Cinema turns serious!
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March of the Penguins, Oscar-winner, is releasing today.
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Penguins — A Love Story.
Anurag Kashyap is talking geography and zoology these days. No, the `jinxed director' has not changed vocations, it is just that he has scripted the Hindi narration of Luc Jacquet's 'March of the Penguins,' releasing this Friday.
The Academy Award-winning documentary feature film is the first of its kind to have an all-India release.
To be released in Hindi, English, Tamil and Telugu, the film has been renamed `Penguins — A Love Story' and replacing Morgan Freeman is Amitabh Bachchan as the narrator in both Hindi and English.
For the uninitiated, the film was originally made in French and French actors dubbed for the penguins, but in the Hollywood version, the producers opted for a straight narration by Freeman.
"This is the first time a concerted effort has been made to release a documentary in the country. No doubt, the Oscar and Amitabh Bachchan's voice are valuable add-ons, but the film in itself is a big screen experience. We are releasing 27 prints and have got both the multiplexes and single-screen theatres," says Sunil Doshi who has bought the rights for India and is releasing it with Adlabs.
The plot
The film follows one particular flock of emperor penguins as they perform a remarkable journey alone in the ice deserts of Antarctica — a journey that has taken place for millennia.
Emperor penguins in their thousands abandon the security of their ocean home and clamber onto the frozen ice to begin their long journey over terrain so extreme, it supports no other wildlife at this time of year. They are driven by the overpowering urge to reproduce, to assure the survival of the species.
"This is indeed a love story, a lesson to human kind," says Anurag, who feels the experience has been both easy and difficult. "Easy, because the film is so remarkably shot. Difficult because I had to start from the scratch, for we wanted to give it an Indian touch. I went through an encyclopaedia to understand the geographical link between India and Antarctica."
Anurag feels opportunities are opening up for documentary filmmakers in India as well. FilmmakerMike Pandey, who has three Green Oscars to his credit, echoes the sentiment. "Post Michael Moore's success, documentary genre has got a new life. I just got an offer from PVR cinemas and Green Nest to convert one of my movies on sharks from video to film. But the cost turned out to be prohibitive. Big animals look good only on celluloid because it provides the requisite depth. Now I am making `Return of Tiger' on film and hope it will have a theatrical release."
Business model
Rajiv Mehrotra, Managing Trustee, Public Service Broadcasting Trust, says one or two flowers don't make for a garden. "We don't have a business model where an independent filmmaker can survive independently. Most of the documentaries are made for television, which provides just enough money to remain in business. The DVD model hasn't worked either in a big way. Web streaming could be the future where the discerning could download the film for a few bucks."
Anand Patwardhan is a little cynical. "I welcome the new development, but I hope distributors will show the same confidence in human beings. They are also an endangered species."
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