We have often seen filmmakers have 2 releases in a span of a few months or even on the same day. But very rarely it happens that a director will have as many as 4 releases, all in cinemas, within 6 months. That filmmaker, who is all set to create a record, is none other than Ananth Narayan Mahadevan. At a beautiful café in the suburbs, he spoke exclusively to Bollywood Hungama about his latest release, The Storyteller, starring Paresh Rawal and Adil Hussain, which is expected to hit theatres this month after travelling to various film festivals across the world. He also talks about his upcoming films and a lot more
You are all set to create history. Your 4 directorial ventures will release in just 6 months…
The Storyteller is expected to release this month. In December, my Marathi film Aata Vel Zaali will be out. I made it 1 ½ years ago. It did the festival rounds and now it’s ready for release. I had co-produced it and Dinesh Bansal is the main producer. It’s the first feature film I have produced. In February 2024, Phule will arrive in theatres. Somewhere in between, The Confession will make it to cinemas. Since it’s about a priest, I was hoping we could release it just before Christmas. This could be an apt time.
You had got the rights to The Storyteller in 2017. Tell us about the journey of making this film…
The journey of The Storyteller is a story in itself! My friend Tapobrati Das brought a chapter from a Bengali book and informed me that it was written by Satyajit Ray. I felt as if she read my mind. I always wanted to pay tribute to Satyajit Ray. He was one of the stalwarts who drew me towards cinema of substance.
I recently met Majid Majidi. I remarked that they (Iranian filmmakers) make such great films, that too with non-actors. Then what’s stopping us, the biggest film industry in the world, from doing cinema of substance and not being scoffed at, at international film festivals? He replied that he became a filmmaker after getting inspired by Satyajit Ray (smiles)! He added, ‘Yours is the country of Satyajit Ray. Nothing should deter you from making the kind of films you want to make’. It was a big shot in the arm as I realized I shouldn’t be losing my morale and confidence.
People used to tell me that The Storyteller was a nice, fascinating story but didn’t want to come on board. Some suggested that I should directly release it on a digital platform. I was not ready for it. I wanted to make a film which would appear as if Ray had made the film or close to what he would have thought. It was a healthy and not a misplaced ambition.
One senior official in a corporate entity asked me ‘Who is Ray? Why are you harping on him?’. Finally, my Bittersweet (2020) producers Suchhanda Chatterjee and Shubha Shetty came on board. They wanted to make the film at any cost. It gave me a big boost. Then, Jio Studios backed the film. Shobha Sant, Jyoti Deshpande and all others in their team were very convinced that this was a film that they wanted to make. I was like, ‘Sanity still prevails and there’s still hope for world cinema in this country’.
I enjoyed the process of making the film, particularly with my actors. Alphonse Roy, my cinematographer, is very close to Revathi. He spilled the beans about The Storyteller. She called me and asked me, ‘Why am I not in your film?’. I explained that it’s the story of two men and that the women have very small roles. Yet, she said she was game. Paresh Rawal was the pillar. He stood by me for three years though he knew I was fighting to get a producer. Any other actor would have quit. But he used to regularly ask me for updates.
The Storyteller travelled to the film festivals in Busan, London, Houston, Chicago, and Melbourne. At the IFFI, it was in the international competition. It was also screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala.
The challenge was you can’t resort to gimmicks in a film like this in every way. The dialogues can’t be cheesy. The performances can’t be over the top. The camera can’t have fancy angles and the edit process needs to have a flow. That’s how Ray would have envisioned it. Had the world said, ‘Why the hell did he have to touch Ray’s work’, I would have failed. Thankfully, the world over, the feedback I have got is that it is one of the best adaptations of Ray.
It’s a very clever story. It’s about a Bengali storyteller and a Gujarati businessman. Both don’t know each other’s language. The only way of communication is in Hindi. As a result, this film could never be made in Bengali. Otherwise, I don’t think this story would have been spared by anyone. I guess I was destined to make it.
You made some thought-provoking films like Gour Hari Dastaan (2015). But often, these films didn’t work in cinemas. You had said in the past that such films should have lower ticket rates…
At that point, PVR had promised us 180 to 200 cinemas for Gour Hari Dastaan. Then Brothers (2015) was released on the same day. And we were reduced to 50-60 cinemas all over India. I was fine. Across the world, many arthouse films get limited releases. But at least, they should have priced the ticket at Rs. 100. Why would anybody pay Rs. 300 for a film that is not mainstream? Viewers would pay Rs. 300 to watch Shah Rukh Khan but won’t do it for a lesser cast. PVR, however, declined, citing that it’s not their policy. I guaranteed them that I could get them sold out shows in 100 screens if tickets cost Rs. 100 but I can’t do that if the price per ticket is Rs. 300. However, they did not see a reason. That's one of the reasons why the film did not get the mileage that it could have got. Since its release in 2015 and ever since it went up on digital platforms, the response has been amazing. It hasn’t got one negative review or comment.
I guess that's what happened to Guru Dutt as well. I am not comparing myself to a great man like him. But is this country going to honour people posthumously? Or will it acknowledge them while they are alive so that they can make more films and better films? The only reason I want my friends to be acknowledged or even awarded or rewarded at festivals on the national level is that it will pump up the energy in me to try the impossible again and to make better cinema. There was a time when I thought there was no acknowledgement anywhere whether I made Staying Alive (2012) or Red Alert (2010). But when Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (2010) got 4 National Awards totally on merit, it put the faith back in me. And I didn’t know a fly in that jury room.
What do you have to say about films being made in the current times?
We are taking 2 steps forward and 20 steps back. See the kind of films that are running. I have nothing against these films. When I was a kid, I enjoyed Amar Akbar Anthony and Deewaar as much as I enjoyed Aandhi or Koshish. At that time, Nasir Hussain, Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra etc co-existed with Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee, Gulzar etc. All these directors and also Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak were flourishing. Where did that era go? Today, why don’t we have filmmakers who make a difference and are given an opportunity and screens to exhibit their work along with popular films? I have nothing against popular films. It gets in the revenue and the audience. But then it’s not the only cinema. People cannot ignore what cinema really is. All over the world, it is accepted. But the Marvel universe and Hollywood have corrupted India. The biggest corrupting factor has been James Bond! Thanks to it, every film now has a hero and a villain and the hero has to defeat the villain. That they do it with panache and flair is a different thing. Today, we are just sticking to this formula. Producers say, ‘Aisi hi film banao’. Audiences are drugged. It happened with saas-bahu serials on television too.
I often feel Govind Nihalani was the last of his kind. Even Ketan Mehta did some good movies, though he was inconsistent. He made Bhavni Bhavai (1980) and Sardar (1994) and then he also made Hero Hiralal (1988) and Oh Darling Yeh Hai India (1995)! You can’t understand where his mind was going. He wasn’t consistent.
You said Govind Nihalani was one of the last filmmakers who made sensible cinema. But what about the filmmakers who are also making such films today and are often celebrated?
In the last 10-15 films, all their films are inspired by Tarantino and Scorsese. A lot of their films have style over substance. The films are dark. A filmmaker once said, ‘When I made a particular film, I was told by Scorsese that this is not graphic enough’. So now, the violence and gore pour out like an avalanche hoping that it is graphic enough for the world to accept. That’s why, I am not naming these 5-6 filmmakers of today who are trying to be different but I know where their origins are. If they were really versatile, they’d make different films. But they are making only one kind of film. These people have created a formula for themselves. These people created a clique where only those 10 people are acknowledged. They have also created their own social circles and media partners. They are holding these directors up and claiming ‘This is the new face of Indian cinema’. Well, God bless them!
You made 4 films and you also act regularly. How do you get time?
There is lots of time. It’s pure time management. In fact, I am underworked! Today, I went to the studio and sat on the edit. I uploaded my film on Vimeo to be sent to a film festival. I came to talk to you. I did nothing today! I phase out my acting and directorial projects. After my mother’s death, I was shattered. During that time, The Storyteller was to go on floors. I didn’t know I would last the schedule. Some strength pulled me through it. While I was working on the post-production, The Confession fell into my lap. I finished it and went abroad to shoot for Mission Raniganj. I also shot a short film there with Kumud Mishra and Shishir Sharma on an iPhone. During the day, there was no shooting. I am sending this short film to festivals. I came back and did Phule. So, this year took the life out of time. I am taking a break now till December. I am writing a script at the moment and I’ll shoot it in January or February 2024. So you just need to find the time. There’s a lot of time. There’s time to burn and there’s time to waste!
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