Click to play videoMumbai: The traditional idea of making cinema with big stars, big money and bombarding the screens with maximum number of prints is slowly giving way to an alternative strategy of good acting concocted with good script which is slowly making its presence felt.
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap says, “All it needed was one film to be massive hit. And Bheja Fry did that which is what I give the credit to. Its always the concept mixed with kind of interesting actors.”
A film made on a budget of Rs 60 lakh went to make over Rs 10 crore and gave birth to the desi poster boys of new Indie cinema - Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey and Rajat Kapoor.
With good actors, a small budget and a great script, the absence of so called bankable stars didn't matter any more.
The film's success paved the way for more such ventures and gave confidence to many new producers.
Filmmaker Sagar Bellary says, “Every small person who has got Rs 1 crore or Rs 50 lakh in his pocket wants to make a film. Everyone wants to be film producer. Everyone got that confidence and faith that ki hamara bhi kuch ho sakta hai (we also can do something). I am very happy that this has happened. You don’t have to depend on traditional film producers to make a film.”
Earlier 2006 saw the success of Khosla Ka Ghosla, which had character actors like Anupam Kher and Boman Irani in the lead. Later there was Mithya with Ranvir as the main protagonist and more recently A Wedenesday which had Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher - all three films left an impact on the audience as well as the box office.
Producers are now willing to put their money on ‘actors’ and not only the ‘stars’.
It has democartised the whole filmmaking process where any outsider can come and make a film like Manish Acharya did with Loins Of Punjab Presents which also had no ‘so called saleable’ stars.
Filmmaker Manish Acharya says, “The closest we have got to films is to watching films. We don’t get invited to film parties. We don’t know anybody.”
Of course the trend got a shot in the arm because of the multiplex boom, which allowed for a small screen with a capacity of just a few hundred to run these small budget films which were made for a niche audience.
Filmmaker Rajat Kapoor says, I have no ambition to make Rs 35 crore film with palaces and costumes and all that. I have no such ambition.
Though the success of these films has changed a few rules of box office arithmetic, the old fashioned idea of ‘bankable’ and ‘saleable’ stars has yet to completely self-destruct.
Kashyap says, “I always face all the time. I face the saleability thing all the time but I also find some kind of a backing. I think years of stubbornness has paid of.
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