“Jia Zhangke is an important filmmaker. He represents a kind of lost, alienated youth. He is very interesting among younger contemporary filmmakers and has a style which is simultaneously Chinese and European. He breaks away from the tradition of ornamental Chinese cinema using a modern digital format. He is trying to explore his own generation’s angst and its distinct place in the world.
It’s interesting to note how cinema of a certain kind is interconnected, how everybody is influencing everybody else. There is Asghar Farhadi with A Salesman , Cristian Mungiu with Bacalaureat ( Graduation) and then there is Zhangke. You see a kind of lament for the loss of idealism and morality and the idea of a lost generation in their films. I see a kind of co-relationship amongst all these filmmakers.
I don’t think we’ve had political cinema of this kind in India. But there are interesting voices that are emerging. Political doesn’t only pertain to films about politics. All the younger filmmakers in India are political since they are questioning a mainstream way of thinking, questioning the value system.
We are living at a time when we are all in the market space but there is also a kind of coming together of people with an idea of independence in their head. So there are two kinds of films in India—those that are independent in the head and others that are sticking to some kind of a formula.
There are filmmakers who are rejecting a kind of filmmaking that has been handed down to them. These young filmmakers—Gurvinder Singh, Ruchika Oberoi, Anand Gandhi, Neeraj Ghaywan, Kanu Behl, and, of course Anurag Kashyap—are very inspiring for me. I find myself being able to work and stay who I am because of these people.
I think there is another interesting thing happening in India—people who are rooted, who hail from smaller cities, from middle-class non-westernised backgrounds are telling stories about India, about growing up and understanding the world and trying to deal with it. There is a sense of loss, an alienation from the world that is handed to them, the world that they have inherited.
It is interesting that Konkona Sen Sharma is now making a film, that a lot of young women are stepping out. It is interesting that even the mainstream is now beginning to question the formula. I like the work of Sriram Raghavan. Filmmakers like him are trying to remain in the mainstream to connect with their own audience but are also exploring other issues. I find that cinema more interesting than the films that go to festivals. These filmmakers are not talking down to the audience, they are interested in having a conversation. They don’t have the kind of contempt for audiences that the earlier generations had. And this is where the similarities amongst these younger generations of filmmakers from different parts of the world lie—Koreans, Chinese, Iranians, those from the Philippines—all exploring a kind of urban reality, not mimicking anything. I think a kind of new realism is trying to reach out, is building up around the world, a kind of neo-neo realism. A younger generation that is interconnected and influenced by each other around the world is emerging.”
As told to Sucheta Chakraborty
