One Small Window

In his weekly column in HT Café dated 26 April 2010 (Page 7 in the dropdown menu on the left), the Bollywood actor Imran Khan concludes that movies will help people find common ground; after starting out saying that good movies foster debate. He also re-quotes his uncle Aamir Khan’s belief that it is a filmmaker’s job to make movies. The issues such movies may raise are to be dealt with by people qualified to do so. I take no objection to the latter premise. In fact I think it would do the world a lot of good if more people did their jobs and concerned themselves less with other people’s business. I do object however, to the conclusion that movies will help people find common ground.

With the exception of Hollywood product, most cinema (Bollywood included) does not enjoy widespread distribution outside of its primary market. Only the most enterprising cinephiles (and those numbers are not as large as one may hope) will seek out material originating in worlds far removed from their own. So how can my movie foster dialogue in Tanzania when I have no means of getting its people to watch it?
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A lot of the younger (in experience rather than age) filmmakers making their first, second, third or fourth movies suffer from a powerful case of legend love. This is a condition that prompts them to pursue Travis Bickle to play the action hero in a feature film scheduled for release in 2012. Only trouble is the actor who played Travis Bickle hasn’t been that lean or that fit for over thirty years. The same goes for Rocky (Bollywood or Hollywood), Conan, Shahenshah, Amar, Akbar or Anthony.
Legend Love prevents these young directors from seeing that the wizened old face before their eyes is not the one that caused their mothers and aunts to go weak-kneed in their prime. They shout out from the proverbial rooftops that they have secured such and such legend to play a role of so much importance in the film that they believe will change the face of Indian cinema. Without realizing that the legends that inspired them to pursue a career in filmmaking are now grey of hair, slow of foot speed and lacking in agility.

Said legends however are no slouches when it comes to the salaries they command. Sure it may seem like a steal to nab the services of your childhood hero for the equivalent value of half a million US dollars, but will that cost be translated on screen when said legend has to perform the (relatively) simple task of running towards his enemy at full speed? How about remembering a complex set of lines? And tell me he doesn’t look like a creepy older uncle when romancing the age-appropriate (for the role) girl cast opposite him.

Now do you see how you’ve just bid that half-a-million US dollars goodbye? And there wasn’t even alcohol at the farewell party.

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It was my first time in Las Vegas, hell it was my first time in the United States of America and after nearly a month in New York, we flew to Las Vegas for the next leg of the shoot. This is still Anjaana Anjaani, the Bollywood feature I was shooting the ‘behind the scenes’ footage for.
Nearly 24 days we ended up spending in Nevada and it was not a pleasant time.
Beyond a point, there really is precious little for the outsider to do in Las Vegas. One could drink, gamble, go to strip clubs or take in a show. Sure I guess drinking and gambling can be three-and-a-half weeks-long activities but the rest? One time and you’re done right?
I don’t drink (that much), my idea of gambling is living life, I have zero interest in the joyless writhing of the women employed by strip clubs and the shows seemed kinda pricey.
So I shot some video instead (Canon 7D, 18-135mm kit lens).
The original idea was to try and capture day-time Vegas. Because the Strip and its surroundings look totally different (and not very pleasant) in the stark light of day. But then it occurred to me that this wouldn’t really ‘look’ like Vegas. So I junked my daytime footage and went with a blend of expected and unusual sights from Sin City.
And I decided to allow sonaluna‘s music to underscore the mood of the place (as I perceived it).
So without too much further textual ado, this is the third film in (what I hope will be) a series I call Tourist’s Eye.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Las Vegas.

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As myths go, there isn’t one more toxic (to the industry and the business) than the one where people state confidently that there is nothing new to say. I spent a few hours at the studios where the music for a major Summer 2010 Bollywood release is being produced.
I gotta tell you, some of the stuff I heard in that room would blow the minds of cinema audiences around the world.

None of it was the bullshit that masquerades as ‘insider gossip’in the birdcage liner delivered daily by your newspaperwallah. These were tales that would make your hair stand on end. These were anecdotes that would have most viewers curled up in foetal balls in appropriately dark corners of their homes, gibbering like idiots because they suddenly realized that the world was a scary place. And they would all make for fantastic cinema.

How I wish economics and business sense would coalesce enough to enable the bringing of tales like the ones I heard to the silver screen. I promise you, just on the strength of the Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid (oh how I love that Collective Soul album name!) I sorta-kinda heard in that studio, there would be no shortage of kudos (or global dollars) for the filmmakers capable of translating their life stories into efficient slices of cinema.

This is why all the storytelling teachers in the world tell aspirants to ‘write what they know’. If only the lure of ‘glamour’ wasn’t so seductive.
Sigh.