Filmmakers still caught with what audience loved 10 years ago: Shekhar Kapur
Shekhar Kapur was speaking on the sidelights of the ongoing International Film festival of India in Goa
Shekhar Kapur is amused at how the filmmaking culture has changed in India since the time he last directed Mr India in 1987. Neck-deep into the production of his upcoming film Paani, Kapur underlines a salient point on why corporatisation of cinema is not always a brilliant idea.
"When I made Mr India, the director was revered and left alone. Today, too many people think they can tell a story on the screen. There are actors and producers to deal with. And if that was not enough, they have what they call a 'development department' to 'hone' your script. I really cannot understand how that may help. Storytelling is not mathematics. I don't understand the mathematics of cinema but I sure know a thing or two about how to tell a story for the screen," he said.
Kapur was speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing International Film festival of India in Goa. He is the chairman of the jury this year, and is happy with the competition spread that the festival's selection committee has laid out for his lot this year.
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"I liked the films selected for the competition overall. Some of them are particularly beautiful," he said, though protocol barred him from taking names. It is ironic, he would tell you, that the ongoing FTII stir should disturb the flow of a festival with such rich works in exhibition.
"I have been disappointed with FTII as an institution for a while now. Something is surely wrong with a place if creative people associated with it take to protest. Rebellion is a natural trait but I feel creative people should do it in a creative, not destructive, way. When was the last time you heard of a great filmmaker emerge from FTII? These days, more filmmakers are coming out of Whistling Woods. It is a cause of concern if a private institution gives more creative people to the world than the government-run one."
Kapur's next film Paani stars Sushant Singh Rajput and will mark his return to the Bollywood screen nearly three decades after his last Hindi release Mr India, and after he has made a mark in Hollywood with his brand of cinema. "Returning to Hindi cinema is a little tough," he admits.
"People still have set ideas about what a film should be like, within the industry. Filmmakers seem caught with notions that the audience loved 10 years ago," he said.
Paani, a futuristic drama visualising a world where water resources are fast depleting, has been Kapur's dream for well over a decade. He tried making it on an international scale before finalising an Indian backdrop for the film.
"I realised the film is more relevant to India than any other place in the world. It could be our breakout film that takes an Indian film in an Indian language to the world." Kapur will soon turn his focus on two TV series in America. "The first is on the unknown life of William Shakespeare, and the other is on Cleopatra," he informed.