Hindi to Indie - a critique view
Born and raised in a country that worships matinee idols more than their gods of cricket, makes me one among the 1,155,347,700 Indians following the religion of cinema unabashedly.
Gone are the days of single screen theaters showing your regional cinema in local languages, this is the age of multiplexes, showing a variety of movies in every major spoken language. Despite the fact that every metropolitan city and an Urban town has a multiplex or a multiple of multiplexes (Hyderabad has more multiplexes than public toilets) that plays every major release, our Indian distributors sometimes turn a blind eye towards independent movies.
They are falsely accused of making movies only for the film festival circuit or solely for the appreciation of critics. An Independent movie like any other movie tells you a story but without the extra topping (Songs, Item numbers, Villains who have a boner for the heroine etc). However India had delivered some fantastic independently produced movies in the past, the most recent ones being Udaan, Stanley Ka Dabba, I Am, Shaitan, Dhobi Ghat, and Delhi Belly.
I am not too familiar with the Hollywood Indie circuit but I can say that some brilliant directors had come through the roster before. Directors like Quinton Tarantino, Richard Linklater and Christopher Nolan have all been discovered by Hollywood in the popular Sundance film festival.
Tarantino debuted as an independent filmmaker with ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and he went on to make some big hits like Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction.
Richard Linklater began his career with ‘Slacker’ which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. He also directed other independent movies which gained cult following, like Dazed and confused, Waking Life, and A Scanner Darkly.
Christopher Nolan doesn’t need much introduction as everybody is now familiar with his work after Dark Knight opened here in India. Before entering Hollywood he independently produced and directed ‘Following’ and ‘Memento’ which got critical reception at many film festivals.
Actors are not the only ones who struggle for opportunities in the film industry, directors and other technicians also have to do it the hard way, to find work. To reach an audience, the director must approach the studios with a subject. To make them invest in the subject, the subject must be bankable (sadly most of the time the original script is altered to suit with the ongoing trends). TO Back the director, he must be experienced enough to handle the pre and post production of a big budget movie.
Like every job that requires experience for even applying, the post of a director also needs experience according to the studios to direct a movie. To gain experience, most of them join film academies, few experiment with super 8 cameras, and the rest of them work as assistants under established directors. After graduating from the academy, after making enough amateur short movies, and after learning their trade under other directors, most of these aspiring directors start their careers with an Independently funded cinema.
To make an example of it, let me indulge you with a conversation I had with a Hollywood director on twitter. His name is Duncan Jones and he made the recently released hit movie ‘Source Code’.
Duncan Jones started his career with an Indie flick titled ‘Moon’ which premiered in the 2009 Sundance festival. The movie received positive reviews and was also adjudged the “Best British Independent Film”. Coming back to the conversation I had on twitter, it all started with a tweet from Duncan Jones to which I replied with an added sarcasm.
Duncan Jones: My generation of film makers need to up their game & establish some new heroes. These rehashes of my childhood favorites are starting to piss me off.
Me: I believe your Source Code hero was also a rehash of Tony Scott’s hero in ‘Deja Vu’. remember?
Duncan: what? That’s ridiculous. Denzel is black and Jake is totally White! …except in Prince of Persia.
I found that comment seriously offensive but I choose to ignore it, because I am brown.
Me: I’m not laughing. Your script writer,Ben Ripley is like Matt Damon in ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’. Write your own scripts Duncan!
Duncan: Finance my next movie, blcksheep and while you are at it, finance Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote.
If I had the money I would be directing and producing my own version of star wars right?
Duncan: No one just gives you money to make whatever you want at a Hollywood budget after one Brit indie flick.
Duncan: You have to earn that in the industry. Source Code was part of the ladder I am fully aware I have to climb. So far, so good.
Duncan: Things look good for me to be able to make my next film on my own terms. That’s what I’m writing now. Hopefully it will happen.
Frankly I was shocked by his confession, but I slowly began to understand, what a wuss he really is.
Me: Indie makers know how to tell a story on screen despite their budgetary constraints. But they never compromise on the story.
Me: I never had any qualms with your direction. I only want you to choose original subjects and explore more genres other than sci-fi.
Duncan: yeah. I started with an indie film. Moon.
Me: Watched Moon months before Source Code came out. you will end up like Richard Kelly if you forget your beginnings and compromise on your work.
If you are wondering who Richard Kelly is, he is the man behind ‘Donnie Drako’ (Indie movie) but after that he faded into oblivion with 4 successive duds funded by the studios.
Duncan: your not a Golem at all, fellah. You’re a troll! Goodbye forever! ;)
Me: Suit yourself, Smeagol was just trying to help you, but fat hobbit always suspecting us. I understood what you meant, Goodbye.
Yes most of you would know that Smeagol was a character created by the British author Tolkien for his novel The Lord Of The Rings. Duncan being a British national must have took offence and blocked my account later.
Unfortunately directors are becoming puppets in the hands of studios. They are not given the freedom to translate their vision from script to screen. Like Duncan said “Source Code was part of the ladder,I am fully aware I have to climb” getting the job itself has become something like performing a casting couch, but this time around, the director has to impress upon the studio executives.
I want to pulverize the entire studio system and save you all from having to put up with more studio movies like ‘Battle La’ and ‘Dark of the Moon’. My eyes scream for meaningful cinema. If the “Transformers” and the “Pirates” trend continues, I might as well gouge my eyes out and die in the theater watching them kill good cinema.
P.S I hated Source Code too, read my review here. Also you can check Ducan’s timeline for the tweets marked on 30th June for proof (if he still did not delete them that is).
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