Daddy, Sanjay Dutt biopic, Dangal: In a biographical film, do we judge the subject or the filmmaker?

Packaging one’s life for cinema has been a running trend and even today, people are putting their money on films that are inspired by real people. Biopics are the new in thing. Not just the audience, but even film makers find solace and inspiration in people they have looked upto (or read about) all their life. Irrespective of stumbling blocks, biopics are a glossy, money-making blockbuster production. But things are not as free flowing like they used to. The digital age, where everyone is on social media platforms, has and continues to make life difficult for the story teller. If at all any details are omitted out of the production, a mob is always ready to fight out and question the matter that has been projected on screen. [caption id=“attachment_3501087” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  A still from Dangal.[/caption] We have all seen and praised superlative performances in films like Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Dangal, MS Dhoni- The Untold Story, but to go through the part through various people’s perspective is a complex task. Initially you don’t even know what you are looking for. If you find something, you are unsure if that is what would be enough to showcase and build an entire narrative around. It won’t be wrong to say that biopics are not just challenging to make but are very complex in nature too. Many times film makers struggle between documenting and dramatising the chosen character for the film to making sure there is a moral in the story. How rational can we actually be? And can there be a moral in every story we decide to make? We have seen many films of the biopic nature that have not made a mark post the first weekend excitement. Be it Mary Kom, Azhar, Sarbjit,  Main Air Charles, Steve Jobs — none of them could survive the day of the light once the excitement died down, or it wouldn’t be wrong to say after the first few people watched it and told others not to go through them. Not just Bollywood but even Hollywood is time and again enamoured with the glorious biographical productions. All Eyez On Me , a film on the rap artist Tupac Shakur opened so big recently that it earned $ 12.8 million on the first day and eventually was pulled out of 1000 theatres in a couple of weeks because fans couldn’t relate to the film. If you look at these films with a magnified eye, you will find an uneasy quid pro quo between the creator and the muse. Usually biopics insist on eulogising their subjects and the maker would hardly take the road less travelled. If that is not the case, a delivery of a story without illusions and the inclusion of lived events would just be vile. Don’t you think? [caption id=“attachment_4021761” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Arjun Rampal as Arun Gawli in Daddy.[/caption] But there’s always a catch twenty two in most situations as the audience is very inquisitive and needs to know every spec of semblance there is to authenticity. So does that mean biopics should be made from a fan’s point of view? In that case, will we ever be able to show case the character flaws of a human being? How do we answer that? The life of Mark Zuckerberg was packed in The Social Network and it did face flak as a fair amount of detractors were unimpressed with how Aaron Sorkin, the screen writer, dramatised the lives of those involved with Facebook. The co-founders were not involved in the making of the film and Zuckerberg was even quoted being hurt after watching all the creative alterations. Speaking of packaging, a very public yet vulnerable life in a film would be the upcoming Raj Kumar Hirani’s biopic on Sanjay Dutt, essayed by Ranbir Kapoor. Baba (Working Title) is not a story of an athlete bringing laurels for the country, nor a rags to riches story. It would be a life led in the middle of stardom, loss, prison, drugs and what not. But the question still remains, are we judging the man or the film maker while we watch biographical dramas? In Arun Gawli’s Daddy, Arjun Rampal takes the part of the gangster and wears it like second skin. Many times people have questioned glorifying the men with guns whenever a biopic on a gangster has surfaced. How true is the truth and how biased are we? The most fun thing I have observed while I watch dramas of this nature has to be how there are no favourites when you jump in the film and while you come out, there are many. Every minute your love and hate changes for the people you watch simply for the human flaws you see in them, which makes them absolutely normal. While I watched Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar on the life of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Spielberg’s take on the presidency in Lincoln, I was awestruck. These are the only rare films that seem to have served the purpose of elevating the mythical status of their subjects to a higher ground and purpose. These are some rare films that have set high benchmarks to biographical dramas that no film has even come close to touching them. And now, since biopics are not going anywhere, I close my eyes, and keep my fingers crossed every time a new one is announced.