It started with this post. And then the arguments continued in the comments box. Then the coincidence happened – details about Charlie Kaufman’s latest film Frank Or Francis appeared and it seems it has little bit of all of us. Here’s Anurag Kashyap on what we are doing and what we should be doing instead…
Quoting “Gandhi” here seems the only relevant argument i can make now. This post is in response to all the acid i have been seeing flowing on the blogs and social networking sites from those very people who have it in them to change the state of things.
I know i have become the system and i am not the same anymore and the endless “what happened to me argument” .. but this is not about me, this is about all you people who are constantly frustrated with the system, and vitriolic and angry. If you are waiting for an Anna Hazare to come and save the cinema, well the system knows how to work even around an Anna Hazare. And Anna spoke of an issue that was closer to the masses, the change that all of you want in Cinema is not closer to masses, its closer to you, because masses have the cinema they want. Fight is not to end one kind of cinema, Fight is to co exist, Fight is to be allowed to make the cinema one believes in. Fight is for the survival of that cinema one believes in. A Francis can go on abusing and cribbing but he will affect only those who allow themselves to be affected by him, once they are affected by him, that Frank also becomes a vestigial organ to the system, which the system amputates.
I have fought too. Fought while working in the system. And do not expect me to carry on the fight. I fought for myself and made my space and now i am doing what i wanted to do. And helping those who can help themselves to do it. I have done my bit, A lot of us have done our bit and now its your turn.
This specifically to that one person i have always had lots of hopes from, someone who still lives a dual identity – @moifightclub. Its been years that you have been complaining (wishing) if i may say so for things to be the way you want. Well stop wishing, its been long. Step up to the challenge and take it on and write .
I don’t say this to people who are the critics and are film buffs and cinema lovers, who are often disappointed and criticise. They have every right to criticise and be vitriolic. Its up to us (criticised) to decide whose criticism we want to pay heed to. I write this for the ones who want to write and create cinema and complain about no one reading their script or understanding what they bring to the table. ref (i will read your fucking script).
No one, (read NO-ONE) is obligated to read your script, no one is obligated to understand your need to create, its your need and you have to fullfill it. You have to get in there and do it. A producer is a businessman and he is there to do business, he will make films which are star driven and will not care about the content till those films start to do the business for him. The day content starts bringing in the audience and, IF he starts to understand content, he will start to make your films. That IF is a very big IF. He is not you , like you are not him, because if you were him, you will not understand the content either and if you, you will make a bad businessman who is sure to shut down (Ramu). In order to have the freedom a director often becomes a producer, and the day he becomes a producer, a sort of slow creative decline begins, because he starts to understand the requirements of a producer. Be it a Yashraj, or a Ramu or a Mani Ratnam or a Ketan Mehta or even a small-timer like me. Which is why we become better producers than directors and yes, we struggle a hell of a lot to make our way in the system and try and keep our creative honesty intact. Its a lot of struggle. You have to be both a whore and a virgin, because here only a whore can create space for the virgin and not for all of them, its tougher trying to be both. So a whore (me) goes about choosing her virgins, Virgins who work hard at remaining one. Who toil and slog and sweat and go hungry, and often alone, and focused. I will not choose some one who does not have the courage to stick to it so will not the others.
Change will be brought by people who are at it and not AT THEM. Change will be a Q who goes out and does what he wants to and, yes, his GANDU might never be allowed by the system to come out and yes, i don’t completely feel comfortable with a GANDU in its entirety but then there is an uncompromising vision and that vision allows him to make his next film. and he goes on to make that rather than sit and complain about GANDU not releasing. Change will be a Vasan Bala who does not care about my approval of his script or even yours @fightclub. He puts his neck on line and not under a pseudonym. He will learn some and also teach us some. Change will be a Sandeep Mohan who went ahead and raised his money and convinced enough number of people to allow him to and participate in and finished his movie. Yes, he learnt some things and he also taught us something. He taught us that it is possible and you don’t need an Excel or UTV or me to read a script. He also learnt about things he shouldn’t have done and he is ready with two more scripts. Change will be a Shlok Sharma, who is not articulate enough to be on a blog or a social networking site, whose every answer to any questions asked in English at the festivals, where his shorts won awards for, was “Yes Yes No”. Change will be a Ghaywan, who goes and borrows money and does it despite of no faith put in him. Change will be @chillicrabmovie, who is going on raising money on the net to make what he believes in and not waiting for the “Existing” to understand him. Stop revelling in what other writers have to say about the state of the Studios and their creativity. At least those who say it have been through it and came out flying and deal with it on a daily basis and teach you how to deal with them. They are not vitriolic. Be grateful for what they say and don’t use what they say to justify your unemployment or your not yet being there. Ever since the world was here, wisdom has been gained by experience and its passed on. The ball has been passed to you and you are in the game, and you are not invited, no body wants you here, but your being here will bring change and your bring here will bring a new wisdom which will have to be passed on. When you (Fightclub & Manu Warrier) justify having the right to have read a script of an unreleased film like Game, then you also can not use the non release of your existing film that you have done to not write about how was the experience and how what you envisaged didn’t turn out to be and do not fucking use the excuse that we only wrote to the directors expectation. Because if you have that excuse then bloody well stop complaining. To bring change you need BALLS and you don’t need balls to fight them, you need most balls to be bloody honest about yourself first, to be able to look at your own selves and analyse and understand it before looking at others. And here you can not play that congress game,”but he is corrupt too”. When you guys can do that you can have that change. Be the Change you seek. If you want to be Frank, then do not hide behind Francis. If you don’t want to be Frank, then being a Francis is fine and great and i will listen to you.
Frankly i am slowly getting weary. I am weary of all those from the days of PFC who do not participate. I admire a Katrthik Krishnan who retains his anger and struggles to find balance between what he expects from others and what he needs to do. He understands when one fails and why one fails and has his remarks about it and then also tries to find objectivity vis a vis his bad experiences and try not to repeat them, all that along with trying to survive and be on his own. It is not a clear cut path made out for anyone. Some chose to step in. How you come out of it is another matter? But atleast you tried. I will always listen to and would want to look at the man who is in the arena than be one from the sides. It does not mean that people can not chose to be on the sides. You can, but then you don’t know anything about the fight. You just like the idea of winning and you know how to cheer and how to be disappointed. You have never known the pleasure of fighting. You might as well pick up the flowers and wear the tights and start dancing to the beats like they do at the IPL games, when a boundary has been scored and sit and yawn when nothing happens then cheer again when one is bowled out.
Cinema is dear to me, and if i can say so, more dear than it is to anyone. I am a bigger filmbuff than anyone and i go and watch a film to see “what someone has done” than going to see “whether they have done what i expected them to do or not”. I have earned a lot of money in life, enough to build me whatever one wishes to but i haven’t after being 19 years in this industry. Because all of it was spent watching and acquiring cinema. I never had access to internet and never understood it like you do and before i did discover it, i had developed a habit of watching it like the filmmaker intended his audience to watch it in, one of HIS chosen formats. You guys today have more access to it, and you can do what you seek from others to do. If others (Producers) understood you, or what you have to offer, your struggle would have been four times than it is now because there expectations would have been much higher than what you have from them now. Because then it would have been a different cinema atmosphere and you would be one of many thousands and you really would have to be “the Charlie Kaufman” or “the John August” for them to give you an audience. And if you think a Charlie Kaufman is there because someone up there understood what he had to say and why the fuck there is no body like that here than really go back home. Because he also found his way in and because even a Michel Gondry struggles more than you to have his film green lit, because an ANG LEE waited three years after BrokeBack Mountain to get a greenlight on “Life of Pi”. Because even a Slumdog Millionaire was going straight to DVD and a Hurt Locker was ignored by all. Each of these individuals and there story is about self belief and determination and focus and the overwhelming desire to do it. A desire thats far more stronger and forceful than the frustration you have. Having been around the world and being friends with some of the greatest directors of today, you will be shocked to know that a Danis Tanovich (No Man’s Land) is having a tough time getting his film funded, Fatih Akin came to india last year to find funding , and he had the balls to say no to big hollywood studio (that did not understand him and is actually the biggest alternate label in hollywood) that pretended to get him. You will be shocked to know that whatever little resources I have, i am in a better position than most of the filmmakers that i admire to keep making films, in a country like India that they sometimes seek me to raise money. I say this because, whether you believe me or not you are blessed to be in a country like India which is so film obsessed that you can actually go out and make your own film. Your struggle starts after having made it.
And here everyone wants to finance films and be part of it, most of the films from Europe and South America and UK and Africa and China (not HongKong) are institution funded films. They come with their own set of artistic restrictions. Barring India, Hollywood, Japan, HongKong, Italy, France most countries don’t have the crew quoting fees. They have fixed percentage based on the budget. You would be very happy , if your film just go made in those countries. Take advantage of being in this country. Something i have learnt the hard way. DO IT.
And for the last time stop quoting Charlie Kaufman to justify yourself or defend your argument, because Charlie Kaufman not just writes for himself but he also has the patience and perseverance to find the right director to collaborate with. He did not just write it and gave it to anyone who wanted to take it and then blame it on him. He is never in a hurry to get it made. Unlike most of you who will give your script to anyone or write to the director’s requirement. If you do then find someone else to quote and put forth your argument for not having tried enough. Film is a director’s medium yes, but writer is also the part of the creation, he creates before the director comes in and uses his material, his job is also to inspire the director enough to use his imagination, to live up to the writing or just go and do dialogues and be a hack like i was in all those 7 years writing to what was expected of me and then not bother about it and stay out of the process of shooting and really do something to bring a change where you can stop being a hack.
I write this because i do not want to fight any of you anymore, because i am not your enemy. And it worries me that it all might just amount to nothing. I want the change as much as you want but i feel disheartened seeing all you forming a coterie only complaining. Complaining is fine for sometime, but when the same set of people go on about it, forever and for beyond the time they should have then something else is wrong. You need to find courage to quit the security of your job and if you can’t, then you need to find a way to work along with having a job, and that can only happen with little bit of constructivism, and it can not happen with identifying your misery with what other bonafide people have to say from their experiences because they are not haing the same experiences in the same world that you are trying to be part of.
I think i have tried to explain and asked you to see what i really want to say and hope that it did mean something. Baki ..
Jo Bhi main Kehna Chaahoon, Barbaad karein alfaaz mere…
(PS – The Motorcycle Diaries pic is added by us. Not sure if AK endorses it. Apologies if he doesn’t)
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 
All i can say is i/we are trying, Sir.
And all those who have balls according to you, i think they have great scripts too. May be mine one is shit, so its not happening. May i will write some more shit before anything happens. Hopefully i never lose the objectivity to separate the shit from the rest, either by me, you, your best friends or by someone else. Till then, am trying…just don’t need to bother you all the details of “trying”. Do i?
And when you know the situation is so bad, am sure you know its not easy to get anything made the way you want. So, wait for us. Whenever it happens, will let u know. Till then, we are trying…
about dual identity – you and those who matter and those who need to know, they all know. there is no secret. It’s just cheap thrill, as cheap as playing pakhi pakhi in the No Smoking background. Till then…
You logic for accepting criticism sounds weird to me. So whoever criticises you or any film, your first question will be – are you frank or francis? If you want to be Frank, then i will not take this criticism. Do it and show me. And i guess that’s the reason those who roam around you use colourful adjectives to describe your latest venture behind your back but will never be able to say it publicly. Because every small move matters when you are struggling to make your film. You have killed all those Francis. Great! But we are still trying….
And for the record, Game post was by Mihir Fadnavis. I guess you can accept it now because he is a reviewer.
And this fascination to measure the balls. I don’t have any romantic notion of struggling to pay my rent and spending sleepless nights under open sky, and nor will i ever celebrate it. Good luck to those who do. And hope they don’t have to do it for long.
And one last thing – if it wasn’t for this platform, am sure you had no clue about Q.
(PS – Vasan still cares about what i think about his script 🙂
Fully Agree.over the years i have realized that you become a reflection of your own experiences.
Those who don’t work hard enough to reach their goals will always find someone to blame for their lack of success.
If you want to get a script made then write it and make sure you knock on every possible door, one day or the other you will find that one person(director/producer) who believes in your vision( as a writer i mean).
I want to tell you the story of a friend(more of an acquaintance) he once posted on a facebook community that he wants to collaborate with writers and pitch scripts to studios as he has good contacts. I was happy contacted him..we met. as it turned out i knew more people than him and ended giving him some much needed contacts..during the course of the meeting i asked him if he has(sorry if its getting long) a script which he wants to sell. He told me has a treatment ready for one script which is an action film..as fate would have it i had met a big producer 2 weeks back who wanted an action film script(not my genre). I promptly gave him the number and asked him what is his idea. He narrated the idea and i liked it..asked him to talk to the producer. cut to three days later he calls me to say that he has not written anything its in his mind and the producer asked him to meet with the story. I told him to write it and offered my help but days passed the guy never wrote anything. He will wander around malad and call me whenever he wanted to crib..i would always ask him to write but he did not..after months of trying one day he called and told me im going back home..i asked him why..he said he will earn enough money to make his own film..i said how about writing a script you bitch..he banged the phone and now he owns a cafe in kullu manali which is supposed to be related to art..he still cribs but he never wrote. #true story
Point is all those who are reading this should understand that writing scripts and meeting people for years is the only way to get films made unless you are a star son who wants to direct because his looks are not good enough#bollywoodforyou. And for a change give the man who has made some landmark films his due.Respect.AK..Hope you rock with all the films you Produce/Direct.
P.S- Im not the most successful writer around but I try to write and pitch rather than blogging(sometimes woh bhi karta hoon)..
Too overwhelmed to say anything as of now… @fightclub – YOU BETTER READ AND ACT. NOW.
Dear AK
I… I …. I …. I…. With so many of the alphabet “I” …I also stands for “Insecurity..”…Anurag Kashyap has gone to great lengths to justify bloggers who is he and why is he doing what he is doing ? Did we ask you tough questions? Were you having sleepless nights, that you had to actually come out and explain to a bunch of guys who have done nothing according to you oh that too in a separate post? Why ?
What’s disappointing is you have passed judgments about me and my balls, without ever meeting me even once, you might have your reasons to talk about @moifightclub. It’s not that I never wrote to you, I wrote to you many times, explaining what I do, and what I can do for you, also messaged you several times in the past many years. Never once I got a simple reply “I am busy “or “get lost stop bugging me” or an email saying “you are spam”. Replying to this post is also not my attempt to get an appointment from you, but you simply gave me too much importance in this whole process. I don’t need to explain my struggles, my sadness, my pains, my artistic integrity on a public forum I would choose to focus on work with that. I love occasionally dropping in moifightclub in the interest of cinema and to learn, not because none of us have a life.
Dear Anurag you have simply reinforced the faith in lots of bloggers and readers here you are becoming Frank. Jai Ho Kaufman.
You shall hear no more from me ever on this discussion.
I guess now we know the reason for so much cynicism Manu…I also don’t know you personally but i see a disappointed man writing those words..AK is not the only one who will make your script..find some1 who is interested..If he starts meeting every1 who messages him then i suppose he will need a body double..You tried..move on..message someone else..number chahiye toh.. contact me..sabka milenga 🙂
problem is not insecuriy.. manu.. i don’t know if you will ever get this.. i just love you guys too much.. and you guys can do it.. there is nothing more i will say.. go on twitter and see who i follow.. see on my laptop my bookmarks and u will know that who are the people who matter to me..anyways.. this exercise is pointless. i will go do my things..
and i get many calls and mails from many people and i cant meet anyone and it doesn’t register the manu that sms is the same manu who blogs.. there are always ways.. i havent been home or in bombay for more than a month.. my life is not that anymore..
Good post! AK.
Much much needed for everyone who dont just follow this blog for their cinematic angst but also… YOU!
And, if the arguments (fights) still continues even after this post, then seriously guys… try sticking your head up your ass, see if it fits.
Anurag, what you have written makes a lot of sense, yes. But tell us one thing, on what basis do you choose to back others’ projects? I am assuming you could have got Vasan and Ghywan a producer or maybe even @moifightclub but you have backed Vikram, Bejoy and Bilbo till now and also Q… Why? Was it simply because their scripts were better? Was it simply because you saw directors in them and not the others? Was it because their scripts got the seed money first and then you put your muscle behind them? It’s really intriguing for people looking from the outside as to why you backed a few. If you would like to share that with us…
I care very very much for what Anurag Kashyap says too @MFC, care I do but maybe implement what is my idea of him and his though and not necessarily what is doled out verbatim…Its again a fight to coexist within the alternate itself.
We in many ways have already submitted to the ideology or our perceptions of it…its best to free the space with individual ideas floating around than align it with one dictate however potent.
I make my parents proud not by achieving anything…they are happy I am sticking by what I want to do come what may. The see possible failure but don’t see a scared,timid,submissive,unsure boy now ,who they were so used to seeing before.
Making slow progress but taking it one at a time…Yes I don’t like to show my rewrites and how much I work on the script to all but the core team. My DP, my Editor, My actors, our Direction team, they know it all and at each and every stage and that’s what matters to me as they need to implement it on the floor and no one else…rest can watch the final product and need not know how I did it. I wont put my effort on display, only my work I will. Only that’s out there to be judged and criticized not my efforts.My show of efforts are no milestone to judge me.
And most of us even you know are not fighting the enemy.The idea of YOU has grown bigger than the person. We confuse who we are putting a point to.The fight I think happened when YOU replied and when we thought it was the idea.It must have hurt you when you knew some of us still debated even when we knew who we were talking to,the idea or the person.
After 20 years hope I have the courage to say I have changed. Now that’ll take something in me to do that if I make a life out of it.
Balls (of Steel) to all of us,
Vasan Bala
@Vasan – I never said that you don’t care about what AK thinks about your script. AK said that. And how can you not, you are his Waah-son! Now go and complete that film first and then open your mouth. I am waiting.
Pratim,
Its not as easy for AK to find money for everyone. The directors who have their films produced have done some great ground work themselves and come to AK only for the final push.
Of what I have witnessed it tough for anyone to straightaway put in so much, It’s best for people to do some ground work then straight away come to AK with 100 odd pages for money.
Bijoy, Vikram, Bilbo, Amit Kumar, Sachin have a lot to back on as in personal work for AK to push them…I other then being his AD and maybe some Trashed scripts written have none.
I am on my own and it should be that way for anyone outside or inside or anywhere…
I am very immature and don’t have strong opinions of my own as of now. But it feels very good that there are people who discuss cinema so passionately.
Well well well
Sitaron se aagey jahaan aur bhi hai
Abhi ishq ke imtihaan aur bhi hai
meherbaan o meherbaan
P.S – keep blogging
Great post! and @moifightclub kitna kheechoge bhai?? khatam karo? . Sabse interesting cheez toh ab hogi, zoom will have a story on this tomo..hehehe…”Kyu aaya Anurag Kashyap ko Gussa”
This is really amazing, so much to learn from all of you I would say.
I feel everyone has got a valid point here.
It is true that very few people around Anurag would actually have the balls to criticize him because they are scared and I applaud you, for you stood for what you believed in, but it is important to understand what he is trying to say,
First like Navjot let me tell you a true story:
Someone who is very close to me, so can’t call an acquaintance had an opportunity to work with Anurag in a short film competition, we were in the list of final ten, I had written the story, screenplay and dialogues and sent it to the close one. I knew from the beginning the dialogues were sloppy so the close one modified them and a bit of screenplay, the plot of the story though was interesting, it still is.
The doom day came and since Anurag knew my close one, slammed him for the dialogues……………….
We were not in the final five but let me tell you Anurag told my close one to come to his office with a bound script of this idea as he felt this had the potential to become a full length feature film. He is working on something else so did not get the time but I am working on the idea to convert it to a full length feature film.
When you eat good food for a number of years you know a dish is good when it is served to you, that is part experience and part born genius.
The thing I like with Anurag is that he is honest to art. Everyone who wants to be a part of his kind of cinema are dear to him, even my close one. My close one for the first time in life felt his scripts needed to be reviewed because Anurag brought him back to earth. It is up to us to take the criticism in a healthy way.
To moifightclub he did not stop from you writing, he only told you to stop wasting your time on things which are like dope (Twitter and Facebook), because if that was the case then he would have criticized you when HIS very people slammed him for “That Girl in Yellow Boots”, that is his only movie I truly feel disappointed with till date as far as I am concerned.
To Manu Warrier he is insecure because he is emotional, he still can’t drive a car because he is so passionate about cinema that everything else seems like a waste of time, I understand that, been there and done that in some other field. He is emotional about the people around him, he wants them to succeed and maybe he needs them as well as they are the only ones who understand his kind of cinema. He had to come up with a post because people were getting him in a wrong context.
Moifightclub,when you have all the resources you need, specially Internet, you tend to get drifted away from your actual passion. So not having a flat is a metaphor, it might create the kind of pressure you need to succeed. My close one says the same thing and I keep telling him what you are telling Anurag. The fact is he’ll reach somewhere whilst I will linger in the security of my comforts.
I remember the day in Bangalore when Black Friday was released, my close one had watched it, he urged me to watch it as he wanted to discuss that with me, I left office at 4 and I got the tickets for the 10’O clock show, my house was a bit far from the multiplex so I had to wander around for about 6 hours to watch the movie, by the time the movie started my legs had started to hurt but once the movie started I lost sense of my body. Black Friday did something to me that no other Indian movie has done till date. His sensibilities about cinema is par-excellence. He is modest when he says he doesn’t write well. Doesn’t write well? You must be joking. Satya, Kaun, Shool(I have fallen in love with this movie), all movies which he directed. It so happened that when I watched Guru and Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. I felt the writing was too good, only to realise later that they were written by him.
So when he says that make movies you have to listen to him. I agree when people don’t say anything against him. That Girl in Yellow Boots, I felt was a movie made in hurry. So if there is something which corrects him you should say it. But this is pointless argument when he is trying to explain you something else and you are thinking that it is something else.
Pratim da I think he has sponsored everything which he felt had the power to define his brand of cinema, though I think he is the best person to answer your comment, I know this because this has been a personal experience, he only fosters brilliance, there is no place in his dictionary for mediocrity.
And just to add to my previous post, I can understand the woes of being a Producer as I produced my close one’s first movie (my two months salary),
Some people understand Money, some art, it is good to have someone like Anurag who understands both.
wow… overwhelmed indeed to write anything else. for what it is, its a brilliant post.
We are here to do what we love and want to do… Not to prove right/wrong/anything to anybody but ‘to ourselves’.
Hello MFC.
I am a student of C.A. course and I am going through the struggle of finding a foothold in my industry, where my belief in the system and in myself has gone for a toss. But reading AK’s sirs blog has made me realised that first i need to have balls of being honest with myself and then maybe i can curse the people around. But first it needs to be me to DO SOMETHING and then expect something from others.
I think the Film industry and C.A. industry is all the same. The fame , glamour, money, frustration almost everything. But yes if i survive this and believe in myself one day i will make it.
P.S.
To Anurag Sir : Your blogs on PFC have always been a great source of inspiration for me.
To MFC : Your work on this forum is a source of learning and understanding for me.
my grandma used to say irrespective of the source, embrace criticism and take advice.If these guys want to make it but aren’t working as hard (which i am sure is not the case) and criticize other established filmmakers, its their loss ,Yes. But its also your loss for loosing out some very important suggestions in form of criticism .
P.S Keep blogging .
पता नहीं यहाँ कितने लोग ऐसे हैं जो नागरी समझ पाएंगे फिर भी मैं इसी में लिख रहा हूँ ….. 🙂
अनुराग कश्यप का मैं बहुत बड़ा ‘फैन’ नहीं हूँ जैसा कि यहाँ बाकी लोग दिख रहे हैं ! (मैं उनका प्रशंसक जरूर हूँ). अनुराग जिस तरह से सोचते हैं मैं शायद उसके ठीक उल्टा सोचता हूँ. यदि मैं जीवन में कभी उस तरह का सफल आदमी बन भी गया जैसे आज अनुराग हैं तो भी मैं शायद किसी से यह नहीं कह सकूँ कि “गूदा है तो करके दिखाओ”. मेरे तईं यह एक हिंसक सोच है…
मैंने दिल्ली में एक से ज्यादा बार अनुराग को सुना है. वो बहुत जल्दी सामने वाले को चुनौती देने के अंदाज में आ जाते हैं. शायद यह उनके खून में बसा कादिराबाद है जो बहुत जल्दी जाहिर हो जाता है या फिर अपने निजी अस्तित्व के लिए किये गए संघर्ष ने उन्हें रेजिंग बुल बना दिया हो या फिर कोई और वजह हो तो हो….
इसके बावजूद मुझे अनुराग का यह लेख बहुत ज्यादा पसंद आया. इस लेख ने मुझे अनुराग की किसी भी फिल्म से ज्यादा प्रभावित किया. ‘जिंदगी’ और ‘जिंदगी में आर्ट’ को देखने के तरीके पर मैं शायद अनुराग असहमत ही रहूँ…लेकिन उन्होंने इस लेख में जिस ईमानदारी, जिस खुलेपन और नए लोगों और नई सोच के लिए जिस तरह का अपनापन दिखाया है वह दिल जीत लेने वाला है…
I don’t know whether i should be commenting on this blog because I fear I do not have understanding of depth of the situation. But on part of my personal experience I think you guys are very harsh on Anurag. I made a guerrilla feature film “Dvandva” and literally was moving around and showing film to people on my laptop. Yes I was completely new to Mumbai. But then I manged to have a screening. I wanted Anurag to come. Friend of mine asked “why will he, what you have done for him, were you his A.D, co- writer, crew, well wisher or what”. I decided to give it try and he came as he promised. On the top of that he called me to office next day, he was busy in pre production of Gangs of Wassipur. I could see music director and writer coming out. He called me and had almost hour long chat with me. He encouraged me and gave me advice of remaking the film, a gud script which he thought lacked in execution because of resource constraints. He also mentioned highly about “Untitled Karthik Krishan Project”. I decided to take little liberty and asked him to become producer. My Friend asked “why will he what you have done for him, were you his A.D, co- writer, crew, well wisher or what”. He got busy I could not get meeting. In the meantime people told he said good thing about you and your film. i wondered “Why should he, I was not his A.D, co- writer, crew or well wisher”. My last meeting was sets of wassipur where he told me that it might take some time. Friend of mine told me “he will never do your film because you are not his A.D, co- writer, crew or well wisher”. Now If I look back at the first place there was no reason for him to come preview of Dvandva, and then absolutely no reason to have hour long chat in busy pre production time, no reason to praise Untitled or then absolutely no reason say gud things about Dvandva and no reason to entertain me on sets of wassipur. People in industry tell me hell lot bad thing about Ak, my answer is simple everybody has their own experiences, mine was good. And I make opinion about people not by hearing gossips but by meeting them face to face. And today just because he is not producing remake of dvandva, I should say bad things about him. Khande pai bithaya to kya main kaan main muthu … not done. I am still new in the industry and definitely an outsider and hence I observe that “ yanha pai sabaki gand lal hain … magar dusaro kali hain”. I wonder why creative people lack empathy to gigantic proportion. Anurag had many reason for not doing remake … may be finance, market, films already in the pipeline, investors, better scripts and better directors and what not. And whatever may be the reason it is up to me to prove a point. Not by abusing him but by making better one myself. If I can make my first film with all first time crew and cast and in medieval filmmaking location in 7 lakhs, and that too without Anurag why can’t I do again? And had my bother never let my bicycle free how on the earth I would have learned to ride. It is up to me to prove a point in right spirit and not by abusing anybody especially towards those who were real support to a nobody.
Much learned today .. and not only about cinema ..
” I say this because, whether you believe me or not you are blessed to be in a country like India which is so film obsessed that you can actually go out and make your own film”
This is the most inspirational line in Anurag’s post.
It’s time we stopped looking for someone to just read our scripts, it’s time to think about getting those scripts made. Being creative isn’t enough, creating resources to get your creative work made and then exhibited is what we should be more concerned about.
We’ve all seen the changes in the film industry over the past two years. We’ve seen Anurag become a producer for reasons he’s mentioned in his post. That’s inspiration and hope enough for us.
I pitch real estate products, and I also pitch my scripts. Having a good product isn’t enough, you should be able to sell it too. There is a luck factor at play too, in both the fields. However, luck isn’t just about being in the right place at the right time ( as someone mentioned above, being Anurag’s so and so :)……) , luck is about preparation meeting opportunity.
So, keep writing and rewriting, and keep pitching. The opportunity will come.
…its always great to read AK and great to be in sync. … sometime I wonder which one will be more saddening loss of AK or Steve Jobs (definitely the writing part and No smoking). but again… be villain and live for forever (atleast as writer)… do not need short term hero.
It is printed, noted & thought
There are lots of ways of raising a film nationally and internationally. There are funds around the world to support film makers during production, post or even development. Use the social media as the social media is using you!
Everyone struggles to make their films but what is that one thing you are doing to be able to tell the story (which is the most important) Amit Kumar even after winning Bafta for The Bypass has waited 7 years and now we have 30% money coming in from Arte France. 10% coming from pre sale UK and another 10% from pre sale of rest of the world. Further 25% from Netherlands and we always thought it would be easy to raise the last 25%. But the reality is something else. It has taken us a year to try and raise that 25% and only now we have decided to put all of our own humble savings up to cover it. Guess what? We can still not afford 35mm and so have decided to go digital as long as we get to tell the story.
Even Q has raised his film from around the world, Belgium fund, France fund, Deferred payment and now from NFDC.
Vasan’s film is raised thru facebook and people from around the world are investing.
The reason I am writing all this is because there are several ways of raising the film but it all can only start after you have the perfect script in place.
Having the power of Internet and knowing film buffs around the world means you can get seniors who are available to read your script and give you notes. There are also script labs for the same (NFDC runs one too). There is no point ridiculing the labs and acting over smart! Once you are in a certain process, you become an alumnae of that festival and producers and buyers from around the world follow your progress and look out for you. Even the people at Sundance are excited to have a base in India now. Have you sent your scripts??
There is only so much a mentor can do and then there is alot more that you must do only for yourself. Vikas Chandra today is making a short film with 11 countries using the internet already has buyers from India looking out for the film.
I met some option makers wanting to start another market in India as they were against the fact that no one from outside is ready to fund an Indian film. Firstly, everyone from outside is looking at money from India (that is the power you get for free!) Secondly, they are happy to look at films from India but they are all certain that no body here will be able to deliver the film in the formats they need to sell the film on. We need to demonstrate we can do this and overcome any negative perceptions. It may take a while but I am sure we will.
Even if you have a studio to back your film, Even you have a star ready to act in your film it still does not assure you the world and the struggle is still not over. You still have to make the film as there is a certain budget to it and it is now the most important to stick to that. Get Real!
Gone our the days when producers / financiers could call the shots, these are the days of audit teams and at every stage you are answerable. What you want and what you can afford cannot always be reconciled.
Lets say you did make your film and lets say you did manage to get into the festival, you may be the only one from India into the festival but there are 300 films that you are competing with and so are all the film makers from around the world, even the ones you follow! Where do you stand the chance of being noticed by the 500 buyers who will further get excited about your film?
Given the talent we have in our country, Even the access to money we have, we are still struggling, We have a long long way to go…
There are always reason to complain and sulk at every stage of making a film. We all want to make our film – That is given, what are you doing about it is the most important thing. Hope this helps.
luck is about preparation meeting opportunity- Robin Sharma (Monk who sold his Ferrari)…truly its good line 🙂
Change is Anurag you now went into the ‘I’ zone..
While on this – I was wondering how a newbie like Prashant Chadha raised so much money for Aazaan (from the promos – looks like an expensive flick) – thought might be a decent flick. I check on IMDB and see he has made Aap ka suroor earlier 😦
ohoyye, toh pfc ke murder ke baad ab bhai log yaha aa ke baithe hain.. 🙂
Rahi – It was pfc ‘suicide’ not murder 😉
Dear Manu,
I have been reading ur rebellious comment on this blogging site,since last two days…May be iam late in posting my comment ,but i cant stop myself from responding to your unusual and defying comments against AK…
Do you have any idea to whom ur talking to..The man who has penned down the treasure scripts like satya,kaun,Dev d,Gulal,..the man who directed films like Black Friday(Which i think is the best work done in indian cinema till today),paanch,That girl in the yellow boots…He has been making his way in the industry since past 20 years…He made his position felt in the industry with his courage,with his honesty and with his hardwork.
Manu you are getting an oppurtunity to interact with such a person is itself a achievement to learn from his experience,his journey .But ur trying to defy him at each and every point which make no sense.This would not affect him,but it is hindering ur growth.
But believe me no one is going to listen to you if u will carry such an attitude towards your work.Anurag sir said “BE A CHANGE”..Did you got wat change he is talking about.have u put in your effort to make a short film,a feature film..Have you approached him with any of your work which he can see and give comments on. Just mailing and texting wont help you and it would not interest anyone in the industry.
U said that u have you script at different stages of deveopment.Half baked out things are always indigestible.
Manu see sucess where everyone sees failure.Be the best critic of your work.
Try to be a change and not try to change.
all the best
Regards,
Mohit
wow i am 21 terribly hopeful and completely in awe of this medium. to anyone who loves it too the only thing that matters is that cinema persists. i hope passionately i will not be dissuaded but now i fear.
The post jostled me. Feeling a sudden surge of energy again. And all the exasperation and anger has been directed towards myself. Slapping me out of my slumber.
Respect.
Thank you
huhhhhhhhhhhh……….. pseudos
all chamchas on this site who hav made un neccasary people bigggg