If I try to put logic in my life, I will lose my innocence--Interview With Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury

By Nandini Pal

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (September 13, 2011): Among the Post-Ray contemporary film makers, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury---Tony, to his friends--- has made significant contribution to the Bengali film industry. His first film Anuranan won the best foreign film award at the Santa Cruz International Film Festival in 2006. Tony was back in the Bay area, shooting in San Francisco, San Jose, Carmel, and in and around Santa Cruz for his third film.

With his first film Anuranan, Aniruddha gave Bengali films a whole new look.  He brought them out of Tollygunge and rural 24 Parghanas and took them to London.  He painted the beauty of Kanchenjunga from Sikkim with a cinematographic technology that Bengali films had never seen before.  For Bengalis, watching Anuranan was much like moving from silent films to talkies or from black and white cinema to technicolor.  The difference was immediate and stunning.  No one had ever looked to Kolkata for the sort of visual treat that he brought.  Bollywood? Yes, of course.  Tamil films?  Certainly.  Telugu films?  Indeed.  And now Bengali films came of age with a truly international look.  Tony’s films have universal themes and a very universal finish.  Except for the characters and their language, nothing seems different in his cinematic language or approach from a film made in Hollywood, Iran or Japan. Tony acknowledges the strong influence Satyajit Ray had on his desire to be a filmmaker and on his style of filmmaking. He was inspired by Ray to paint incredible visual paintings on the celluloid screen and to use nature as a character in his films.

He met with me a couple of days after he arrived in California for the shooting of his third film Aparajita Tumi. He sat on a couch in his executive suite, preparing for the shoot. An amenable, affable person, he looked up at me, concern clouding his deep eyes. “Achcha bolo to,” he queried. “Do you think everything will work out fine?” What Tony was alluding to was the first of the hurdles he faced. The US embassy had denied or delayed some visa permits needed for his crew to arrive in California. Most perplexing was the initial denial for his heroine Padmapriya who had less than a month or so ago been in the US performing a show. This was resolved soon enough, but Tony soon had word of another disaster: a fire devastated the sets of their serial “Megher Palok.” Stoically, Tony and his wife Indrani, Production Manager, Aparajeeta Tumi waited.

The first team members arrived in America a month earlier to scout locations.  They decided to shoot in and around San Francisco.  Recky missions have been completed and locations short listed.  But much transpired between the recky mission and actual shooting dates with all the delays.  Summer came.  The beautiful snow covered dream visions that Tony had for Aparajita Tumi suddenly lost their allure to somewhat pedestrian evergreen trees and astonishingly blue lakes that are serene and gentle but lack the extremely evocative snow.  California is like a voluptuous, temperamental lover.  She changes her moods and colors in instant.  Now she is cold.  And then she is hot.  The scramble starts.  Where does one find the next perfect location that brings out her best in this new color she has chosen?  The team moved from snow to the allure of California’s stunning, mist-draped coastline. The magic of Ranjan Palit’s camera gives it a new life on each frame. The snow is forgotten.

Finally the shoot is over with no other disasters and we sit down for an interview. Tony looks calm and relaxed as a small smile plays on his lips. We talk.

When you were a child, what was your world of fantasy like? What is it like now?

Aah! I have often talked about this! Films were my addiction. My maternal aunt used to live in Baranagar. She used to take me to school. I used to drive her to films. Tell her she had to take me. Then I did not watch many English films jut some like Born Free and Sound of Music. It was just Hindi films. Like Do Anjane. Adult films. I used to watch them and try to understand them. I used to think that people were live behind the screens, acting. I wanted to be a part of it.

How has Satyajit Ray influenced you?

Everyone loves Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali and so did I. The scene where Durga is watching the train approaching is stunning. The way Ray has used Kanchenjunga as a character in Kanchenjunga has never left me. I felt the mountains came alive in the same way in my Anuranan.

You said that you watched Pyaasa many times. Which of Guru Dutt’s film making elements impressed you most?

The scene from Pyaasa, where Guru Dutt enters the auditorium: a silhouette with light streaming in behind him is just unforgettable. Or the scene in Chaudvin ka Chaand with Waheeda Rehman sleeping under the mosquito netting as the moonlight streams through the curtain onto her face. Since then I have been in love with the lighting of films. It is not just Guru Dutt. The work of VK Murthy, Raj Kapoor and Bimal Roy. Lighting, editing, sound. Together they used to create something. I can never forget Nutan in Bimal Roy’s Bandini. She is sitting in the kitchen. Far away in the background, there is a shot of some welders--the light just flashing in the distance. Raj Kapoor and Nargis walking under an umbrella in the rain in Shree 420 when the rain blows the umbrella away. That magic got me from my childhood. I was in class 4, class 5. Huge screens were put up in the neighborhood and films were screened. I have seen Guide and Sujata like that. These formed my coming of age.

When I was younger, I just saw the popular Bengali films. Later when I could afford it, I saw Ritwik Ghatak’s Meghe Dhaka Tara. The film mesmerized me. Then I saw his Subarnarekha and I was absolutely besotted. In fact, I watched Subarnarekha again just before I was making Antaheen. Ritwik Ghatak’s visual lyricism touched me in a very personal way. Rajen Tarafdar’s Ganga is another film that had a profound effect on me. The way water was shot, is beautiful.

I saw Truffaut when I was in Class 10. I didn’t really understand the movies then. The first foreign film I saw was Ingmar Bergman’s Virgin Spring. I was absolutely crazed by it. I was really poor in English so I could not really comprehend the film. But the visuals just entranced me. I saw the film over and over. I fell in love with Truffaut. I saved up money to buy all Truffaut’s films on VHS cassettes. I even stole a couple of them from the library! I was absolutely enamored by Truffaut.

What other filmmakers have most impressed you and why? Who is your ideal among contemporary film makers and why? According to you, who are the five most powerful film directors in the world? Why?

Among the contemporary filmmakers, I love the work of Wong Ker-Wai. Krzysztof Kieslowski's In the Mood for Love, The Double Life of Veronique and Red, White, and Blue. Kieslowski's A Short Film About Love, and A Short Film About Killing. I am very influenced by Kieslowski's work. I love the moments that he creates. The greatest Indian influences have been Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak. I have mentioned Dulal Guha’s film Do Anjane: the ego conflict between the two protagonists is fascinating. It was so complex. Where mainstream commercial films are concerned, recently, I saw a film called Kalpurush by Buddhadev Dasgupta. It was a brilliant film. I also loved Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahata Hai. The film was so realistic. And Raj Kumar Hirani’s Lage Raho Munnabhai. Other recent films that impressed me are Who Killed Jessica, A Wednesday, Udaan and Aamir.

There used to be an understanding in the movie business that a film could not be successful in the box office and make money unless it was accepted by audiences in urban as well as rural areas. Your films are seen as very intellectual with sophisticated themes. They also seem to be expensive productions using the latest technology. Yet your films seem to have grossed well at the box office. Can Bengali films recuperate investments strictly from traditional distribution? What percentage of the films budget is financed by endorsements? Do you have any innovative strategies to deal with this? Would you like to discuss a little bit about what you believe are the key factors in their financial success?

Now things have changed. There are satellites, there are DVDs. There are multiplexes. The films that appeal to what you call or are the so-called “chavaani” seats audiences, do not run in multiplexes. Everything in the world has market. You make an expensive cigar--that has a market; you make a beedi--that has a market. You make roadside chowmein--that has a market; a chef cooks chowmein in Taj Bengal, that is very expensive, but it has a market. So you have to find your space. Nobody can belong to everybody. You understand this concept? Hindustani classical music has a market, but that can’t take the market of pop music ‘Dhin-chick, dhin-chick, dhin-chik” has its own space.

Similarly, I belong to a particular market. My films make money because I am from advertising. I know where to reach, which are my people. If I want to reach you, I will not be able to reach if I try to target an audience that does not value good art. You get my point? I can’t take my film to a song-and-dance routine obsessed, Bollywood film-watching audience, but I will go to those that share this taste. This audience is big enough. I don’t make films that are very ‘art-house.’ I am not capable of making such films. I like simplicity. I want to make popular films in my own terms.

I also use a lot of product placement in my films in Antaheen. In fact, I had to face a lot of criticisms, even though the film won the 2009 National Film Award for Best film, which is the highest award a film can win here. My films are a little expensive and money in our industry is hard to come by. So what can I do if I have to make my film and I am dying to tell my story? Someone is giving money. I say, stop buying pirated DVDs, stop copying films and music. I need that money. So if a corporation comes and tells me you use my soap and I’ll pay this money and make your film, I think that is important. I want to make my film by hook or by crook! How? I don’t know. That is my bottom line.

Cinematographers: Sunil Patel in Anuranan, Abhik Mukhopadhyay in Antaheen and now Ranjan Palit for Aparajita Tumi. Comment.

This was also by not design. At the last moment, I was ditched by the cinematographer who was to shoot Anuranan. I suddenly met Sunil Patel who is a very expensive cinematographer who had worked with Saif Ali Khan and Abhishek Bachchan and makes films for Yash Chopra Films. How could I afford him? But when I told him about the situation, he immediately agreed and gave a 100 percent to my film. Abhik Mukhopadyay and I started our careers together. We met after a period of 7-8 years at an airport and I just asked him if he would make a film for me.

I didn’t know Ranjan Palit personally, though I knew of him as a documentary filmmaker. I had memories of him as a childhood hero. I used to go to his home to be tutored by his brother-in-law. I would see Ranjan Palit walking around with his ArriCam. I was really impressed---I am very impressionable: My teachers used to tell me that I used to dream awake. I love to dream. If I see a great football player, I want to be one. If I read a wonderful poem or a book, I wish I could have written them. And I had felt the same way with Ranjan. During the planning of Aparajita Tumi, my producer Shoojit Sircar suggested his name. Initially, I was in two minds. But the first time I met him over coffee at Barista, I saw his body language and talked to him, I was completely bowled over. I was dying to work with him and we did. It is all like falling in love. Nothing happens by design.

We read an announcement that Rani Mukherji may act in your forthcoming movie Africa. Can you discuss what this movie is about and if it will be shot in Africa. Why is shooting in authentic locations so important for your films?

Rani Mukherji in Africa is not finalized. I spoke to her a long time ago and we were both interested but with time one’s priorities also change. I am not sure yet which story I want to do next. And this is not the children’s film that I want to make on Chander Pahar, a wonderful story by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, chronicling the adventures of a Bengali boy in the forests of Africa.

You seem to have at least two or three projects in mind at any given time. Do these include any plans to make the transition to Bollywood or multilingual films?

Anuranan was dubbed in Hindi and my next film may just be made in Bollywood, but nothing is decided right now. Why just Bollywood? I would love to collaborate with Hollywood. Once I have completed Aparajita Tumi, I want to come and live in USA for a while and pursue this. The market over here is huge. Films like Bridges of Madison County and A Beautiful Mind become huge hits. I want to explore this.

If you think about the films that have won Academy Awards for Best Foreign films in the last few years can you identify what makes them appeal? Indian films are technologically excellent. Cinematography is on par with any international films. There are plenty of great original stories, superlative actors. Then what do they lack in international appeal? What should our directors keep in mind if they want to make films that are internationally successful?

Content. I saw a film called Broken Flowers by Jim Jarmusch. A womanizer gets a letter that his son is looking for him, but he has no idea who is the mother. So he tries tracking down all the women he had relationships with in the last 20 years to find his son. Such a beautiful concept. It won the Grand Prix at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. In 1192, he was recognized with an Oscar for his incredible contribution to cinema at par with any internationally.

Ray was the master story teller. His first film, Pather Panchali, made in 1955, won eleven international prizes, including Best Human Documentary at the Cannes film festival. I saw Mahanagar twice recently. Ray won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 14th Berlin International Film Festival in 1964 for this and the film is so hopeful. His Seemabaddha too is wonderful. But in recent times, I have not seen films that are so moving. Tamil and Malyalam films are much better than the Hindi or Bengali ones.

Are there political issues or otherwise in selecting films for Academy Awards from India? Are these dependent on the director/producers initiative or what is the role of the selection committee which reviews all films and then selects an appropriate nomination?

Last year I was a part of the Oscars Jury that the selected films to represent India. I saw really excellent Tamil commercial movies. National Film Award winner Gauthum Menon is an outstanding filmmaker and the Tamil film industry is very strong. There is a panel or group of almost 15-20 selectors that identify the film we jurors view. I watched about 30 movies. Finally the committee selected Amir Khan’s Peepli Live over a very strong Tamil contender. You have to realize that I was not alone there and a jury works on a vote system. Film-wise there may have been a few flaws in Peepli Live, there was an opinion that there was too much farce, but it had a strong cause. When a film goes to a festival, other factors are sometimes considered such as the people behind the movie, the star. For the Academy Awards, the star matters and also whether the representatives can afford to take their film to the Academy. As the new kid on the block, I just learned then that the makers of the nominated films have to spend a lot of money out there. With all these considerations, Peepli Live probably won the tie.

I agree that it is important that Indian films viewed abroad really show the best face of Indian filmmaking because this will win us respect and recognition and influence collaborations and investments in the long run. But can I say that I can be instrumental in this change? I can only say that I will make the kind of movies that will do this whatever happens. As far as festivals and laurels, I don’t have any say or in fact deep knowledge. We all have a responsibility to change our image. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, Indian cinema is still Bollywood.

Would you ever look for foreign collaboration for your films?

Yes absolutely! I am expensive—rather my thoughts are expensive! These are big things for Bengali films. Even that we have brought an entire crew of 50 people from India to shoot here in America for a 40-day schedule. But I have to dream. I would love for Steven Speilberg to produce a children’s fantasy film for me. Now let’s see what happens.