EXCLUSIVE | Madhur Bhandarkar: 'People will keep going to cinemas, look at Drishyam 2 and Kantara'

This ace filmmaker, who has given hard-hitting films like Page 3, Chandni Bar, Corporate, Fashion, Heroine and others, is currently gearing up for his next directorial, which will stream on Zee5 from December 2. Yes,  Madhur Bhandarkar is gearing up for the release of his next film India Lockdown: Resetting Lives . And in an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the filmmaker opened up on how cinema has changed post the pandemic and OTT, his film India Lockdown, the success of Drishyam 2 and Kantara , and much more.

Excerpts from the interview:

Why a movie on India’s lockdown?

Because I feel it was very important for me as a filmmaker to document the trauma people have gone through, not only in India but globally. As a filmmaker, I always come up with different subjects, thoughts and stories, which has been my hallmark. We all felt what happened during the lockdown, and we saw different stories, pathos, catharsis of people. I thought it was time to document it and show the reality in the initial days of lockdown. We had a lot of stories but we zeroed down on four stories. We shot immediately after the first lockdown got over where we followed the restrictions and protocols. After you look back after two years, people will definitely connect to the subject.

Madhur on the changing face of cinema and OTT

I think art has always existed in all the forms. 2020 put a full stop to cinemas but before that, If you see the year 2017, 2018, 2019, it saw the surge of OTT platforms but cinemas were also doing really well and co-existing. The magic of cinema will never go. There are a lot of audiences that have shifted to OTT a lot and have started watching a lot of series and OTT films. It has its own audience, we are a large country. There’s so much content, films are there, series are there, international series are there. In terms of content writing, cinema also has to evolve more. Writing will play an essential role in coming years, where your script writing has to be equivalent to the writing of an OTT series. As far as art is concerned, both the things will be co-existing. People will also keep going to the theaters, I read Drishyam 2 has made 100 crores in five days. I think it has done very well at the box-office, before that, Kantara, which started off as a Kannada film, has also done 100 crore. So I think audiences are there for cinema. Cinema will never diminish, yeah but we do have a strong competition from the OTT. A lot of films of big stars are also coming on OTT

On the absence of box-office pressure on OTT

It’s a perception. There is a pressure on OTT too. There are series that are being panned very badly. There are films that are being panned very badly, so we have to see that aspect also. I agree there’s no box-office pressure but there are some yardsticks and barometers there. My film Babli Bouncer has been hugely successful, it was very necessary for me to make a family entertainer, comedy film, women-centric cinema; and I got a good budget from Disney Hotstar. The film has been successful, Tamannaah’s role has been appreciated. The audience’s positivity also has to be a barometer for a successful film. Similarly for all the films before, all the series before. So that’s also a yardstick, even if there’s no box-office.

On his filmmaking method and women-centric cinema

No, it’s nothing like that. People often ask me who is my inspiration, what drives me to women-centric cinema. I feel I just make characters which I’m very involved in. There were a lot of issues in our country which I feel have to be shown from women’s point of view. I’ve done that from Chandni Bar to now India Lockdown, and my actors have also been appreciated. Prateik Babbar in this film especially will be a surprise package. The kind of performance he has given is completely drastic to his image.

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