Bollywood needs contemporary directors
With growing demand for credible and aesthetic cinema and an increasing number of advertising, documentary and industrial films being produced, there’s a premium on creative directors
With an annual production of almost 1,000 good, middling and mainly downright bad feature films per year in 20 languages, the Indian cinema industry is the largest in the world. But it’s a measure of the stasis in the industry that 95 percent of them are box office disasters prompting annual financial blood-letting on a scale unmatched worldwide. But the good news is that at last the Indian cinema industry — Bollywood in the popular imagination — has heeded a wake-up call and is becoming quality conscious. With growing demand for credible and aesthetic cinema in the country and an increasing number of advertising, documentary and industrial films being churned out, there’s rising need for professional directors with creativity, imagination and individuality.
Industry professionals tend to classify film-making into three major categories — feature films, documentaries and advertising shorts/ television commercials. The production methodology and technologies are common across the spectrum.
By common consensus the premier institution for learning the art of film direction, editing, cinematography and sound recording is the Pune-based Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). FTII offers a three-year specialisation course in film direction and shorter duration study programmes in other associated disciplines.
Admission into FTII’s film direction and other programmes is open to graduates in any discipline through an entrance examination. Graduates are tested on general knowledge of India’s socio-cultural structure, general mental ability for logical and deductive reasoning, pictorial reasoning, relationships etc.
Those shortlisted in the written test are summoned to Pune for a seven-day cinema orientation programme followed by an aptitude test. FTII’s admission tests are tough. Of the 1,000 who write the institute’s exam every year, only 32 are admitted. However FTII apart, there is a growing number of institutes providing formal education in film-making and associated disciplines. Among them: Institute of Film Technology, Chennai; Film and Television Institution of Tamil Nadu, CIT Campus, Chennai; Indira Memorial Institute of Communication, Mumbai; Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
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| Raghavan (left): storyline believer |
"In the creativity-driven films and television business, the director is captain of the ship. He has to spearhead the entire creative process, and translate a script or idea into an engaging story in the cinematic or digital format. It is his job to bring out the best in every team member, while managing egos, budget constraints, weather conditions, equipment break-downs and a hundred other problems. This combination of story-telling skills, people management and optimising available funds is the responsibility of the director," says Sriram Raghavan, a brilliant young director, who catapulted into fame with a video film depicting the life of serial killer Raman Raghav who terrorised Bombay city in the late 1960s.
Reminiscing about his breakthrough telefilm, Raghavan elaborates: "We had a shoestring budget and had to complete it in two weeks under severe constraints. But once done it served as a showreel for me. It got me work on television. Ek Hasina Thi was my first feature film. Released in January this year it was a highly rewarding experience and was widely appreciated."
According to Raghavan entry routes into the film medium have multiplied in recent years. They include television, music videos, ad films, documentaries etc, each requiring specialised creative skills. "Successful directors like Ridley Scott and Alan Parker cut their teeth in commercials before graduating to feature films as did Ken Ghosh who directed dozens of music videos prior to landing a directorial assignment. Many filmmakers today start with television, honing their craft while awaiting the big break," says Raghavan.
As far back as he can remember, Raghavan entertained a passion for the make-believe world of cinema. After graduating from Fergusson College, Pune he was admitted into FTII in 1984 and acquired a diploma in cinema (with specialisation in film direction) in 1987. His 30-minute black and white diploma film The Eight Column Affair won the National Award for best short film and was screened at Filmotsav 88 in Trivandrum and other film festivals. Subsequently he made several documentaries for the develop-ment and communication unit of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ahme-dabad where he worked for three years. He also produced and directed training films for the Centre of Environment Education, Directorate of Shipping among other institutions before graduating to television serials and feature films.
It bodes well for Raghavan — and the Indian feature films industry — that he believes in the prime importance of credible storylines and scripting, the Achilles heel of Indian cinema. "Superior technique is no substitute for content. If you don’t have a good story, even dazzling cinematography can’t save a film. But on the contrary, if you have a sound storyline, good technique will transform it into great cinema. The director is actually selling his unique, individualistic vision of the world. Therefore he should have a good knowledge of music, art, photography and a variety of interests. In my opinion the quality most required of a contemporary director is the ability to write. Writing is not easy and requires tremendous discipline, but a director who is also a writer has a better chance to make his first film sooner," he says.
Maybe there is some hope for Bollywood after all.
Indra Gidwani