Tiwari’s success mantra is simple approach to stories
Filmmaker Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari (below) is happy that people are still talking about her debut film Nil Battey Sannata (2015). The filmmaker believes the reason behind her success is the simplicity of the story. She hopes to continue making such kind of films even in future.
“What started off as working on something (being a director) that I am really passionate about, actually earned me lot of love from the audience,” she says, adding that the film has also earned her popularity she never expected. “My kinds of stories and my approach are usually simple. You know simple always works. It has been the same since a long time. It goes without saying how films like Masoom (1983), Golmaal (1979) or films by Hrishikesh Mukherjee have always been loved by cine-goers. I also feel that this is the era of new and different stories. I have actors, writers, producers approaching me with interesting concepts. Even the audience in this age of digital boom is open to different cinema,” says Ashwiny.
About working with actors Swara Bhaskar and Ria Shukla again, she says, “They (fresh breed) know what exactly is working now and what will turn out to be a hit among the viewers.”
Though dance remains choreographer-director Remo D’Souza’s (right) first love, he says that direction has taken a front seat now. Remo, who has helmed films such as FALTU (2011), ABCD (2013) and A Flying Jatt (2016), feels being a director and choreographer for a film is an added advantage as everything is in your control. “When I started off as a choreographer, I had to do songs, which I may have wanted to do differently but directors had their own inputs to give. But now, I take liberty to decide my own dance steps as well.”
Happy with the idea of playing this dual part, he adds, “I will never leave choreography and will keep doing songs too. Of course, it’s not that five years down the line I only want to see myself directing films. I am trying my best to get good songs to choreograph also.”
About the standard of dance in Bollywood films, Remo says the level has gone up and reached a different level altogether. “The actors have started to dance and even the actresses these days rehearse rigorously, which wasn’t the case earlier. I would give the credit to all the dance-based reality shows because that’s how dance changed in Hindi films.” As for the young breed of choreographers and dancers, he says: “They know what exactly is working now and will turn out to be a hit among the viewers. They have a hunger to prove themselves through their dance.”