Films offer an opportunity to escape from reality, to be transported into a dream world, but Indian filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar takes the road less traveled by, his films often a raw, gritty and realistic portrayal of society.
Often accused of moral policing through his movies, Bhandarkar counters that his films “hold a mirror to society and are not in the genre of exposes.
Bhandarkar, who was honored in Cairo with a retrospective of his films showcased at the 33rd Cairo International Film Festival, says that he felt honored by the selection of his films to be screened as part of “Tribute to Indian Cinema.
He was pleasantly surprised that people here are familiar with his work, especially “Page 3 and “Fashion.
“Page 3, which made the lingo for the tabloid newspapers a household name, takes a candid look at the complex lives of celebrities and stars through the eyes of a tabloid journalist as she works the circuit of parties, events and soirees. Aspiring actors, social workers with dysfunctional lives, wannabe models, depraved socialites, gay fashion designers and unscrupulous politicians all jostle for a slice of fame.
Released last year, “Fashion is based in the glamor world of high fashion. It chronicles the meteoric rise of a small-town girl to the pinnacle of success and her subsequent downfall. The advent of the protagonist hastens the decline of the reigning ramp queen, who has been drawn into a vortex of drugs and men. The newly crowned fashion diva becomes the face and toast of the fashion world, but soon goes the way of her predecessor. Bhandarkar says that he is sometimes asked why he does not offer solutions in his film. “I get carried away by a real ending rather than a reel ending. For everyone, life may not turn out the way they wanted it to, he told Daily News Egypt.
But in “Fashion, making a departure from his norm, the protagonist returns to the haute couture world and against all odds, soars to even greater heights. The movie ends with her on the catwalk in Paris.
Talking about his humble beginnings, he says “I started as a video cassette library boy and ended up as a filmmaker due to my passion for films. His first movie, “Trishakti, was a mega flop and in the words of Bhandarkar. “No-one even wrote a review on it. In fact, the failure of my first film was a blessing in disguise since it motivated me to make films that I believed in.
That is how his film “Chandini Bar came to life; it won him the first of the three National Awards. “Chandini Bar depicts the life of a bar girl against the backdrop of the Mumbai underworld and had a vigorous impact on the audience.
Many of his films are women-centric. “Corporate, which was also screened at the CIFF has as its central character, Nishigandha, the vice-president of a top corporate house. In the power game between two drinks’ giants, Nishigandha manages to steal critical information from the rival company, which is used by her company to their advantage to pre-empt the launch of a new drink in the market. For all her efforts Nishigandha is chosen to take the blame in a criminal investigation against the company.
Bhandarkar’s films are set in culture-specific or work-specific milieu but he feels that people anywhere can relate to his films because they are “emotion-driven and content-driven.
Categorically, he says, that he can never make a movie based on a book, “the germ of the idea for the movie must come from me. Accordingly, he co-writes all his scripts and each of his projects is intensively researched and draws from real life situations and real life characters.
From “Chandini Bar to his latest offering “Jail, which was released in India last month, Bhandarkar’s movies are all based on a premise.
But will the audience get weary of such films? Recognizing this, Bhandarkar says that he wants to re-invent himself. “I want to attempt different kinds of genres in cinema and then topical cinema, he said.
He says that he would love to make a thriller, a romantic movie or even a comedy. However, he clarifies “All of a sudden I cannot make candy-floss cinema or escapist cinema. He hopes to able to tread the middle path between realism and “larger than life in his forthcoming films.
