The Hindu : New Delhi News : Reject trash, pave way for realistic films: Farooq

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Reject trash, pave way for realistic films: Farooq

— Photo: V. V. Krishnan

Farooq Sheikh in New Delhi recently.

The versatile actor Farooq Sheikh , who feels that most Hindi films are being made to cater to the lowest common denominator, talks to Madhur Tankha about box-office dictates, his first film, Hindi film industry distancing itself from issues of rural India and much more.

Unless the audience rejects brainless commercial trash, Bollywood will never produce realistic films, says film and television personality Farooq Sheikh.

The versatile actor, who was in the Capital recently to participate in a colloquium, feels that most Hindi films are being made to cater to the lowest common denominator.

“I don’t mind occasional entertainers, but the box-office reality is that ‘Singh Is Kinng’ has done more business than a realistic movie like “Khosla Ka Ghosla.” The box-office dictates are such that a majority of filmmakers will opt to make films only in the mould of ‘Singh Is Kinng’ because they can recover their huge investments in their projects.”

Drawing comparison between a society and cinema, Farooq says: “Just like society is a big ‘thali,’ so is cinema. A ‘thali’ has the pickle and ‘chutney’ but we also require nutritious meal that has to be cooked in a traditional manner to augment the taste. We need variety in meals and not monotony. Similarly, cinema that is the eyes and the ears of society has to be of various genres.”

Though Farooq studied law, he chose to make a career in films. “My first film ‘Garam Hawa’ was released in 1973. It was made by my friend M.S. Sathyu. Since then I have had a long journey in Bollywood but I didn’t take up many film projects because basically, I am a very lazy person. Whenever I am approached for a good film I do give my nod. In my latest film ‘Saas Bhau Aur Sensex,’ we have shown that a woman can not only run her household but also do her job efficiently at workplace. I accepted the film not because it spoke about women empowerment but because I liked the script.”

Appreciating the fact that soap operas and reality shows are entering the homes of millions of families, the gifted actor says today, television has a big impact on viewers minds. “Actually, television is a different ballgame. It talks to families every day. If you peep into somebody’s house in Mumbai you will notice all members sit at one end of the room, attentively listening to television, which is doing all the talking. But television has to do more rather than dish out the same ‘chat’ day in and day out,” says Farooq, adding that he was clueless when his popular T.V. show “Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai” will be re-launched.

Stating that half a dozen sermonising and preaching films need to be made in all languages to change the mindset of film-going audience, Farooq says: “A decade ago, we had films in which heroes had virtues of Lord Ramachandra and heroines embodied the characteristics of Sita, they were holier-than-thou and sacrificed themselves for the welfare of their families. But now we cannot merely survive on the pickle and chutney, we need the main course that is the subject matter in the film.”

Asserting that in the late 1940s, the country made great efforts in achieving Independence, Farooq says: “Those days, we had heroes speaking against the injustice of the British rule or speaking about the plight of agriculturists. Films highlighted ‘zamindars’ and moneylenders behaving in a vicious and cruel manner by exploiting the farmers. So the atrocities committed on farmers were highlighted.”

Speaking about the rise of the angry young man image of Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, Farooq says Big B embodied a character who took the law into his own hands because he wanted to fight and defy the corrupt system. “The success of angry young man films also goes to the extraordinary acting skills of Amitabh. In his film ‘Zameer’ there were powerful dialogues written by Sahir Ludhianvi. Mr. Bachchan ruled the Hindi cinema for a decade. He was the main protagonist of popular cinema.”

Lamenting the fact that filmmakers were not talking about issues related to the rural belt of the country, Farooq says: “I cannot speak about vernacular cinema because I am not conversant with it but Bollywood, the heartland of cinema, talks about rural India very occasionally as in Aamir Khan’s ‘Lagaan.’ Sadly, rural India is not on the radar of Hindi filmmakers. Even the media is not interested in rural India unless it finds something sensational.”

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