The Bard revisits B’wood
A still from I Am
Filmmaker Onir, best known for helming National Award winning film I Am, is looking forward to directing his first romantic film Veda which draws inspiration from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. Veda has been co-produced by actor Sanjay Suri, who previously collaborated with Onir for I Am.
We recently caught up with Sanjay and Onir who were in the capital to participate in the finale of PVR Nest “Steer to Safety campaign”.
Sharing about the film Onir says, “Veda is going to be a mainstream Bollywood film. It is something entirely different from the theme and category of my earlier movie I Am. It is a an intense love story, which is being co-produced by Sharad Chandra and Sanjay Suri. While the casting process of Veda is still underway, the film is set to go on the floors by mid-2013.”
So how tough is it adapting Shakespeare in Indian milieu and in contemporary times? “Vishal Bhardwaj first adapted Macbeth for Maqbool. He revisited Othello for Omkara. So generally we have examples of Shakespeare’s comic stories inspiring Bollywood filmmakers. Since my college days, I have always been fascinated by Hamlet. The sensitivity and fragileness of this tragic hero is something that I decided to present in Veda. The film is set in the mixed settings of Lucknow and London.”
Suri and Onir have collaborated on offbeat films like My Brother Nikhil, Sorry Bhai and I Am. Expressing his views on mainstream cinema merging with off-beat cinema, Onir says, “I think both mainstream and off-beat films are equally important for the healthy growth of the film industry. The theatrical space and a younger audience with fresh and more accepting approach have ensured that every film has its fair chance at the BO. Even the directors of mainstream cinema are taking risks and experimenting with content and themes.”
Talking about the challenges one faces with the off-beat films, Sanjay adds, “To release a film is a big challenge. You can make an inexpensive film but you can’t release it cheap. Huge mainstream films are supported by big marketing budgets, but these small films are usually content driven and don’t have a space to be shown or exhibited.”
I Am was not telecast on Doordarshan as it did not have a ‘U’ certification. Sanjay and Onir agreed in a discussion, “I Am won the National Award but did not get an appropriate slot on TV. The need of the hour is that Censor Board should grow up. The audience is opening up to newer and bolder themes. You can have films with adult content playing post 9 pm on TV. GenY’s exposure is anyway too vast, so you just can’t monitor that.”
Post new comment