In a world of his own
ANUJ KUMAR
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Director Vipin Vijay on his film "Video Game" and more.
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Today holding a film camera is no big deal. It is how you hold it that matters. Vipin Vijay
IN A DIFFERENT GEAR Stills from "Video Game".
Seldom do you come across a filmmaker whose film touches your mind rather than the heart, whose work reminds you what a camera can achieve if put to use.
Yes, Vipin Vijay's work reminds that Indian cinema could chalk out a third stream, which is different from what Satyajit Ray and Bollywood attained over the years.
In fact, this is what the jury observed when Vijay was conferred the prestigious Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Festival for his documentary "Video Game".
New course
"Video Game is another illustration that there is more to the cinema of India than can be contained with the received wisdom which seeks to encompass it by reference to a dualism opposing Satyajit Ray to Bollywood," points out the jury.
Complex journey
Produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust, "Video Game" is a complex video journey on a motorcar that incorporates mythic themes of questioning and searching, the need for being, for love, for a home and for a promise of a different future. It also serves, as a map of current cultural desires, dreams and fears.
"It begins its fetch-decode-execute cycle as the subject enters the `suburbs of hell', the psycho-geographical zone in transition where the soft technologies of the interior (the body) and the hard technologies of the exterior (the environment) are thrown together in collision and almost surgically cut each other up," says Vijay, who learnt the craft of filmmaking at Satyajit Ray Film Training Institute.
"Today holding a film camera is no big deal. It is how you hold it that matters," remarks Vijay. He always wanted to break free from the formulaic form of filmmaking.
"It may sound selfish, but I make a film for myself, for my satisfaction, not for any market. I don't want to hurt anybody's sentiment, but I don't feel we are trying anything new with the film form. It is as predictable as going to a discotheque. You are expected to down a couple of pegs and dance."
However, in the same vein, he admits his style of filmmaking is not as risky. "I don't have to take a loan from IDBI to finance my film."
Vijay feels documentary cinema is an art and it would survive and bloom in the country only when more and more people take to the art.
"Like art museums, there should be banks for such films, where people can watch such films or take them on rent."
Predictability hurts
Vijay is, however, not too enamoured with the popularity of protest documentaries. Again, he finds them predictable.
He says, "Such films are more of reportages, which the news channels are already doing. There is nothing new at the form level."
"Somebody comes with a commentary on Godhra, another one will raise the issue of Nandigram. As filmmakers of such films provide good quotes, the media is after them,"
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