Having been through the arbitrary cogs of the Central Board of Film Certification, Nagesh Kukunoor’s rather disturbing film on child sexual trafficking, Lakshmi , is set for release on March 21. The filmmaker who set off a new trend of indie cinema with his Hyderabad Blues way back in 1998, was in Bangalore to screen Lakshmi for the city’s who’s who and get people talking about it much before the release. Kukunoor says he’s realised the power of the social media and is screening the film in colleges even before its theatrical release, to get youngsters to put their strength behind the issue.
Talking about his experience at the censors, where his films was stuck since late 2013, Kukunoor says it ultimately turned out to be “fantastic”, because the Board saw the film in context and cleared it without many cuts. “Obviously as a filmmaker you’re constantly looking at it as ‘how less do I compromise in order to get the film out’? Because all of filmmaking is a compromise.” Excerpts from an interview:
When you picked the subject ofLakshmi, you knew making this film would be challenging. What made you want to do this then?
You feel passionate about certain things. But not every thing ends up being a film. For me the key element is story. You have to find that amazing story, an emotional hook on which you can hang the entire film. And with Lakshmi I found it. There is a pattern in my films — I have believed in gender equality, my women characters are strong. When I came across the issue of child trafficking, or Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking, as they are known in Andhra Pradesh, there was an instant gravitation towards that. But, if I hadn’t found this amazing story I would have done nothing about it. There are so many things you feel passionately about, and then you move on. Once I latched on to this subject, I knew this was the film I wanted to make. Actors who read the script said no. Parts of it are very disturbing. For me it was very simple. This story needs to be told this way, or not. To sugarcoat it, I have many other topics. This is not one of them.
Was it one girl’s story or the coming together of many stories?
It’s the coming together of many stories, but the core story is of this one particular girl forced into prostitution. Who actually had courage to stand up in court, and eventually sent her traffickers to jail. That’s the heroism I am talking about. I spent time with these girls at a rescue shelter — they are suffering such physical, emotional and mental abuse — but its shocking that they are standing there as normal human beings having a conversation, and not committed to some asylum. This aspect of constant heroism was exciting. But as a filmmaker I wanted more detail, and you have to walk a very fine line. You’re trying to understand what they’ve been through but you can’t force them to relive the trauma. You piece things together by talking to NGOs who rescued her. I’ve seen caveats at the beginning of films saying “this is based on a true story” so I’ve said “this is a fictional account of many true stories”.
A majority of the audience today wants “light entertainment”. Why would you want to make a film like this then? A film like Lakshmi won’t bring in the audience, and money.
You’re a 100 per cent right. Which is why I put my money into it, along with other producers. When I made Hyderabad Blues , every one said it wasn’t going to work, because there was no earlier reference point that a film like that would work. But it worked. So the one thing it taught me was you do what you believe in. Sometimes you’ll find success, sometimes you’ll find horrific failure. It won’t work all the time. But at least you are convinced of your whole process. My biggest fear in life is I’ll pick something I’m really excited about, and then I start second guessing who the audience might be. I have always followed the diktat that if I believe passionately in something, I’m going to make it happen. Yes, when the film is made, the self doubt sets in. Here’s where I truly believe that there is an audience for such films. It’s a small audience and I’m ok with that. I want to reach out to them. If they turn up, the film would have done well; the economics makes sense. We’ve used a unique mechanism to reach out to people for Lakshmi . We’ve held college campus screenings even before release. I feel strongly that if the youth believes in something they will put their muscle behind it in a way our generation never understands…the whole social media thing. We’ve screened the film in about 20 colleges in Ahmedabad, Pune, Indore, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Guwahati.
The idea is to get people to talk about it?
I genuinely believe, and a couple of my films have been lucky enough to enjoy it – there are films that have a life way beyond the box office. Lakshmi is a hard-hitting film; the purpose with which it was made, I can actually see results with. I’ve had NGOs ask for screenings, colleges saying can we screen it to sensitise men? With winning the audience award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, we know the topic is global and it can have a life of its own outside India. Women’s societies in US have asked for screenings. We are scheduled for four more festivals in April and May. The purpose of this film is loftier. Let this just go out. The next film, I can make more commercial, and make more money.
Why haven’t you been able to deliver any great successes afterIqbal?
You forgot Dor ! It’s the nature of the game – there’s absolutely no reason why you have a string of success or failures. What I’m truly terrible at , something I’ve tried fixing, and failed miserably in, is marketing myself. I make movies and I go into a hole. Here you have to sell yourself as much, if not more than your movie. For your movie to be talked about, you have to be talked about. If I’m a media celebrity cutting ribbons, seen with politicians and wealthy people, you’ll see centrespread publicity. A lot of opinion can be swayed very widely by creation of perception of what an individual is. I suck at that. In the meanwhile I painfully tweet and log into Facebook – I was never on social media till Mod; now it drives your film. I can’t believe I didn’t see it early enough and I’m bad at it. It’s a chore for me. But it’s huge…people have actually heard of Lakshmi !
