Shyam Benegal says he would like to be remembered as a catalyst in Indian cinema. Modest words indeed from one of India's most celebrated filmmakers; a film director who created an entire language and grammar of cinema, introduced some of our finest actors and technicians and discovered India by showing us how much contemporary India, rural and urban, had to offer us in terms of stories and images.
The auteur was in Thiruvanathapuram for the inauguration of the Filmmakers' Forum for Better Cinema, a group of independent directors who have ambitious plans to make and promote cinema that does not always cater to commercial interests only.
Congratulating the effort and the vision behind the Forum, Benegal says that it is a necessary step for a film industry that does not have a large audience base or multiplexes. “The constraints are many. So it is difficult to sustain a film that does not play to the box office. Such a film may not draw the audience to fill a theatre with 900 seats or more,” says Benegal.
Business of cinema
The pioneer of parallel cinema in the seventies, Benegal says one has to know the audience and their tastes to market a film and ensure that it reaches the right audience.
“Many filmmakers are creative people who are not good businessmen; I am one of those. When I made my first film, ‘Ankur,' after running around for a distributor for 13 years, I was fortunate to get a producer who was also a distributor for ad films. So he knew exactly where to release the films and ‘Ankur' went on to be a hit. I call it a historic accident,” he explains.
He feels that once a film is made, then it is necessary to “strategise” and decide who is to see the film. “There are two kinds of audience. One comprises an adventurous group who are in search of a different cinematic experience. The other group goes to see movies as a form of escapism; to get away from problems and for some stipulation. The second group may not always be ready for any kind of adventure vis-à-vis their film viewing. So it is imperative that the distributor knows where to market the film to reach the right audience,” elaborates Benegal.
He says it would be difficult for a film that does not claim to have any box office pretensions to “get the critical mass to succeed” if it is played in conventional theatres. He says by the time he had made a dark film like ‘Nishant' or even ‘Mandi,' he had a loyal audience who waited to see his films. Even then, Benegal remembers that ‘Bhumika' was initially declared a flop. “It became a hit after it was released a third time. Given the situation now, all that is unlikely to happen,” he feels.
Experimental film
The multiple-award wining director says it is essential to explore new markets and technology such as the Internet and the economics of Internet downloads. “I did that once with a 22-minute experimental film on Ustad Mallikarjun Mansur titled ‘Unusual Concert.' I had heard a story that he used to hum or sing to any steady metronome notes. He would sing to the rhythm of the train when he travelled and his son remembers that he even hummed to the sound of the drip when he was hospitalised and when his life was ebbing away. A man of simple tastes, the Ustad would stay with a friend of his in a chawl in Mumbai whenever he had a concert there. Once while staying there, a tap was leaking. During his bath, the Ustad began humming and soon it soared into a raga. Meanwhile, his accompanists had reached the place and they began playing the tabla and the tanpura. By then, he had finished his bath and had also concluded the raga. The Ustad's son confirmed the story and I shot the film with a handycam with the son playing the Ustad. We loaded it on the net and the number of paid downloads by the end of the day was astounding,” says Benegal.
Not as astounding perhaps as the success and range of this director who seems to be constantly reinventing himself to keep abreast of the audience and the market. Even when Benegal chose to work for the small screen, he did it on his terms and what he did was far removed from the mindless soaps on television. “Soaps are soul-killing. I wanted to offer something more and that is how I ended up making ‘Yatra' and ‘Bharat Ek Khoj.' Most of our films do more damage than good to Indian history. When I made the series, I had 22 historians advising me; my art and costume departments went to the Archaeological Survey of India to study the costumes, the kind of bricks that were used during different period in different regions…. the series has stood the test of time.”
Accolades, awards and honours have been heaped on him, but Benegal does not believe in sitting on his laurels. “Exploring life is one of the most exciting things. It is like the process of filmmaking. I feel alive when I am making a film,” says Benegal.
In the right direction
Shyam Benegal chooses some of his favourite directors in the Hindi film industry. He feels that these are names to watch out for.
Dibakar Banerjee
Anurag Kashyap
Anusha Rizwi
Neeraj Pandey
Abhishek Sharma
