vishal Bharadwaj never went to any film institute.”

Another upcoming project is “I Am Not Mahatma Gandhi” in which Karan will cast Sunny Deol and Nana Patekar. “Sunny looks exactly like a Punjabi farmer, while Nana with his tanned looks resembles thpose who work on the farms near Pune. Both actors are quite excited about the role.”

Stating that the film is not based on any particular real life situation, Karan says it was about farmers in Western Uttar Pradesh and Greater Noida. “I have seen the transformation in the lives of farmers, who after selling their land for Special Economic Zones, are a confused lot. They don’t know what to do with the money. My agriculture background is helping me in making this realistic film.”

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