|
Magazine
FACE TO FACE
In a new avataar
ZIYA US SALAM
|
He doesn’t bother too much about hitting gold at the box office anymore. As a senior director, he wants to makes films that are relevant and thought-provoking. Excerpts from a conversation with Subhash Ghai…
|
PHOTO: ANU PUSHKARNA
Changing perspectives: Subhash Ghai.
Calling it an exile would be wrong, but Subhash Ghai’s self-imposed absence from the box office lasted a little more than three years. With the recently-released “Black & White”, Ghai came out of the purgatory he entered followi
ng the widespread debacle of “Kisna” in January 2005. There has been some muted commercial applause, and more generous critical acclaim for his sober take on the root of terrorism in the Anil Kapoor-starrer. Denial has been replaced by renewal. It is all that matters to Ghai, often written off as a has-been by his detractors who believe that the “Karz”, “Hero” and “Khalnayak” kind of cinema does not work anymore.
They have been partially right too: The simply lamentable “Yaadein” had preceded the forgettable “Kisna”. As a director, he has not delivered a hit this millennium. And “Black & White” has not yet reaped rich dividends either. Bid farewell to box office results. Welcome the man who, like revolving doors, keeps coming back. Understatements have never been his ally. Nor persuasion one of his favoured skills. Quite simply he admits, “I was fed up of doing the same kind of cinema. It was important for me to survive, to do something different with a distinctive mark. It was important me for to reinvent myself without caring about the box office. I am happy to have got a word of appreciation from the intelligentsia for ‘Black & White’.”
Rare candour
He rarely speaks with such consistency. Or candour. But his words, or his films, have seldom lacked spurts of delight. The thick-set man may not be a charmer but the art of his craft has often conveyed much pleasure to the common man. Now he wants to align responsibility to it. “For the past few years I have produced sensitive cinema like ‘Joggers’ Park’ and ‘Iqbal’. But as a senior director, it was important for me to make a socially responsible film that society could reflect upon, discuss and analyse.”
Thus came about “Black and White”, where Anil Kapoor plays an Old Delhi-based professor who attempts to reform a young man who has taken to arms in the aftermath of the Gujarat genocide. “It was important to make a film that one could call patriotic without falling into the trap of jingoism. The subject of terrorism is a major global issue but it had to be tackled with maturity. I had to use restraint, as going over the top is easy in such a case. The discerning filmgoers want sensible, subtle cinema and I had to provide a film that was thought provoking. Now, the youngsters should watch and talk about it. If the film is thought provoking, the thought is to be shared.”
The film, set in Old Delhi with its interesting mix of the modern and the medieval and more than a smattering of Urdu, has been appreciated for its subtleties. Also Ghai has been lauded for his use of Quranic verses in an intelligent manner. Says Ghai, “I was very careful about the usage of Urdu. I have spent more than half a decade in Old Delhi, staying on Asaf Ali Road. I used to study at a school in Ajmeri Gate from Class VI to XI. My father was a dentist. I was careful while writing the dialogues. They had to have the right layering. And I was lucky with the actors, notably Habib Tanvir and Anil Kapoor, neither of whom needed any tutoring,” adding, “as far as the Quranic verses are concerned, I researched for four-five months, spoke to scholars in Mumbai and Delhi. I wanted to convey the message of harmony.”
The film has some chaste Urdu dialogues without any flaws of pronunciation. Wasn’t Ghai taking a chance at a time when Urdu and Hindi are fading away as a medium of discourse in our cinema? And youngsters do not follow the pristine language so easily?
“It is true that Urdu or Hindi is fading in cinema, but everything is governed by economics. Whatever is dictated by economy, that becomes the language of communication. More and more Hindi films use English because that is the preferred way of speaking for people. If you do not speak English, you are not considered educated in many quarters. The rich and the famous speak in English.”
Changing revenue models
Little wonder cinema is catering to urban sensibilities, and even Ghai’s film — that got the tax-free status within a week of its release in some territories — is directed at multiplex audiences. He admits, “Market forces are determining the kind of films being made. The revenue model has changed because of the multiplexes. The tickets are expensive which means only those who earn well can afford them. Now the rich go to cinema halls, the masses stay at home to watch television. Every other house is glued to TV because that is a more affordable medium of entertainment.”
Ghai, however, feels the change in films is part of changes in the larger society. If films are talking only of urban India, other facets of society are changing too. “Not just films, even the media has changed. Look at the newspapers. With one or two exceptions, all of them are following the tabloid culture. Could you have imagined a Rakhi Sawant story in picture on page one earlier? Now, almost all papers are under compulsion to carry the Page 3 stuff. But we have to be socially conscious. Personally, I can only promise more of the ‘Black & White’ kind of cinema. It will not be a lonely cry.” The exile is well and truly over.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Magazine
|
