Says showman Subhash Ghai in a no-holds-barred chat with Debarati Palit after the screening of his movie Black and White at the Pune International Film Festival
Says showman Subhash Ghai in a no-holds-barred chat with Debarati Palit after the screening of his movie Black and White at the Pune International Film Festival
Quite content with the response Black And White received from the audience and the judges at the 7th Pune International Film Festival, ace film director Subhash Ghai spoke to this reporter about the effect of economic slow down on cinema, his hits and flops and the critics.
ADVERTISEMENT
As the ongoing economic slowdown has hit every sector, how has it affected the film industry?
People are shying away from investing in high budget films, as the risk factor involved in making such movies is very high. Earlier, most of the production houses used to invest 30 per cent of their money in parallel cinema but not now as there are fewer takers for parallel cinema.
u00a0
But with the growing numbers of multiplexes, the situation has not gone that bad. There's a niche group of audience for all kind of films.
It's believed that the situation is even bad for media pass outs from professional institutes.
Due to the boom in the industry earlier, people coming from any sector were absorbed to fill up the vacancies. But with the current situation, only trained professionals with some sound experience will get the jobs.
u00a0
Talking about your movies, do you think the critics were unkind towards Yuvvraaj?
For the critics, they do not take their responsibilities in the right sense. They are the teachers of the audiences and their job is to enlighten and educate. But they get personal and start writing things that are not meant to be written in reviews.
My dear friend Khalid Mohammad wrote that I should go back to making Saudagar and Ram Lakhan and stop experimenting with my movies.
It's also interesting to see this part of the profession.
So does that motivate or de-motivate you?
All the bad things that have been written about me motivate me to make better films. Everything is so dicey here. If I give one hit in the coming times, everybody will start saying 'we knew he had the talent'.
These are seasonal judgments without any convictions and keep on changing. And I was so bored with the praise for so many years, that the criticism came as a good change.
Coming to the film festival, how do you rate PIFF?
It's the right platform to introduce world cinema to the younger generation irrespective the profession they come from. The fact remains that cinema has broaden the horizon.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
