Director Neeraj Ghaywan says the condescending attitude shown by independent filmmakers towards commercial cinema should be done away with because it reflects snobbery.
The director of Masaan cited the example of filmmaker Zoya Akhtar’s Dil Dhadakne Do and said, many indie directors targeted her for telling an “elitist” story.
“I would like to say this on behalf of the independent world that I belong to — the arrogance of ours should be thought about. I saw how people went daggers at Zoya for making Dil Dhadakne Do. But that’s the world she has seen.
“She was blamed [for being] elitist. That’s real snobbery then. ‘Oh you show only poor India only then your cinema is good’. No. She knows that world so much and there is genuine craft in the storytelling,” Ghaywan said.
The director believes off-beat filmmakers often glorify only cinema made with a lot of hardships.
“The indie world thinks ‘oh poor [you], you didn’t have money to make a film, [and] with a lot of struggle you made it, so I’ll like it and encourage it.’ Then, if you make a film on an issue, they’ll say ‘oh issue, great.’ I hate that,” he said.
“Your film should be appreciated for what it is, no matter how you made it, what issue you [made it] about. If there is no story, no narrative, it doesn’t matter. That applies to everybody,” the director added.
Ghaywan says a film’s setting could be anything and as long as it is telling a good story, nothing else should matter.
“You could be making a film set in an extremely urban rich world. Like Zoya’s films, they talk about a story... why are you discounting that? Then you are equally to be blamed.
“If you say ‘oh, he made a good film with such minimal money so I’ll promote’. Promote, but don’t say it’s a good film just because it is made on a tight budget. I think even a Rohit Shetty goes through his own troubles to make his films,” he added.
