Wednesday, March 31, 2010

With two National Awards in his kitty, it is no wonder Shyam Benegal sees him as a worthy successor

With two National Awards in his kitty, it is no wonder Shyam Benegal sees him as a worthy successor. His kind of movies fit the art meets avant-garde meets say-it-hard genre. Dibakar Banerjee says it as it is to Aakriti Bhardwaj

How do you start on a movie?
Generally I start with an idea. Like the idea for “Khosla...” was generation gap. The idea for “Love Sex aur Dhoka” is what is private and what is public. You take that idea and then you correlate that to a story and into a plot. But the core is the idea.

All your movies have an element of “Dhoka” in them. Anything personal?
If everybody spoke the truth and did the right thing, why would I make a film? Most films are based on conflicts. Most cinema is based on things going wrong. Most cinema is about the protagonist being driven by circumstances to do something unnatural, illegal, unlawful or plain unpredictable. But that’s what drama is. Shakespeare didn’t write "Hamlet" about a guy watching the paint dry! He wrote "Hamlet" about a guy who knows his father is murdered and doesn’t know how to take revenge. It’s about conflict, it’s about special situation. When things go wrong, the right are projected more clearly. That is why most successful drama is about things going wrong.

None of your movies have had commercially successful ‘stars’. Is that deliberate?
I don’t agree! My first film had Anupam Kher and Boman Irani together. If by lead actors you mean young 40-year-old stars, then no. A film like that (“Khosla..”), or “Oye Lucky...” cannot sustain that kind of star power. If there is a subject in which the right stars come together with the right kind of story then I’ll definitely make it. But stars are extremely rare to work with because they are so busy and that’s why they are stars. To make the right script, the right subject and the right star and the right intention fall on the same date, it’s quite a thing to achieve.

Have you ever thought of making a big budget masala potboiler?
If you are talking about something that is physically big but thematically shallow, then no. But something that could be big and at the same time deep, complexed, moving and truly dramatic, something that is emotional instead of sentimental, something that is beautiful instead of just pretty, why not?

Your films have very interesting music. Is it consciously driven?
It is, because you see today, the aspect of selling a film is intricately connected with the aspect of selling the music of the film. We don’t have huge budgets for our films. Therefore, the ability to stand out is our chief demarcator. Hence the need for different kind of music.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-


Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

No comments: