After winning the National Award for her debut film, BHAVNA TAlWAR hasn't directed many films. She tells PRAKRITI ROY what she has been up to and what her next international directorial venture Heidi-Queen of the Mountain is all about
In her almost decade-long career in film direction, Bhavna Talwar has directed only two films —Dharm (2007) and Happi (post production now). But even with only two films, she has left a mark in the industry, having won a National Award for Dharm. Now, she is all set to direct her next film, an adaptation of the children’s classic, Heidi -Queen of the Mountain.
The film that has been planned as the first of a trilogy is an international project that has a significant Indian crew, being helmed by Talwar.
Considering that she won so much critical acclaim for her very first movie, one wonders why she hasn’t directed many movies after that. “I was never in a hurry to direct my next, I believe that the story being told has to be worth telling. Heidi... for me was just that. I have always believed that cinema is a medium that is extremely powerful and, as a director, I want that time to be able to tell it right,” Talwar says. After Dharm, she got a lot of offers to direct, but nothing caught her attention till Happi was written. Along with filming Heidi..., she is also adding the final finishing touches to her Guru Dutt script and has said yes to direct another thriller film.
She started her career as an entertainment journalist from where she went on to make movies. But having gone through the experience of being on the other side of the recorder, she still holds her journalism training very close to her heart. She says: “Journalism helped me realise that research was everything and that helps me immensely in the films I want to make. When I see scribes today, I am able to connect with them a lot more, purely as I was there too. I saw what I did as a form of storytelling and now cinema for me is also that. Once a journalist, always a journalist, no matter what you do.”
Apart from the films she has directed, her boutique production company, Vistaar Films under the WSG Productions banner, has co-produced many films across the globe. “The fundamental ethos of the films we back is that the story should be worth it. I turned producer with Veda, directed by Onir, and executive producer on English films like The Eichmann Show with Martin Freeman, Bart and Freddie’s Genesis, The Ghost Writer by Paul Wilkins, Romans with Orlando Bloom etc only because I realised that as a filmmaker I could only tell those many stories, but as a producer I was able to back a lot more stories,” she says, adding that she is a director first and will always be one.
Talwar doesn’t believe in the term Bollywood as she finds it restrictive. Although she is producing Veda and working on her own larger than life scripts, she doesn’t want filmmakers to be slotted into a particular category.
Talking about her experience in the international film industry, she says: “The way I see it, it is turning to be more of a single large platform with technicians and actors crossing borders and working to make cinema they believe in. Even funding has gone beyond being just local. It helps that today’s audience is also clued in on world cinema.”
She firmly believes that Indians are at par with their international peers. And that is why Heidi... has cinematographer Binod Pradhan and action director Sham Kaushal in addition to the camera, action and lights team from India.