Shah Rukh shrugs off studios' paranoia
Netflix can be a great opportunity, (which can) offer unknown or upcoming directors more chances ... In India every household has a singer, but I think every household also has a filmmaker.
MUMBAI: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan has shrugged off the tendency of movie studios to be paranoid about experimenting with offbeat fare.
Added Shah Rukh: “When I (started my career) 25 years ago, I wanted to make the films I wanted to, but you have to be part of the system.”
But he pointed out that “Netflix can be a great opportunity, (which can) offer unknown or upcoming directors more chances ... In India every household has a singer, but I think every household also has a filmmaker.”
With a global platform like Netflix, Khan said, “you don’t just have an Indian audience but a world audience.”
With him in a wide-ranging discussion in Mumbai on Wednesday was top Hollywood actor Brad Pitt.
They bantered over career paths and the impact of moviestreaming mammoth Netflix on the film business.
The interaction was intended to promote Pitt’s Netflix film War Machine, which started streaming yesterday.
On why he chose to work with Netflix on War Machine, Pitt said, “It’s because the way the studio system is right now in Hollywood, it just can’t support risky films like this, of this budget certainly.”
Directed by David Michod, War Machine is based on Michael Hastings’ book The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan.
Michod, who also joined the discussion, explained why the film’s lead character was changed: “I actually believe that any biopic is really a work of fiction. We didn’t want to make a movie about a specific individual, it was about the system that preceded the events of this movie and has continued since 2009-10.”
Shah Rukh Khan, superstar
Pitt added that “even Michael Hastings was frustrated during the release of his book since the discussion was about the dismissal of the general rather than what he was trying to say about the problems with the system.
“That’s why it’s called War Machine. It’s a 16-year war with no end in sight. We wanted to focus on those questions.”
Expanding on his views about working with the streaming giant, Pitt said that “the beauty of Netflix for the film viewer is that now more films are getting made, more interesting filmmakers are getting a chance, which means a greater variety.” Pitt called this “a renegade time” reflecting “a new resurgence” and drew parallels with the “cinema of the ‘60s and ‘70s that I grew up with.”
Pitt gave the example of another Netflix-Plan B original, Okja, which premiered at Cannes and was directed by South Korean helmer Bong Joon-ho.
“Different cultures now are cross-pollinating ideas and styles,” said Pitt, arguing that Okja “became something that we would never have been able to create otherwise. We are definitely seeking out more of these experiences.”
Both Shah Rukh and Pitt started their careers in the early ‘90s and have morphed into producers running their own banners. Shah Rukh’s Red Chillies Entertainment has produced recent hits such as Chennai Express and Dear Zindagi.
“I often think that it’s a gamble where there’s a bigger payoff,” said Pitt adding, “I have been able to do that more as a production company rather than as an individual.” Pitt’s producing partners, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, also were present at the event.
Reckoned Shah Rukh: “If you can last as long as Brad has done, I think (producing) is the natural way to go. There are only so many stories you can do as an actor.”