‘We didn’t want happy endings...’

In his distinguished career as a celebrated cinematographer and a politically aware filmmaker, Govind Nihalani always steered clear of ‘special effects’

May 23, 2017 12:47 pm | Updated 12:47 pm IST

LASTING IMPACT Govind Nihalani at the India Habitat Centre

LASTING IMPACT Govind Nihalani at the India Habitat Centre

For all the explosive stuff that he created on celluloid, Govind Nihalani comes across as a mild-mannered man but when he talks there is no space for ambivalence. In Delhi to participate in the ongoing Habitat Film Festival, Nihalani is concerned about the shrinking space for divergent opinions in popular culture. “We are a country of shastarth, where people debated on the content of scriptures with the help of a moderator. Today what is happening is if you don’t agree with me, you are branded as my enemy.” Silence is not an option for he reminds Om Puri’s implosive character in his directorial debut Aakrosh . “Bhiku remains silent through the film but towards the end when he screams, his throat gives way. The present situation is a work in progress but whatever I am seeing is not a healthy sign for the cultural space.” For him, he says, human being is central to the story and he weaves what is happening around him. “That’s what an artist’s job is,” says the director of classics like Ardh Satya and Drohakaal.

Reflecting on his eventful journey, first as a celebrated cinematographer and then as a socio-politically conscious filmmaker, Nihalani says, “What we felt like doing, we did. We saw issues as the citizens of the country. We were concerned about the welfare of the country and through our cinema put a point of view across to the country. Every person can’t be a solider or a social worker....,” he relates

Among other things, Nihalani says, the Parallel film movement was a reaction to what was happening in Bombay film industry in the ‘70s. “There was no competition, it was a combination of chance and design. We didn’t want happy endings, we were not aiming for working with certain heroes and heroines. We wanted to make films where there was emphasis on the story. Most people who joined this movement had literary or theatre background. They didn’t come from big families,” he underlines.

The present crop of filmmakers often criticise them for being heavily influenced by the European cinema. “It was there in terms of technique and storytelling. But what was European cinema? It had a story, right! So it was not a wrong impression,” he argues. “Our mainstream cinema had so much influence of Nautanki, Parsi theatre and Jatra that we had to do something starkly different to build an alternative. And you can’t deny that cinematic techniques came from the West. And technique doesn’t come alone, it comes with its language, attitude and culture.”

Two parallels

Nihalani says that the stalwarts of the movement had nothing against the form of storytelling in the so called mainstream. The problem was with its aim to please all. “You can never achieve that in arts. We were sure that once the alternative finds its roots, the two parallels will influence each other and what we are seeing now is a synthesis of the two.”

Nihalani’s Dev was an example of this experiment where he had had his angry young man (Om Puri) pitted against the mainstream’s version (Amitabh Bachchan). “There is no difference in the sincerity and honesty of Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah and Amitabh Bachchan but their styles are different. Om would not think too much about the scene. He used his heart in acting. He was an amazingly intense actor who would always be ready to do as many rehearsals as I wanted. Once an emotion touched his heart, he would give his all. Naseer never required more than one rehearsal. He has a brilliant mind. In fact, I had to make other actors work extra-hard because I knew Naseer would easily walk away with the scene. Amitji is a combination of emotion and intelligence. His style is that he follows the director completely. He would never question the dialogues given to him. Many actors say change this, change that. Even if Amitji request to change a word or two, and I reject his opinion, he would say that line with such intensity as if there were never a problem. He is a director’s delight.”

Perhaps, that’s why Naseer sometimes says that he became the star of the parallel cinema because the filmmakers couldn’t afford big names! “It could be his interpretation, but we should look at the results that we gave together,” maintains Nihalani. Talking of perceptions, Nihalani says there was also a time when his films were seen to be male-centric, but over the years he has corrected this perception with films like Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa .

Nihalani is now working on a Marathi film about social responsibility. “It is about a small middle class family. It is about how would you react if you see injustice happening in front of your eyes. These days Hindi cinema’s mindset is oriented towards big films while Marathi cinema is offering maximum fresh content these days.”

Between the lines

Nihalani came to the industry as a cinematographer. “I studied at Shree Jaya Chamrajendra Polytechnic. There I came to know that the great V.K. Murthy was also a student of the institute. By the time I was there, he was considered a legend known for his use of lighting in Guru Dutt’s films.” So when he finished his course, Nihalani landed up at Murthy’s door in Mumbai. “He said, ‘join me from this evening.’ He was shooting Love in Tokyo at that time. He was very helpful. He said don’t do anything on the sets for the few days, just observe! I followed him and never showed any hurry. From Baharon Ke Sapne onwards, I assisted him on all his films.” With him he learnt to work with the filmmaker as team. “Director and cinematographer always worked as a team and it hasn’t changed yet.” The new technology has given cinematographers more options but Nihalani insists “if you not clear about your end result in your mind, no technology can help you.” Having said that, he adds, “technology always changes for good.” “The digital technology has changed the aesthetics of cinema. About a decade back when it came into being, people felt that the quality is not at as good as celluloid but now there is hardly any difference left. These days you hardly see long shots. Now, it is easier to make the frames realistic and glamorous. Earlier, the roll lasted for 10 minutes, now you can shoot for half an hour, non-stop.”

‘The mentor’

However, Nihalani reminds that his course was in filmmaking and cinematography was just his specialisation. “I always wanted to become a filmmaker. My interest in literature and friends like Satyadev Dubey helped in realising my ambition. He introduced me to Shyam Benegal, who is responsible for my political awakening.” Love for literature made him try an adaptation of a Marathi novel Channi. “ But as luck would have it , V. Shantaram had already decided to make a film on it.”

‘Ends matter the most’

It is while shooting Gandhi as the second unit cinematographer, that Nihalani stumbled upon Bhisham Sahni’s Tamas. “Incidentally, I was shooting the Partition scenes in Gandhi at that time. Having seen Partition, I always wanted to make a film on the subject and always felt there is not much literature on the human tragedy. I had come across Jhootha Sach but its canvas was too big to adapt. Tamas felt manageable. Be it Ardh Satya or Tamas , I never used special effects. I always shot within the limited resources that I had because I knew itne main hi kaam chalana hai . But I never compromised on the ends I wanted to achieve.”

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