Riya Sharma (BOMBAY TIMES; November 23, 2019)

On the last day of the 8th CII Big Picture Summit in Delhi, Swara Bhasker talked about the ‘Changing face of Indian cinema’. The actress discussed the factors that brought about the change, along with the films that are responsible for the change. Swara also talked about how social media has played a fundamental role in the way how stories are now being told.

CORPORATISATION OF THE INDUSTRY AND THE CHANGE IN FILM CONTENT
“If we talk about the changing phase of Indian cinema, and how it is changing, we should mark the moment when the government declared that the film industry will be an industry that can take loans. That marked the beginning of corporatisation of the film industry and the entry of studios. It was the first step in how content began to change,” said Swara.

Talking about the changing content, she said, “When a different film like Khosla Ka Ghosla! came out, we suddenly discovered that there is an audience for it. There was another interesting film, Bheja Fry, and with it, we again realised that if you give something new and good to the audience, they will consume it. Since then, I think that Hindi films have changed rapidly.”

The actress added, “For me, the two films that collapsed the idea of commercial and art films and also blurred the lines between these two were Peepli Live and Tanu Weds Manu. Nobody would have thought that Bollywood would tell the story of the struggles of Indian farmers, but that film collapsed the idea that meaningful cinema always makes losses and that it can never be profitable.”

Swara feels that the other film that marked a new phase in Bollywood was Tanu Weds Manu. “With this movie, we came back to the small towns of India and the movie also gave a new heroine to Bollywood, who was not your typical, self-sacrificing kind of girl. This was really a sort of badass, confused, angry, badly behaved heroine. It was something that the commercial Bollywood had not thought of, in terms of heroine. Also suddenly, you had these other characters who were not just side characters, but had something substantial and interesting of their own. The fact that both of these films worked at the box office were actually like sort of a a turning point for me,” said the actress.

‘CAN’T SHIELD OURSELVES FROM THE REAL REVIEWS OF THE AUDIENCE’
Another factor that changed films fundamentally, according to Swara, is social media. “Almost everybody has an account on various social media platforms. And, if you have an account, you are a reviewer yourself. You can tag the actor, director or the producer and you can be sure that we are reading it because we have a lot of time on our hands (laughs!). But there is no denying that the film was liked or disliked. We cannot shield ourselves from the real reviews of the audience and that has changed, in a very fundamental way, how stories are told. Even the biggest so-called masala films are looking for a story now,” she said.

As the conversation moved to her social media presence, Swara, who is known for giving it back to the trolls, said, “This is the time when it is wise to be apolitical and I am obviously an idiot. Artistes are also human beings and we are also citizens, we also vote, we pay taxes. Then why should we not be engaged in the world that we live in? I can understand being silent because you don’t want to be misunderstood, but I don’t believe that there is anything called being apolitical. It is the person that I am. I have to tell enough lies on screen, I spend all my time acting and sort of pretending, so I can’t pretend in real life.”

Sana Shakil (THE TIMES OF INDIA; July 31, 2016)

TALVAR has emerged the highest grossing art house film in recent years. Art house is basically films without the stars and music and don't conform to the normal genres of action, comedy and romance. The top five are as follows.
1. Talvar - 30 crore apprx (4 weeks)
2. Peepli Live - 29,23,00,000
3. The Lunchbox - 20,85,00,000
4. Paan Singh Tomar - 14,61,00,000
5. Manjhi - The Mountain Man - 13,53,00,000

PEEPLI LIVE had the support of Aamir Khan's name attached to it. So TALVAR's 30 crore figure becomes a big number. The best of the other art type releases have managed just about 20 crore nett.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui talks about how working with Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh has helped him
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; July 29, 2015)


A self proclaimed ‘struggler’, Nawaz has acted with all the three Khans as well as actors from the younger generation like Varun Dhawan. But he doesn’t let this distract him from his role. “An actor and a cricketer is the same. Irrespective of whether you hit a century in the last match, you cannot feel too happy and underperform in the next match. Similarly, with my films, I start from the scratch. I am happy that people are appreciating me. But I don’t let that shift my focus from my performance. I always start from zero,” he explains.

But hasn’t sharing space with three Khans helped him in some way? “Definitely, it has helped me a lot,” he continues, “Working with the Khans has benefited my small films. When I do a film with Salman, Shah Rukh or Aamir, 95 per cent of the audience comes to watch the film. If five per cent of that audience come and watch my smaller films, my other films too will become a hit. That’s possibly the biggest take away for me,” he adds.

‘Aamir didn’t recognise me’
Not many people know that Sarfarosh was Nawaz’s first role ever. “It was just a 40-second role in the film,” he rues. But he also revealed that Aamir could not recognise him while shooting for Reema Kagti’s Talaash. “I told him I had worked with him in Sarfarosh when we were shooting for Talaash. After Sarfarosh, I had also done a film Peepli Live under his banner. But tab maine unko bataya nahi tha,” he smiles.

‘SRK se mila ittefaq se!’
Nawaz will be seen with Shah Rukh in Raees. He reveals, “I have already shot for one schedule of the film. I play the role of a cop and my character too is based in Gujarat. We start shooting for the Ahmedabad portions from September. Shah Rukh is an amazing co-star to work with. I had many scenes to shoot with him. He takes care of you and is very grounded. He is a thorough professional as well.” But this isn’t the first time Nawaz met the superstar. He recalls a previous incident, “I had met him by chance last year. He was going to shoot for Happy New Year and I was going to Chicago for my shoot. So, I was sitting in the lounge where I slept. Suddenly, someone was calling me. When I opened my eyes, I saw it was SRK. I was shocked and then we had a talk. He told me he’s going to New York and then he asked me to meet when free. It was a really sweet gesture.”

Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 11, 2014)

Anusha Rizvi, the director of critically acclaimed film Peepli (Live), is now headed towards the small screen. The filmmaker is helming an upcoming crime drama, Private Investigator. The show will be a weekly series with each episode offering a different plot.

A source close to the show told Mirror, "Every episode will be high on suspense and will wrap up with the mystery being solved."

The cast will be toplined by Mrinal Dutt, who had earlier featured in TV shows like Webbed and Roomies. Mrinal plays the protagonist, Raffe Roy Choudhary.

The show also stars Sandhya Mridul, Vrajesh Hirjee and Aamir Bashir. Mirror has learnt that Sandhya plays Mrinal's mother, Vrajesh is a cop and Aamir essays the role of an ex-RAW agent.

The channel confirmed the news, saying, "The show will go on air in the second week of December."

When contacted, Anusha reiterated, "Yes, I am involved with this show. I would prefer to discuss the details later. I am looking forward to it."

Her previous project, the 2010 release Peepli (Live), was India's official entry for the the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Film category.

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 14, 2014)

Mathias Duplessy is a French composer and performing artist who plays everything from the guitar and the banjo to the accordion. Four years ago, soon after he had scored the music for Aamir Khan's PEEPLI [Live], Mathias was looking for more Bollywood jobs and came calling at Saif Ali Khan and Dinesh Vijan's office.

He ran into Homi Adajania there, who urged by a line producer, narrated the story of Finding Fanny to him through his interpreter. Mathias was charmed and encouraged by his enthusiasm Homi asked him to compose something for him. In a few days, a scratch was mailed across.

"It was an instrumental piece with an eclectic touch, neither Goan nor European, which embodied everything the film was about, replete with all its quirkiness," remembers Homi. Three years later, when the film finally took off, his traced Mathias down in France and reintroduced himself. The composer admitted that all this while he had been wondering when the film would come back to him.

And so the Indo-French connection was forged. Mathias had the script with him and Homi would tell him where he wanted to incorporate the songs and then shoot the footage and send it to him and would get scratches back in return.

The title track Fanny Re was one of the first songs to be composed. It was written and recorded in Mathias's Paris studio by Mukhtiyar Ali, a Sufi singer from Bikaner who was touring France at the time.

"Mathias used to play the guitar at our concerts and we became friends. One day he asked me if I'd write and sing a song for a Hindi film he had been offered, telling me clearly that there was no guarantee that the song would be used," recalls Mukhtiyar.

He was ready for the challenge and Mathias sketched out the situation to him, explaining that it revolved around a man who confesses his love in a letter and lives with rejection for forty years without knowing that his beloved never received the letter. After mulling over it for a couple of days, Mukhityar got into the mood one morning and started writing.

As is habit, he would write a line or two on a page and set it aside, picking up another sheet of paper. Soon there was 17-18 pages scattered around him and Mathias's wife wondered if he was writing a song or an album.

Mahi ve...Pyaar wale din saare ve, kath likh ke guzaare re took shape and form in just a couple of hours. "The next day we recorded the song. I practised a lot and did the whole song in one shot, one track. Live gaana aur saath mein live instrument, from the guitar and the banjo to the tabla and the accordion. There were no electronics or technical gimmicks," he says.

Homi loved the amalgamation of world music, traditional sounds and the Bollywood flavour that came from Mathias's nostalgic impressions. But he couldn't quite fit Mukthiyar's rustic Rajasthani voice into the Goan setting of the film. But Mathias reasoned that like love, music too wasn't confined by boundaries of region, religion, colour or country. Homi agreed but wanted one small change. Mahi ve was a much used phrase in Bollywood's musical dictionary. Could they replace that with Fanny re?

Mukthiyar flew down to Mumbai and recorded the change at a city studio. And went back to Rajasthan and forgot all about the song.

Three years later, his manager called him one morning and informed him that the trailer of a Bollywood film, Finding Fanny, had just released online with Mukhtiyar's distinct voice playing in the background. Soon after, Mathias called to inform that his song had finally been used.

"I've sung for some small art films like Bombay Summer, Delhi In A Day and Ship Of Theseus in which I'd even played a bit role. I also sang for the Saif-Kareena starrer Tashan. But Fanny Re is my proper Bollywood debut. People, even in my chhota sa gaon, are listening to it and liking it. The Indo-French connection has worked," he says.

Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; April 24, 2014)

Kangana Ranaut is bold and courageous in real life, but she was completely psyched when shooting for Revolver Rani in the Chambal valley. She spoke to Bombay Times about her experience. Excerpts:

Were you scared shooting in Chambal?
Imagine shooting where 80% of the people in the crowd have their own weapons. Where you can see 14-year-old boys holding their own guns. You start getting psyched and start wondering what if anyone from the crowd was to shoot. Nobody would even come to know who has shot. It becomes hard to concentrate and you start feeling that you are a part of a thriller, where you can get shot and die any moment. We were shooting one of the rally scenes in Gwalior. The director, Sai Kabir, comes from there and he would have his childhood friends in the crowd shots. But shockingly for me, they would insist on using their own weapons and would be telling him, ‘Bhai humne magazine nikal diya.’ I freaked out, as I was not comfortable mixing real weapons with fake ones. While we would shoot in Chambal, I and all the girls in the crew would drive back three-and-a-half hours to Gwalior every night, as it was not safe for girls to stay there. Why should girls there not be as safe as they are in Mumbai or Himachal Pradesh, from where I come? I was shocked to find out that real life politicians, especially those that come from the interiors, have criminal records. They have grabbed lands and some of them even have rape and murder cases against them. Coming from Himachal, where there is no poverty and where the divorce and criminal rate is zero, I have not even seen a brawl as a kid. My dad, being a Rajput, had a rifle which he would once in a while ask us to clean and that was our only interaction with a gun. Otherwise, I don’t think anyone in our family would have even killed a makhi. Due to Kabir’s influence we had a lot of security while we were shooting, but I remember in one of the scenes, a drunken man walked in and said to me, ‘Mujhe aapke saath haath milana hai.’ I looked at our security as to how this man came in and reached upto where I was, but they had a blank expression and they said to me, ‘Madam, please shake his hand as he is carrying an AK-47. He is drunk and could shoot anytime as he is drunk.’ I shook his hand and luckily, he left. But it freaked me out.

Talk about your character Alka in Revolver Rani?
She is like any other girl, whose father never accepted her for being a girl child. Even though he died early when she was just seven, she craved his love and was fascinated with his revolvers. She picked up the revolver, as she saw her mother being raped in front of her. She loves a man who does not reciprocate her love in the same way. Her mama uses her for power, she belongs to a lower caste so the opposition — being a royal family person — ridicules her. And she does things only to hide her vulnerability. 

Being an actress, do you face male domination in the film industry?
A lot. The equation changes the moment a hero takes a call as to who the lead actress should be in the film and it happens all the time. First, a hero is decided and the director will give him options and then he tells him who he wants or doesn’t want and that is the way it works. I think it is a very sad way of casting. If you want to be treated as an equal, this is not the way it can start. They are always given the priority. You are called basis their call time, they will see the edit or the poster design first. It is obviously a hero-dominated industry, but it is changing now. I have never been a victim as I have always had a voice of my own, but whenever they have tried to mistreat me because I am a girl, I have stood up for myself and the results have been disastrous and led to so many conflicts. You can dominate me as a director or someone who knows more than me and I would love to get dominated by that person and learn from that person. But just because I am a girl and am gentle and soft-spoken, don’t try to twist my wrist. I have lost so many roles because of this and have never had a great equation with male chauvinist actors. They have either boycotted me or ganged up against me.

Have there been people in the industry who have made you feel equal to our male stars?
First person I would love to give credit to is Mr Rakesh Roshan. When I said no to doing Krrish 3, they called me home and made me understand just how they would do it to another actor. Girls are not given that respect and importance in the industry that he gave me. Vikas Bahl, Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane called me for every creative discussion during Queen. When I suggested to Vikas about writing dialogues for the film, he was not only not intimidated but gave me credit for it in the film. Tigmanshu Dhulia treats you like an artist. Mr Aamir Khan has been very supportive from the beginning. It doesn’t matter whether I have worked with Mr Khan or Mr Amitabh Bachchan or not. What matters is that even when I was a nobody he, Mr Khan, would call me and ask me for my opinion on a film like Peepli Live that I saw. That, for me, is respect. He had faith in me and he is not a male chauvinist and that shows the depth of his character. He and his wife have given me the respect that they would give to any leading actor. And now that I am doing well, I see a certain pride on their faces. Men like Mr Aamir Khan and Mr Amitabh Bachchan inspire women like me.