‘IFFI needs a curator’: Shekhar Kapur
He might be waiting to make his next film for almost a decade now but Shekhar Kapur's passion for cinema is as fresh as most of his films. A kinetic force at the just concluded International Film Festival of India, where he was the chairman of the jury, Kapur has the rare ability to say the truth without hurting anybody. Unless he is in a mood to tell a story like "Bandit Queen"! On the sidelines of Film Bazaar in Goa, he takes an array of questions on films and socio-political reality of the country.
Excerpts from the interviewHow do you see the evolution of IFFI and Film Bazaar?Film Bazaar has evolved as a space which not only talks about business but also the latest trends in cinema. I don't see this in other market spaces on cinema. We have to realise that the country has only about 8000 screens.
And when a big film like 'Prem Ratan Dhan Payo' releases it occupies 5000 of them. Where is the space for the young filmmakers to showcase their work? So they look for avenues like these to take their film out, create some buzz and hope that some distributor will pick it up.As for IFFI, we expected it to become the Cannes of Asia.
In the last few decades the consumption of cinema has increased in this part of the world and business comes where there is consumption. The next progress has to come from Africa and I wish to see IFFI as the umbrella festival of cinema from these two continents. However, it lacks focus. It needs a curator. The curator helps in creating a bond with the Film Festival.
With young filmmakers taking to social media, Indian Panorama is no longer the only space to create buzz about your film. There are festivals where one person is in charge for 15 years. A filmmaker wants to speak to an individual, not a nameless government bureaucracy.
The increasing competition from Mumbai Film Festival should be seen an opportunity to reflect upon the short comings. There has been a talk on whether IFFI and Film Bazaar should be two different things.At the discussion on single window clearance for film shooting, Ramesh Sippy said one of the reasons he picked Ramanagram over Chambal to shoot "Sholay" was the reputation of South India as a film crew friendly region.
You shot "Bandit Queen" in Chambal, how was your experience?We didn't shoot on the Uttar Pradesh side of Chambal because at that time the wounds of Behmai were still green. We opted for the Rajasthan side. Sippy's film was essentially a fantasy and even today you can't imagine 'Sholay' without those boulders. I needed a more realistic space for the dacoits.
The problem was that the bandits got to know. They contacted us and offered us bodyguards. At that time Maan Singh was not captured and he somehow got to know that we are making a film on him.
One day he walked in to the set and asked who was playing him in the film. I sheepishly pointed towards Manoj (Bajpayee). The two struck a bond, got drunk and kept chatting till late in the night.
The biggest challenge was the scene where Phoolan is stripped naked. The entire unit ran away. Only Tigmanshu, who was assisting me, and cinematographer Ashok Mehta were left. I had told the villagers a day before to send children and women out of the village.
Then we covered the shooting space with tents. After the shoot when I went to the village elders to apologise for the discomfort and hurting their sensibilities they said, 'you did nothing wrong. A few days back, 20 kms away from this village, we saw exactly the same thing in real life.
'You are talking about virtual reality as the next big thing in cinema. What are the challenges involved?It is a new way of storytelling. Right now you can have 10-12 minutes of virtual reality in a film.
You wear your oculus rift and walk into an experience. Now we have the technology where the viewer can become house part of the experience. As always, the biggest challenge will be to tell the story.
If you are part of a scene like a door bell is ringing, in virtual reality, the character on the other side of the door doesn't know who is at the door but the audience is aware of what is happening at both ends. Of course in the beginning it is going to be gimmicky like when D.W Griffith made 'The Birth of a Nation' people saw the first close up and they went crazy.
The impact was like as if they had seen a horror scene. Today we are used to it. In Hindi they have a word called pagdandi, it is way which is created when many people cross a path. With technology changing very fast we have new pagdandis being created every year, the challenge is how we navigate them and knowing where are we headed.
What is the status of "Paani"? Why is Yash Raj banner going slow on it?There is a difference in point of view. I see it as an international subject; they want to make it for India. Here you can tell a different story only in a limited budget.
As the budget goes up all stories become the same else you need a Salman Khan to take it to the audience. We have a relatively new bounce cast. My theory is different. I feel if the story is relevant to the people, they will come. I proved it with 'Bandit Queen'. Had it not been banned, it would have been a big hit.
People said men are turning up to watch nudity so I organised all women shows and they were houseful as well.But in the mean time films like "Mad Max" have come which deal with a similar subject?So did 'Neecha Nagar'. I don't fear that. Nothing works without patience in this industry.
'Gravity' took 10 years.
My passion is being tested and I am game. My film goes deep into the mythology of water. Water never belonged to an individual in this country, it belonged to the community.
Also I don't want to share creative control. I can tell from a spot boy's eyes whether the shot is ok or not and I respect his point of view because he has been on the sets of much more films than I am but still the fundamental right to accept and bounce reject opinions should rest with me.You have had your share of skirmishes with CBFC? How do you see the current mood when James Bond is not allowed to kiss?During 'Elizabeth' I stood my ground.
The business suffered but you have to stand for what you believe in. If the makers of 'Spectre' were so concerned about the length of kiss they should not have released the film in India till they had exhausted all their legal rights. Woody Allen didn't release 'Blue Jasmine' in India.
It depends on what you are willing to sacrifice for your belief system. Being a vibrant democracy, India is a country where everybody is political; it is up to you how much you can fight.From an argumentative society, we are now being labelled as an intolerant society.
..We are as intolerant as we used to be.
I don't like to give away my age but I have seen two of the worst events in my life time. When I was one year old, the country faced Partition. My mother used to tell me tales of slaughter.
My father who was a doctor brought us to this side of the border and went back. He used to tell us his friends didn't give him morphine fearing that he will give it to his Hindu brothers. Then in 1984, we had to hide many Sikhs in our home in Delhi.
As I used to do television, I was a recognisable face. Still I was advised to shave off my beard. So it doesn't matter which government is in power, the question is who we are.
Sometimes I feel the civilisation is just the surface. You scratch it a little and savagery shows up. This is what I showed in 'Bandit Queen' and
Excerpts from the interviewHow do you see the evolution of IFFI and Film Bazaar?Film Bazaar has evolved as a space which not only talks about business but also the latest trends in cinema. I don't see this in other market spaces on cinema. We have to realise that the country has only about 8000 screens.
And when a big film like 'Prem Ratan Dhan Payo' releases it occupies 5000 of them. Where is the space for the young filmmakers to showcase their work? So they look for avenues like these to take their film out, create some buzz and hope that some distributor will pick it up.As for IFFI, we expected it to become the Cannes of Asia.
In the last few decades the consumption of cinema has increased in this part of the world and business comes where there is consumption. The next progress has to come from Africa and I wish to see IFFI as the umbrella festival of cinema from these two continents. However, it lacks focus. It needs a curator. The curator helps in creating a bond with the Film Festival.
With young filmmakers taking to social media, Indian Panorama is no longer the only space to create buzz about your film. There are festivals where one person is in charge for 15 years. A filmmaker wants to speak to an individual, not a nameless government bureaucracy.
The increasing competition from Mumbai Film Festival should be seen an opportunity to reflect upon the short comings. There has been a talk on whether IFFI and Film Bazaar should be two different things.At the discussion on single window clearance for film shooting, Ramesh Sippy said one of the reasons he picked Ramanagram over Chambal to shoot "Sholay" was the reputation of South India as a film crew friendly region.
You shot "Bandit Queen" in Chambal, how was your experience?We didn't shoot on the Uttar Pradesh side of Chambal because at that time the wounds of Behmai were still green. We opted for the Rajasthan side. Sippy's film was essentially a fantasy and even today you can't imagine 'Sholay' without those boulders. I needed a more realistic space for the dacoits.
The problem was that the bandits got to know. They contacted us and offered us bodyguards. At that time Maan Singh was not captured and he somehow got to know that we are making a film on him.
One day he walked in to the set and asked who was playing him in the film. I sheepishly pointed towards Manoj (Bajpayee). The two struck a bond, got drunk and kept chatting till late in the night.
The biggest challenge was the scene where Phoolan is stripped naked. The entire unit ran away. Only Tigmanshu, who was assisting me, and cinematographer Ashok Mehta were left. I had told the villagers a day before to send children and women out of the village.
Then we covered the shooting space with tents. After the shoot when I went to the village elders to apologise for the discomfort and hurting their sensibilities they said, 'you did nothing wrong. A few days back, 20 kms away from this village, we saw exactly the same thing in real life.
'You are talking about virtual reality as the next big thing in cinema. What are the challenges involved?It is a new way of storytelling. Right now you can have 10-12 minutes of virtual reality in a film.
You wear your oculus rift and walk into an experience. Now we have the technology where the viewer can become house part of the experience. As always, the biggest challenge will be to tell the story.
If you are part of a scene like a door bell is ringing, in virtual reality, the character on the other side of the door doesn't know who is at the door but the audience is aware of what is happening at both ends. Of course in the beginning it is going to be gimmicky like when D.W Griffith made 'The Birth of a Nation' people saw the first close up and they went crazy.
The impact was like as if they had seen a horror scene. Today we are used to it. In Hindi they have a word called pagdandi, it is way which is created when many people cross a path. With technology changing very fast we have new pagdandis being created every year, the challenge is how we navigate them and knowing where are we headed.
What is the status of "Paani"? Why is Yash Raj banner going slow on it?There is a difference in point of view. I see it as an international subject; they want to make it for India. Here you can tell a different story only in a limited budget.
As the budget goes up all stories become the same else you need a Salman Khan to take it to the audience. We have a relatively new bounce cast. My theory is different. I feel if the story is relevant to the people, they will come. I proved it with 'Bandit Queen'. Had it not been banned, it would have been a big hit.
People said men are turning up to watch nudity so I organised all women shows and they were houseful as well.But in the mean time films like "Mad Max" have come which deal with a similar subject?So did 'Neecha Nagar'. I don't fear that. Nothing works without patience in this industry.
'Gravity' took 10 years.
My passion is being tested and I am game. My film goes deep into the mythology of water. Water never belonged to an individual in this country, it belonged to the community.
Also I don't want to share creative control. I can tell from a spot boy's eyes whether the shot is ok or not and I respect his point of view because he has been on the sets of much more films than I am but still the fundamental right to accept and bounce reject opinions should rest with me.You have had your share of skirmishes with CBFC? How do you see the current mood when James Bond is not allowed to kiss?During 'Elizabeth' I stood my ground.
The business suffered but you have to stand for what you believe in. If the makers of 'Spectre' were so concerned about the length of kiss they should not have released the film in India till they had exhausted all their legal rights. Woody Allen didn't release 'Blue Jasmine' in India.
It depends on what you are willing to sacrifice for your belief system. Being a vibrant democracy, India is a country where everybody is political; it is up to you how much you can fight.From an argumentative society, we are now being labelled as an intolerant society.
..We are as intolerant as we used to be.
I don't like to give away my age but I have seen two of the worst events in my life time. When I was one year old, the country faced Partition. My mother used to tell me tales of slaughter.
My father who was a doctor brought us to this side of the border and went back. He used to tell us his friends didn't give him morphine fearing that he will give it to his Hindu brothers. Then in 1984, we had to hide many Sikhs in our home in Delhi.
As I used to do television, I was a recognisable face. Still I was advised to shave off my beard. So it doesn't matter which government is in power, the question is who we are.
Sometimes I feel the civilisation is just the surface. You scratch it a little and savagery shows up. This is what I showed in 'Bandit Queen' and
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