Sunday, July 30, 2000		Article

BUDHADEB DASGUPTA'S latest film Uttara has just won the National Award for Best Direction. It has been appreciated for its delicate treatment of a subject which focuses on many relationships: husband-wife, two friends, priest and society, old man and society, political thugs and society.Here are excerpts from an interview of the director with Ravi Ranjan:

You can’t do without two things — money and story.Once I find a good story and the money to shape it into a reality, I immediately set out to do it.

There is a difference.I don’t make films to make money...I make films because I like making films. But these films should also make enough money for me to continue.

I cannot talk about other filmmakers. Govind is a very powerful filmmaker and if he has made commercial films, it’s his choice. But my doing such a film is out of question. I know what I can do and what I can’t.I cannot do mindless songs and dances because of four reasons: firstly, I don’t have faith in such cinema; secondly I am not qualified for it; thirdly, I don’t have time for it; and fourthly, I don’t want to lead that kind of artificial life.

Well, there is a definite shift of focus in my later films but I am treading on the same philosophy.I would not say I have departed from my vision which is still the same. Make-believe is still anathema for me. I have made films with political backdrops because politics is a part of life like love is a part of life. You cannot make a film and not show the emotion of love — that’s impossible. Once I wanted to make a film on a subject laced with politics and critics started calling me a political filmmaker. But I was only trying to be honest with my subject.

If you give one story to 10 filmmakers, there will be ten different films though none of them will be right or wrong. This is because while interpreting the script each one draws out from the experiences etched out in his memory.

My films are poetic because I like to treat the subject with sensuality. You can make a film on a poet and be non-poetic.I love poetry and I do write myself. The images which hold me or move me are not just from poetry but can also be from music, dance or other creative arts.When I am interpreting a story I derive from these images. As a filmmaker how efficiently I weave from these array of images determines the tempo of my movie. For example.I have made use of Natuwa dance in my latest film Uttara. I have seen it during my childhood days and have used it to convey the feeling of security. It can be used in many different ways to evoke different feelings.

Audience is very important but my premise is that audience is sensible and wants to see sensible films. I presume that a film that appeals to me will also appeal to the masses and will sell. And if it sells, it ensures continuity. So I depend on my gut feeling.

It’s a story about two wrestlers working in a railway station and then one of them goes home and gets married. The wife hinders their relationship. In the village the priest has adopted an orphan and helps the local leaders.Then the violence elsewhere taints the relationship he has with village folk. Some unidentified goons come to the village and set the church and the priest on fire.

I have shot the film about 400 km fromCalcutta. The so-called development that we see is in an and around big cities was missing there. A number of small towns and villages have not witnessed any development.

The film is allegorical and that is another way of looking at it. I am happy if someone sees the meanings that the images have induced which even I did not see while making the film.Of course audience response is the biggest compliment that I am always happy about.

I write a lot. I write poetry. I am writing a novel; I have written about 200 pages. It starts in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

No, I generally pick up an obscure short story. I do take cinematic liberty while developing the screenplay.I always write my own dialogues and screenplays. I love my ideas and I believe in my ideas and that is what I put down on paper.I will continue to write as long as I my alive but I cannot make films forever.It has to stop some time as it is a very energetic and draining process.

Every story is not suited for cinema. I like to associate with my stories in print. The day I feel that I want to capture the images on screen.I will go ahead and do it. Camera postures have to get with the idiom of the story.

I have drawn my inspiration from Charlie Chaplin.

But,I could be inspired by Chaplin and yet not have any of those images in my film, which I do not have. Imitation can be inspiration but inspiration is not imitation or recreation alone. I am inspired by Tagore but that does not mean I have to do ‘Tagorisation’ of my films.

I think Indian cinema is going through rough times.Some of these boys from FTII are talented. There was a time when the NFDC and our DD also contributed to good cinema. But now these institutions have lost their track.