Ketan Mehta talks to SANGEETA YADAV on the new style of filmmaking and his next TV film
How does it feel like to be a jury member of India Film ProjectIJ
It’s a wonderful platform for the new talent to emerge. This event has got acclaimed nationally with 21,000 plus participants across the globe made more than 1,500 films in last four years. Technology has made filmmaking easier by leaps and bounds over the last decade or so. It’s the right thing to happen at this point of time. There will be participants from five to 75 years of age. But it doesn’t matter how old they are and where they are from. We’ll be looking after how well their film communicates.
How filmmaking has evolved in today’s timeIJ
Digital technology has made filmmaking more accessible to people. People start experimenting even having to learn the technology. That is the beauty of the new emerging technology. Filmmaking is not just a feature film on a big screen. It is something that you can watch on a laptop or a mobile. It can be a couple of minutes or hours. The entire nature of filmmaking is changing.
After Majhi, what will be your next projectIJ
I’ve just completed TV film called Toba Tek Singh based on the political satire written by famous and one of the finest Urdu writers Saddat Hasan Manto. This one hour TV film will be aired on Zindagi where the channel is giving a platform to five Indian and five Pakistani filmmakers to create an art film. Pankaj Kapoor is playing the lead and has given a brilliant performance.
Was it difficult to adapt the short story into a TV filmIJ
Adapting the four page story into one hour film is a challenge. But with such great actors, it wasn’t that tough. We have introduced the character of Saddat Hasan Manto into the story and Vinay Pathak has played that part. Apart from being the political satire, it’s also a story how India got freedom.
What do you have to say about the FTII protestIJ
The institute doesn’t exist without the students and the students should be the focus of an institute. Film and television institute has contributed so much over the last 50 years. So I hope this kind of impasse doesn’t last long.