The actor-filmmaker, known for his meaningful cinema and sharp performances, has decided to approach cinema differently, thanks to his experience with Poorna
Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; January 3, 2019)

As 2019 has begun to unfold, Rahul Bose has his eyes set on a couple of things — his upcoming films as both an actor and director. And before all of that, he’s also looking forward to releasing Poorna: Courage Has No Limit in China. “That’s where the profits will come in from,” he says. He insists that while the experience of making and releasing his second directorial project has been satisfactory, he wasn’t quite prepared for the fact that small towns in India didn’t have too many footfalls. He says, “I thought India would react very well to a film like Poorna and what eventually happened gave me a jolt that I wasn’t absolutely prepared for. I thought her story would move people. She’s a tribal kid, from a disadvantaged background and a girl child who triumphed against all odds. She held the national flag aloft Mount Everest. I mean it had everything to attract people and the rude shock was that the small town folks didn’t lap it up. So, moving forward, nothing changes my content. I will make the kind of films I believe in, but they need to have a recognizable face headlining the cast. I’ve realised India doesn’t get interested in a mainstream film without a face. We’ve made some fantastic sports films off late, but they’re costly because of the actor’s heft. I won’t direct another film without a known face.” The actor has also been offered an international film where the American production house wants him to direct and act in the film, too.

CINEMA AND ITS SHACKLES
The experience with Poorna has only cemented Rahul's belief that cinema should achieve a balance between commerce and art. He explains, “If someone thinks cinema is pure art, they’re wrong. Why is it that some stars get paid better than others? It’s because they command that price and they bring in the audience. At film festivals, conversations suggest that cinema is pure art. It’s not. If you understand that thought, then you will understand why films can never tackle certain ‘taboo’ themes and why some markets don’t have great movies.” He also feels that the era in which a film is made, influences the treatment and the writing. He adds, “Every era revisits a story in its own way. In the 1950s, you could show that a guy marries a dark-skinned girl despite the complexion. Today, that story would be about the girl seeking validation elsewhere, because she doesn’t need marriage for that. Cinema really doesn’t allow space for a story to be redefined in the real sense. That can happens in other media, where money is not a constraint; experimental theatre for instance. However, things are changing fast and a decade later, we may not be discussing this either.”

In the last year alone, several films were politically attacked for their content before the release. Talking about this, he says, “Cinema has always been shackled and off late, the shackles have only increased. That is bad news for mainstream cinema. Commercial considerations anyway force the writers to not write certain things and now with newer considerations, it will be about the lowest common denominator. Cinema will no more provoke, excite and move you, because it won’t run any risks. This world will be full of big sci-fi films, where you don’t offend anyone. The optimistic side of me, even in these dangerous times, believes that art is subversive and it always finds a way to be expressed.”