Box office via Darjeeling!
ANUJ KUMAR
|
Arindam Nandy makes his debut with a psychological thriller “Via Darjeeling”.
|
Storyteller Arindam Nandy
New week, new director. This has been the trend this summer. Five have already made it to the turnstiles. As debutant Arindam Nandy’s “Via Darjeeling” is ready to slog it out with Yash Raj banner’s “Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic”, this week is no different, “There is no competition as such. Their promotion budget equals our film budget. The genres are different as well.”
Still, like other newcomers, Arindam is confident that his psychological thriller would be able to fare well at the box office. “It is about a newly wed couple who go for the honeymoon but by the end of it one of the partners disappears. I am inspired by the oral tradition of storytelling and the film is a tribute to the tradition in the garb of a psychological thriller. The technique we have adopted also follows the pattern of storytelling. Cinematographer Abhik Mukhopadhya’s (known for films as varied as ‘Chokher Bali’ and ‘Bunty Aur Babli’) camera also contributes as a narrator. It is never in your face,” he relates.
Like many of his generation, he also feels morality is no longer a notion that can’t be twisted in a Hindi film script. “The film has characters which are black, grey, blue… nobody is what he or she appears,” says, Arindam, who made a mark as an adman before turning to documentary films.
Tell him veterans like Shyam Benegal are finding it difficult to match the demands of a visually literate generation which demands the pace of an advertisement in a feature film, and Arindam agrees to an extent. “Each film has its pace, but advertising industry has taught me speed and control so there is no wastage.”
As for the cast he has got KK Menon, Sonali Kulkarni, Vinay Pathak, Rajat Kapoor, Sandhya Mridul, Simone Singh…literally the cream of today’s parallel cinema which thrives on multiplex audience. Laughs Arindam, “These days the opening doesn’t depend on stars but on screenplay and then the word of mouth takes over. And these are some of the actors who play characters and not themselves.”
Meaningful cinema
Presented by National Film Development Corporation, the film marks the return of the central agency working towards promoting meaningful cinema, to the centrestage. “NFDC was approached by the producer and it happily agreed to co-produce it.” The agency once supported the likes of Kumar Sahani but today it seems to be reposing faith in a new generation. “I feel the idea is to promote cinema where the audience have to apply their mind but at the same time enjoy it. Films like ‘Johnny Gaddar’ and ‘Manorama Six Feet Under’ have got noticed because of their content and interactive nature of their screenplay. Yes, a director makes a film for self-satisfaction but that could not be the only criterion. Box office can’t be ignored completely,” says Arindam.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
