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on 2007/4/5 0:28:33
Talented NRI filmmaker Rajshree Ojha was recently heard venting her anger on the Bollywood system of working. The Indian born American is ready with her Bollywood debut, the cross cultural Chaurahen (Crossroads) which is yet to find a distributor. She was bringing it to the media in the hope that it would finally get sold. The film boasts of a great star cast comprising of actors like Soha Ali Khan , Shayan Munshi, Zeenat Aman and Charlie Chaplin's grand daughter Kiera Chaplin and has an interesting story too. Then what is it that has stopped the film from getting its due here?
Rajshree is frustrated to the extent that she says she now feels alienated in her own country. She thinks she has commanded better respect in America. And, why not?? She is a graduate from NYU and has done her Masters at the American Film Institute, and has got awards for her films Moment and Badger.
Rajshree is not alone. Even another NRI Kruti Majmudar, who has made The Memsahib which won accolades at the International film festival in Goa is in the look out for a way to sell her film commercially in her home ground. And there is the movie 'It's A Mismatch' made by India born producer-actor Anubhav Anand, which has been ready for almost a year now but is still awaiting a commercial release in the country
It's not because of the lack of content or the lack of good story. There is more to it than what meets the eye. Rajshree thinks it's because 'in India there are clichÉd lines of distinguishing - this maker does this type of cinema, that maker does that type of cinema."
Are the Bollywood biggies to be put to blame for this? "Yes Bollywood does prefer the old theories because it is easy to make money that way. There are some unsaid rules out here. But now there is a lot of experimentation here too. But then there is a market for everything. Didn't Bride and Prejudice and The Mistress of Spices get a release here? Maybe being a big name matters in a way," says a trade analyst.
Anuradha Singh, editor of the Hollywood project Marigold, which is releasing in India after two long years analyses it further. "Its all in the perspective, I always believe that if something is good and you know how to sell your project, then you get the buyer.Whether it's American film industry or the European film industry or the Indian film industry, the process is the same. If your project deserves it, it will surely get the money back. Now the audience and their approach towards selecting the films they want to watch is changing. Indian audiences are diverse. Could you have imagined someone in dhoti kurta rocking the silver screen and Lagaan was that wonder. Same was the case with the Oscar winning Gandhi," says Singh who has also edited films like Ashwin Kumar's The Forest and the American film Blood Monkey which too is awaiting release.
"Rajshree is a good film maker and I am sure she must have made the film with her great sensibility and I am sure her film is going to hit the theatre soon. Sometime it's just the meeting right people at the right time," adds Singh from her experience.
The bitter Rajshree on the other hand feels that the wrong attitude of the industry is the reason why Bollywood hasn't got much of international acclaim, because 'People abroad are not getting as much as India can really give. On the other hand talented film makers are going abroad for recognition'.
To sum it up, looks like the huge challenge faced by these film makers would be eased only when all kinds of cinema is treated and encouraged equally by the people who matter.So are the biggies in Bollywood listening!
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