Tigmanshu Dhulia believes that 2014 was a bad phase for Bollywood. He says that there is a need to create a platform for alternate cinema. By Shrabasti Mallik
So convincingly did Tigmanshu Dhulia play the role of Ramadhir Singh in Gangs of Wasseypur that the tyrannical image refuses to leave even when you meet the actor-director upfront. He prefers to call himself a filmmaker first and then an actor. And after being associated with the industry for over two decades, he feels that Bollywood is aping the West and European cinema. “We are not making real Indian-rooted films like the ones made by Bimal Roy or Guru Dutt. They made movies which were meaningful and yet entertaining. That kind of cinema is missing today. Filmmaking is an art form which the Hindi film industry has forgotten. For us it has only become a commercial activity.”
According to him, films nowadays follow cliche ideas. “I always keep saying that we make films of films. It is the same action and the same fantasy. We have not been able to make a good action movie after Sholay,” Tigmanshu said as he visited the Capital to draw the curtains at the Delhi International Film Festival. Although in the past few years new stories have been told, the director feels that they are still either European or American in their treatment. He explained, “Police start behaving like Hollywood cops and SWAT teams come out of Mumbai police jeeps. It’s a weird and contrived kind of cinema, which I do not understand.”
His last movie Bullett Raja did not do well at the box office. He said that 2014 was a bad year for the Hindi film industry. “Ninety per cent of our films bombed at the box-office because nobody went to theatres. There were a handful of films that showed our culture. Blooming economy is not the only parameter to show a country’s development. Art and culture are also the parameters to gauge a country’s development,” he said. But he is hopeful. “My director colleagues are making some good cinema next year. Dibakar is coming up with Detective Byomkesh Bakshi and Anurag has Bombay Velvet besides some other films,” he said.
The 47-year-old filmmaker does not enjoy going to the theatres because he “gets bored.” He, however, makes it a point to catch up important and successful movies. Speaking of success, he said, “Success is that which supports the filmmaker so that he continues to do that kind of cinema he has faith in. Sometimes a movie may not fare well at the box office but when it receives appreciation from critics and general audience it gives a moral boost to the filmmakers.” During the festival he also stressed on the need of parallel theatres for alternate cinema. He said, “Since tickets are highly priced at multiplexes, people only go to theatre to watch stars. Good films like The lunchbox are still seen on DVDs,” he said.
Filmmaking, he said, is not poetry but is a technical art. “A filmmaker spends a lot of money, time, energy and his own personal aesthetics while making a film,” he added and requested the film festival organisers to enhance the quality of viewing experience. “It is a shame that in such a populated country only three per cent go to theatres and watch crap which we serve them. We should strive to make better films,” he said. Talking about the kind of movies that he prefers to make, he said that he only chooses topic that appeals to him. He said, “I do not show the dark side of the society. Everyone pushes alternate cinema into some kind of a bracket. I will not be able to do something like Ugly which I have heard is dark. I still see some hope left in the society now. A subject should be worth making the movie on,” he said.
After the success of Paan Singh Tomar, Dhulia is coming up with a period drama based on the life of Sultana daku. The movie, he said, would be on the lines of Indiana Jones. He said, “The film is for kids and is not intense like the other movies that I have made. It will be more of a swashbuckling Robin Hood kind of a film. I will hope that this movie will be India’s answer to American popular entertainment franchise based on the adventures of Dr Henry Indiana Jones.” He negated all rumours of celebrated star cast being approached for the movie citing that the movie is still in its scripting stage.