Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
RAJ & DK SAY ‘BRING IT ON’ TO ADVENTURES
Films, web and international collaborations — the director duo is on a roll now
when the film doesn’t work, good reviews will only take you so far. I’m happy that journalists appreciated this presentation of me.”
Directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar, the film was recently declared tax-free in Maharashtra. “Kind of late,” pat comes the reply from the actor, who adds, “I don’t know why it didn’t work, I can’t put my finger on it, I liked the film. Sometimes, when you’re a part of a film, you lose the audience’s point of view.”
Explaining why box-office collections matter, Bahl draws a comparison to the 1980s and the ’90s and says how they are important now. He says, “Earlier, it was about the number of days, silver and golden jubilees. But a film’s budget is higher now. In our time, one producer made three films, I used to work in two out of those three. Now, two-three producers make one film. So, now, the number of films being made has reduced drastically. The kind of investment hinging on box office is much more today than in the past.”
The risks, says Mohnish, are also higher now because of the money involved. “In those days, video piracy had just started. Just before that, every film covered its cost unless it went out of hand. Audiences had only theatres to go to, since there was limited form of entertainment available. Today, that’s not the case. You have all sorts of entertainment in your hands. Now, going to a theatre costs about five thousand bucks (with family). The stakes are higher,” the actor concludes.
If filmmakers were to be bracketed in two categories — those who tread new grounds and those who remain in the precincts of their expertise — we know where Raj and DK (Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK) will take a proud spot. Trace their career trajectory, and you would know how from quitting plum jobs in the US to plunging into filmdom in India, they have walked many miles.
From helming the dark humoured Shor In The City (2010), zombie comedy Go Goa Gone (2013) and romantic comedy Happy Ending (2014) to producing a horror comedy such as Stree (2018) and then riding the OTT bandwagon with a spy thriller as lauded as The Family Man, their showbiz game is now only set to get bigger with sequels of The Family Man and Go Goa Gone, a film with Shah Rukh Khan as well as a collaborative project with Avengers directors Russo Brothers for a one-of-a-kind global event series. So, how do they manage to balance it out? “It’s tough. This is the time we should be wary about our quality and not suffering. We write a lot... and fortunately or unfortunately, we’ve had huge gaps in production for almost every film. So, instead of just waiting around, we write more. And there are two of us, so we’re able to deal with having multiple films and series. But it’s tight,” they tell us.
The duo admits that whether it was moving to the web or turning producers with Stree, there’s always a fresh learning with a new experience. “Stree was the first time that we had a script together, and we were thinking we should get a director because we weren’t able to do it. Similarly, now collaborating with someone in the US, is another learning. It’s always exciting to have new adventures. That just keeps you going,” aver Raj and DK.
Never the ones to “settle for monotony” and become “a factory of films” by making similar kind of content back-toback, they add that it’s important for them to challenge themselves and explore “new territories and genres”. They add excitedly, “Switching to OTT, wearing the producers’ hat, going to the US and collaborating with someone .... everything adds to the adventure. So, bring it on.”
Perhaps a few years ago, such a cross country collaboration may not have been a possibility. But OTT platforms have changed the scenario. They explain that the Internet started the change, and now OTTs have enabled everyone to watch all kinds of content. “We have our Hindi, English and foreign language favourites... it has been increasing progressively over the last few years. It was about time that something like this happened... and the cross collaboration feels apt now.”
This new series is a global franchise with interconnected local language productions from India, Italy and Mexico. The filmmakers say, “It’s apt that we’re there being one of the largest film producing nations. This is a great time, especially in India, because whether you have a great idea and story, or you’re a good actor or technician, there’s no dearth of work on these platforms to put it out.”
I don’t know why it (Panipat) didn’t work, I can’t put my finger on it, I liked the film. MOHNISH BAHL ACTOR
Switching to OTT, wearing the producers’ hat, going to the US and collaborating with someone .... everything adds to the adventure. Perhaps a few years ago, such a cross country collaboration may not have been a possibility
RAJ NIDIMORU AND KRISHNA DK FILMMAKERS