Does a big idea need big actors? That was the question posed by moderator Suhasini Maniratnam, Partner, Madras Talkies and member of the steering committee of CII Dakshin, a two-day conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry that kicked off on 19 April.
“Bigger ideas do not need big actors. Sometimes bigger ideas make big actors,” said filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, to an audience comprised of a handful of senior film folks, aspiring filmmakers and students in Chennai.
Adman-turned-filmmaker R Balki, pointed out that sometimes it helps to have established stars. “Sometimes actors have a little better understanding of how to connect with the audience, about what works, than the directors,” he observed.
The session was fascinating with contrasting perspectives from the ace filmmakers, both of whom have left their unique signatures on celluloid.
Balki recalled how observing Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan in the same room triggered the idea of Paa. Where Bachchan senior was being playful, the son was all serious and philosophical, leading the writer-director to the thought – who is the father and who is the son?
Where Kashyap noted that ideas could come from anywhere, from just witnessing life, from anyone around, Balki again offered a slightly different take.
“I find life very boring. I don’t like to think of the life that is, I like to think of a life I wish people could have,” explained the filmmaker.
Where Balki underlined that the person ‘who put the fever of cinema in me’ was Illaiyaraaja, Kashyap’s revealed the inspiration for his coming out of the closet as a writer.
Asked about Vittorio de Sica’s ‘Bicycle Thieves’ and its impact on him, he said, “I used to see films. But they didn’t make me feel like I want to do filmmaking. When I saw Bicycle Thieves I realised that people do make movies on stories that I also think of. That it doesn’t have to follow a template. Until then, I was a closet writer.”
On Chup and the trigger for the feature that dealt with the subject of film critics, Balki revealed how a review by someone he held in high regard of his first film sent him into depression. He stopped reading reviews then and only for the making of Chup did he read every review on every film of his, he said.
This was one subject where the two acclaimed filmmakers shared the viewpoint.
Kashyap quipped, “We all had the idea for Chup. He made it.”
