Amisha Patel gets her act together
Lakshmi Menon

FROM a carefully cultivated babe-in-the-woods image in her debut-making ‘Kaho Na Pyar Hai’, Amisha Patel is now being seen as a decisive woman with a mission. In less than a year, she has earned a ranking among the top five heroines of Bollywood and got nine films lined up for release in as many months.

Of these, the most significant are Anil Sharma’s ‘Gadar — Ek Prem Katha’ with Sunny Deol, Vikram Bhatt’s ‘Aap Mujhe Achhe Lagne Lage’ with Hritik Roshan, Vimal Kumar’s ‘Suno Sasurji’ with Aftab Shivdasani, besides some untitled ventures with Bobby Deol, Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan.

"This is going to be an eventful year for me," says this gold medallist in economics from the USA. "I have worked very hard to reach this point — more so, since I do not have a film background. I have had no rest. I am practically living out of my suitcase. I am not even allowed to be moody..."

But then, she is quick to acknowledge that she is "hot property" today, simply because she is yet to be seen in any other film after ‘Kaho No Pyar Hai’. " I wonder if people’s attitude will remain the same after a couple of flops," she quips. "This is very cruel industry."

Amisha was visiting Mumbai on a holiday from the USA in 1997, when she answered Rakesh Roshan’s advertisement for a "new face" for his son’s launch film. Of the 500-odd applicants 200 were short-listed. "Out of these 200 girls, 22 were screen-tested and I was the chosen one!" she beams.

Regardless of what the media has to say, Amisha clarifies that she holds nothing against the Roshans for her not getting a fair share of publicity from the film. She acknowledges that for a film meant to launch the producer-director’s son, she has had a good deal.

"I have told Rakesh uncle that no heroine in a film made for a star son has ever got as much mileage as I did," she explains. "But I was misquoted by certain sections of the press. I have learnt that any statement you make can be used for or against you. It is part and parcel of this profession."

For a newcomer, Amisha has many more grouses: chaotic schedules ("I wish the industry was more organised"), back-biting ("Everybody seems to be bitching about everybody"), dishonesty ("People love making tall claims")... even donning grease-paint ("I dislike anybody fidgeting with my face and hair")!

The bluntness makes her much misunderstood and if rumours are to be believed, her "temperamental nature" has prompted top-ranking directors like Subhash Ghai, Yash Chopra, Sooraj Barjatya and Karan Johar to keep their distance from Amisha.

But that does not bother her: "I am working with directors who are no less talented. They may not have carved a niche for themselves, but they are young and vibrant. Anyway, everybody has to begin from somewhere. I am quite happy working with an Anil Sharma or a Tanjua Chandra."

Ask her why Sharma repeated Sunny Deol but not her in his next film, ‘Hero’ and she retorts: "I only turned down the film because I couldn’t see myself playing a prostitute. But Anilji has sent me a third script. I’ll read it and then decide if I want to do the film."

As for the controversy over her walking out of Satish Shah’s ‘Badhai Ho Badhai’, again she has a ready reply: "I did not walk out of the film. Circumstances compelled me to. But the general impression is that I had ditched the director because I was not happy with my role.

"The truth is that I had liked the script and my role. Accordingly I had given dates together with Anil Kapoor and Karisma Kapoor. Then Karisma opted out and Shilpa Shetty was brought in. Shoots were rescheduled and I could not readjust my dates as I was already committed to ‘Gadar’. This is the truth!"

— MF

“The future of film-making lies in digital technology”

DIGITAL Talkies, a company promoted by Shekhar Kapoor and a few other professionals, held India’s first festival of films made on the digital format which, according to Kapoor, would re-define the future of entertainment.

In an exclusive interview with I.D. Mendis, Shekhar Kapoor talks about the new technology....

Did you get a good response to your film festival?

Considering it was the first digital film festival, the response was phenomenal. We received over 200 entries of which 45 were ultimately selected for screening. These films were from India, USA, New Zealand and England. They ranged in length from two minutes to two hours. The Indian entries included films like ‘The Shawl’ by Muzaffar Ali, ‘939288’ by Vishwajyoti Ghosh and ‘matrimonails.com’ by Krishna. The jury had names like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Shyam Benegal and R.K. Laxman who judged the films.

In what way will digital technology help filmmaking?

This technology has great relevance for India, as it will allow movies to be made for as little as a few thousands of rupees. Feature filmmaking has never been more accessible and affordable, as digital camera starts at prices as low as $300. The rest is your imagination.

How will it benefit the common person?

Many creative people have great film ideas but they don’t know where to get finances. So, if you think you have an idea that is bound to click and are not inclined to knock at the doors of financiers, you couldn’t have been born in better times. Soon digital technology will become as cheap as still photography.

If you are so convinced about this technology why aren’t you experimenting with it?

I am, I am. My forthcoming Hollywood film, ‘Foundation’, a 20th Century Fox production, will be in digital format. In fact the technique is fast gaining ground in Hollywood with many film experts predicting the demise of the celluloid format in the years to come.

Do you really believe celluloid will die a sudden death in the near future?

I am certain it will. Because very soon it would be far too expensive to make films on celluloid as compared to digital technology. Big time financiers and studios in the West are already getting jittery as the digital format is getting increasingly popular.

What are the other advantages?

Another great advantage of digitalisation is that no expensive editing suites are required. Once the film has been shot all one has to do it is to run it on the computer and edit it online. At the flick of a mouse the ‘producer’ can change the backgrounds or locales to suit the script.

How much money would that save?

That will depend on the film. But what I can tell you is that digital budgets are so small that almost anyone with a little money can take a creative risk and make a film. Experts are saying that in the years to come technology will shift power from financiers to filmmakers who no longer need their money, permission or approval to experiment with their ideas.

So, how do you see the future of films?

The future of filmmaking is digital technology. In five years time I won’t be surprised to see a 10-year-old boy, a schoolteacher or even a truck driver making a film. They’ll make mistakes initially but technology is self-teaching and people will learn the craft step by step. That’s when real talent will emerge. As filmmaking gets liberated from the tyranny of financiers creativity is bound to surface. — NF

Blind man directs film
Sitesh Debnath

TO Priyesh Jain would go the credit of being the first blind filmmaker in the world. The 27-year-old drama student has just directed ‘Roshni’, a 45-minute film on the horrors of nuclear war, with well-known actors like Anant Mahadevan, Reeta Bhaduri and Pooja Seth leading the cast.

The film is actually based on a one-act play, ‘Umeed’, Jain had staged in a drama festival at Mumbai five years ago. As its writer and director, Jain had won the award for the "best concept" and "best play". Later, Vanita Kamat was to come up with the money and offer to producer a film on the same subject.

"People tell me that I am visually impaired and closed to the world," says Jain, "I decided upon ‘Roshni’ as the title of my film just to tell them that the world they think is so distant is actually very real and close to me."

That "real world", according to Jain, is the threat of a nuclear war. "Tell me how many are aware of the fact that one nuclear bomb is enough to wipe off the city of Mumbai?" he asks.

Jain narrates how his friends and colleagues made fun of him when he came up with a script for the film. But no sooner he had obtained the consent of veteran actors like Mahadevan and Bhaduri then everything fell into place.

"At the start of every take, I explained the shot to my actors and made them rehearse their lines. The cameraman then came up with suggestions of devising the shot. The sound recordist and other members of the crew then took their positions... So it was more of a group effort."

A graduate in humanities, Jain has "many more subjects of social concern" he would like to make films on, but he would rather wait till ‘Roshni’ is released. — MF