Unforgettable RANG DE BASANTI: A Retrospective Review

Forget mainstream Bollywood, forget candy floss, forget boy-chases-girl-chases-boy around trees... As adorable as regular fare from our favorites at Film City may be, 'Rang de Basanti' takes each and every member of the audience on a totally different ride and upon each viewing I say:

YEH CINEMA HAI, baby!

Last week, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's groundbreaking film was screened before its cast and crew in honour of its 5th anniversary (26th January). Several fans of the film across the world also celebrated the occasion by parking the RDB dvd in their drives that week and I am happy to have joined them.. There is a saying that claims "there is no place like home" and that is exactly how I felt as I re-watched one of my all-time favorite films, not only from India, but from around the world. Yes. This is a film I bought several times in order to distribute copies to friends and of course purchased the special edition with a "gem disk" that features Mehra's ultimate commentary. I could never get enough of it!

For those readers who are Hindi cinema newbies and therefore not familiar with what all this justified fuss is about, a brief synopsis follows the trailer below (purple text).

Sue (Alice Patten), a young film maker from London sets to shoot a film about India's freedom fighters based on her grandfather's diary (a British jailor in India during the pre-independence struggle). She hence flies to Delhi and finds whom she believes are the 6 perfect actors for her film. After hesitatingly accepting to participate in it, all 6 youngsters embark on an awakening journey that will shift their view of their country and will make them act upon it together in order to change a corrupt status quo.

I would personally have wanted to be a tiny mouse under Mehra's chair perking my ears up by listening while he narrated his script to one and the other before he finalised his cast. How he produced such a fantastic ensemble of actors remains astonishing to me: impressive Soha Ali Khan, Southern Indian stars R. Madhavan and Siddharth, extremely talented Atul Kulkarni and Sharman Joshi, superstar Aamir Khan, a very dedicated Kunal Kapoor, a highly convincing Alice Patten and mature secondary actors such as Om Puri, Lekh Tandon, Kirron and Anupam Kher as well as yesteryear belle Waheeda Rehman. Six of these actors were given substantious roles that cannot be substracted from the plot, making each and every one of them essential for the story to take place.

Casting was not the only merit. 'Rang de Basanti' masterfully merges two stories that end up generating an intricate climax that is heavy with purpose. The film compares India under the British rule to contemporary India, governed by corrupt politicians, while also placing a finger upon what the youth of India can do to make today's situation progress. I wonder if anyone before Rakeysh Mehra had pulled off a film in India with such a statement and without reeking of  overdone or preachy nationalism.

The writers successfully gift us a story about:

* college friendships,

* a brief close-up on the strength of India's freedom fighters,

* a critique on fundamentalism, 

* a view of the consequences of taking justice into one's own hands,

* sound advice inviting the youth to become involved in their country and to transform it from the inside out.

Other directors / screenplay writers would have gone haywire with so many meaningful things to say in solely one film but this is not so with Mehra and his team, who succeeded not only in getting these messages across but also in keeping the audience engaged until the end of the film, with a climax one could have rarely predicted.

The climax was indeed a surprise and for many audience members remained a mystery or a drawback. In its defence, I would say that the writers gave us two possible endings in one film, which I personally find to be a very intelligent approach. It somehow reminds me of those books some of us read during our childhood called "Choose your Own Adventure", where depending on the reader's choice of action upon ending a chapter, he/she advances to page X or to page Y. I remember sometimes "cheating" out of curiosity and reading both pages X and Y! Well, this is more or less what happens with the ending of  'Rang de Basanti'. One gets a glimpse of two possibilities, both of them actually make up the climax in its totality, and the director leaves the audience to sift through it all and to choose which was the best option.

The stellar performances, fresh aesthetics and original script with tight dialogues give us a taste of college and help us penetrate the coming of age of  Indian youth in a subtle but bold and humanistic manner. My brain was reeling after I watched RDB for the first couple of times and I would venture to say that the film could apply to the youth of many a country in this planet, which makes for a grand international appeal. Last but not least, a stupendous soundtrack by AR Rahman peppers the film's situations and blends into the images with natural and tasteful ease.

All of this makes 'Rang de Basanti' sound like a very deep and serious film. It is certainly deep, but its master stroke is to also be highly entertaining.

In the end, after having us experience lighthearted fun and making us follow the film's characters through thick and thin, Mehra seems to say to critical souls "Stop whining... think... now take action!". And we, besotted with the film, are bound to keep listening.


RANG DE BASANTI (Colour me Saffron)
Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Screenplay, story, dialogues: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Renzil D'Silva, Kamlesh Pandey, Prasoon Joshi
Cast: Aamir Khan, Siddharth, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor, Atul Kulkarni, Alice Patten, Soha Ali Khan, Madhavan, Waheeda Rehman, Anupam Kher, Kirron Kher, Om Puri, Lekh Tandon
Production:  Adam Bohling, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Guruprasad M., Shyam P.S., David Reid, Ronnie Screwvala
Music: AR Rahman

Rang de Basanti in Wikipedia
Buy Rang De Basanti music on Itunes

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ALLAH KE BANDAY from Childhood to Manhood - Interview with FARUK KABIR

‘Allah ke Banday’ ('Children at War') has been generating buzz and expectation for several weeks by unraveling a powerful soundtrack, unique promotional visuals, a deep subject and a golden cast including actors Naseeruddin Shah, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni and Rukhsar Nirmala ('Nishabd', 'Sarkar'). The film is Faruk Kabir’s first venture both in terms of acting and directing, and if this was not enough, Faruk is also behind the screenplay, which focuses on a subject dear to him: the flame that creates incredible potential within each child.

'Allah Ke Banday' is the story of two boys, Vijay and Yakub (Sharman Joshi and Faruk Kabir respectively), who are born into one of the world's largest slums. With an early start in the world of crime, both commit their first murder at a tender age and are sent to a Juvenile Prison, where they encounter its dreaded warden (Naseeruddin Shah) in a world that is more chaotic than the one they left behind. Freedom comes a few years later and so does their transformation from Childhood into Boyhood and later Manhood, throughout a life in which both will have to make destiny changing choices.

The Hindi Cinema Blog was very lucky to speak to multitalented young artist Faruk Kabir, who shared his mature take on filmmaking in this exclusive interview before the release of his much awaited film on Nov 26.

HCB - Hello Faruk, ‘Allah ke Banday’ being such a social, emotional and intellectually relevant film, we are eager to know what inspired you to write and direct its story.

FK -Well, the trigger and the imagination for ‘Allah ke Banday' started from my documentary film called ‘The Unheard Voices of the People of India’ and it is while I was shooting for that documentary film that I came across a couple of kids in the red light district area of Varanasi who had been exposed to crime and were juvenile offenders themselves. I also met Mahesh, a lovely man who was teaching them, because he runs a balwari* for children of prostitutes and convicts in Varanasi... (It is Mahesh the person who inspired the AKB character of Ashwani, played by Atul Kulkarni).

When I started talking to the kids, I realized that they had a very strong zest and spirit for life despite all the conditions that surrounded them. My idea was to really capture the feel and zest for life that these kids have. You see, I see them more as achievers rather than kids who are committing crime. For them, they think about something, they plan it, they execute it, they give it a result, you know... they achieve it. The only difference is that they are thinking about crime and are trying to achieve criminal acts whereas if that same energy is channelized into the right direction, it can transform into them achieving something more beautiful in their lives. So ‘Allah ke Banday’ started from this documentary film experience of mine.

* Balwari: small and independent school

HCB - Did you write the script with specific actors in mind? How did you come up with such a wonderful dream cast?

FK - (Smiles). No. I did not have any actor in mind while I was writing it. My focus is first on the writing and storytelling, beyond which actors will play that character, because for me it is not about the actors so much. It is more about the act. You know, there is a saying that says “let the actor disappear and only the act remain”. So I was not really thinking about any actor in particular. I was just wanting to write a very potent story. It is only after I had written my first two drafts that I actually started putting faces to these characters and then started approaching actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Sharman Joshi and Atul Kularni. I didn't know any of these actors before I approached them for the film and the process with all three of them was more or less the same. I wrote and shared the screenplay with them.

HCB - It must have been a gratifying experience to have three fantastic actors on board. Tell us more about the process.

FK – Well, I gave the screenplay to Naseer sahib and 15 days later he called me to his house and the first thing when I walked into his house he said was “first of all, I want to congratulate you for the script” and secondly he said, “which part do you want me to play in this film?”. I was extremely excited! I said, “Sir, I want you to play the juvenile prison warden.” He absolutely almost within a minute agreed and said “I'm a part of this film” and he has been most graceful ever since.

Atul was also tricky casting because I really wanted the character to be portrayed absolutely perfectly, so Atul being the powerful actor that he is… I did not want to compromise as to who was going to play that role because I really needed a powerful actor to come and say a lot in a little time.

I then approached Sharman Joshi and narrated the structural outline of the film. He immediately reacted to it very positively and strongly. From then on he read the screenplay twice over in the following 2 to 3 days and decided he was on board the film. He said “I want to be a part of this film” and he wanted to immediately dive into Vijay's character, who is the intelligent brother with the dangerous ideas.

HCB - Why was Sharman chosen for Vijay’s character instead of Yakub’s character, his friend in ‘Allah ke Banday’, whom you play?

FK - Vijay is a character who is a thinker and who has a slightly more restrained demeanor in his agression and personality. He thinks out and executes things. He does not get into something without having evaluated it from all corners, whereas Yakub is more like a hot-headed unguided missile. Yakub doesn't wait for any kind of reasoning or logic or rationale. There is a real contrast in both these characters.

Somehow Sharman has been in a more orchestrative space of performance before. An orchestrative character requires the actor to be a little bit louder, your hands are going up and down, your body language is much more energetic... In this character (Vijay), the body language and restraint had to have a certain sense of maturity to it. I liked the fact that Sharman had always acted out characters that are orchestrative and I have never done characters that are this way. So I guess it was interesting to cast him in this character because it put him in a situation of restraint and limitation. To put someone in a limitation and in an uncomfortable space is always nice because then something interesting results from it.

HCB - You are acting in ‘Allah ke Banday’, you are have written the film’s screenplay and are also directing the film. In doing all this, what would you say has been the biggest challenge for you?

FK - Well, the biggest challenge has not been any of these three but has actually been the marketing of the film! (laughs). It is the enormous budget of marketing a film that has been the biggest challenge for me. Otherwise, I have really enjoyed the process of writing and I wind up writing for 5 to 6 months for one screenplay. I love giving it that time, that nurturing and that pampering. Then for me the stage of shooting is just like being on a picnic! Having it extremely well-planned and executing it with a lot of fun and spirit... and then obviously thirdly lies the acting.

HCB - This is your first role as an actor. How did you feel working alongside a cast of such experienced actors? Were you intimidated at first or were you like “Hell, I'm the director and they won't say anything to me!”

FK - (Laughs) No. There is nothing like that. I'm a young guy, I’m 28, so I am very open to anything that people want to suggest and to what they have in mind. As far as I am concerned, I simply do not feel like I am going to a job or executing a task. I do what I love doing. I love the spaces of acting, writing or directing because they all are in the realm of the performing arts and since I just love to be in that space… There is nowhere else in the world I would rather be.

After having acted in the film, I realized that acting is a very instantly gratifying experience whereas being a director you really have to wait for a long while for that gratifying experience to reach you through the release or appreciation of your film. In acting you either feel you have performed well and you know it or you have not.

However, beyond sharing a frame with Sharman or Atul Kulkarni, for me what was most important was Yakub’s character. I as a director and as an actor wanted the character to be a certain way. Hopefully enough the character has been played well. If that happens, then the battle on the acting front has been won. If Yakub’s character comes across earnestly and honestly that will blend in further into the film.

HCB - You and the team have truly put lots of time and energy into the film’s promotional music videos. Part of the audience is now wondering, does the film have a similar visual feel than that of the innovative Maula and Kya Hawa Kya Badal videos?

FK - The film is absolutely a lot more real, edgy and raw and it has been shot in a more restless space than the music videos. In the case of the music video called Maula, it was really shot as a graphical visual interpretation of the film and was intended purely for the youth audience because they like this visual space. The song itself is Sufi-mellow hip-hop so I wanted to do justice to it and that triggered the use of  2-D matt paintings. We shot the song in about 4 days, but the work as far as preproduction and postproduction of the graphical music video was concerned took about 5 to 6 months. It has worked because the kind of downloads and hits we are getting on that song just goes to show that it is reaching a much wider audience and hopefully it will pay off as far as the visibility of the film is concerned.

HCB - You also worked on another beautiful video with Kailash Kher for song Kya Hawa Kya Badal. How did your collaboration with him come about for a video that would promote the film using the UNICEF's image archives?

FK - Well, I had gone to meet Kailash Kher for this one particular song that I wanted in the film. At the time the situation of the song was not so clear for me so I tried to explain to Kailash the entirety of the film itself and gave a narration to Kailash and Kailasa’s Paresh and Naresh. They really liked the idea of the film and reacted to it both emotionally and intellectually. After that, within two days they had something beautiful ready as far as the thought of a song was concerned. I walked in there, I heard it, I loved it and from then on they continued working further into it.

Finally, when the whole film was shot and the Maula video was shot, my producer and the entire team felt that Kailash’s song was also extremely beautiful, so we decided to shoot a song with kids and Kailash.

The UNICEF also got involved because Kailash had earlier worked with the UN on a certain album. I pitched the idea of the film to certain members of the UNICEF and they were kind enough to say “you can use whatever footage you want of our 50 years of archives” and that is exactly what I did. So Kailash, 1000 kids with candles in their hands at the Gateway of India, help from UNICEF and kindness of strangers made this song happen...

HCB - You have studied filmmaking at the New York Film Academy in the USA and we were wondering: if you had the choice of working with any actor or any filmmaker from the West, who would be your choice?

FK - Any actor or filmmaker… well that is a tough question! How do you really choose just one of them? I think if you tell me to pick an actor I would definitely pick somebody like Denzel Washington who has always been one of my favorite actors. Now a filmmaker... There are so many talented filmmakers! I cannot take a name, which name do I take? (pauses and gives up) There is just too many of them.

HCB - Have you given thought to acting in somebody else's film instead of your own in the future?

FK – You know it is funny because I have already been offered something just about 2 to 3 days back and I am in a funny way kind of considering it.

I guess that the acting bug has fed and tasted upon me rather than me tasting upon it, so let’s see (smiles). As I said before, acting is a nice and instantly gratifying space to be in because as a director there is so much time until the gratification comes across. I guess to keep a balance it would be interesting to explore maybe a role or two each year, just to explore a new space.

HCB - We have recently read that you are working on a new film called ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ and that you would be shooting it in South America. This is not very frequent, as South America has not appeared as one of the favorite locations of Indian cinema. How come South America?

FK - I want to be shooting this film in South America because I am definitely interested in shooting in the Amazon. So I guess I will have to go to the South of America and… unless of course the sheikh of Dubai decides to create an Amazon in the Middle East or in this part of the world, I guess we will have to travel to South America (smiles). That is a bad joke by the way, so you can cut that out (laughs with interviewer).

HCB - What other plans do you have for the future?

FK – I am definitely going to be writing and directing because that is my first love and my focus and will always remain so. Acting is going to be my second priority. If acting roles come along the way, I will pick and choose out of the three or four things that I may be offered and will try to work with something that satisfies me in a different kind of way than writing or direction does. So I will have to strike a balance in my life. I am quite a workaholic and have an obsessive compulsive disorder as far as it comes to my work. As I said, I don't go to a job. I love what I am doing, I do it every single day. So I can handle both acting and writing/directing because that's the kind of preparation I have as far as giving time to my work is concerned.

The Hindi Cinema Blog has had a great pleasure in speaking to Faruk Kabir and we wish him the very best with the release of ‘Allah ke Banday’ on 26 November 2010.

Visit the Allah ke Banday official website
Listen to and purchase the Allah ke Banday soundtrack

Check out the Allah ke Banday Youtube channel

Follow Allah ke Banday on Facebook
Follow Faruk Kabir on Twitter

ALLAH KE BANDAY

RELEASE: 26 NOV 2010
Starring: Naseerudin Shah, Sharman Joshi, Faruk Kabir, Atul Kulkarni, Rukhsar, Anjana Sukhani, Zakir Hussain, Vikram Gokhale, Suhasini Mule, Saksham Kulkarni.

Music: Kailash Kher (Kailasa- Kailash Kher, Naresh, Paresh), Chirantan Bhatt, Hamza Faruqui, Ishq Bector, Tarun and Vinayak

Lyrics: Sarim Momin

Story, Screenplay and Dialogue: Faruk Kabir

Produced by: Ravi Walia

Written and Directed by: Faruk Kabir

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ATUL KULKARNI and NATARANG Rule the Roost - Interview & Film Review

Better late than never, the Hindi Cinema Blog has finally managed to watch the unmissable and highly acclaimed 'Natarang', Ravi Jadhav's filmic anthem to a man's passion for art and to standing for what one believes in, based on a novel by Dr. Anand Yadav. A story that has the capability of stirring audiences throughout the world, this is unquestionably one of the best Indian films we have come across this 2010! (see the trailer and official 'Natarang' website)

'Natarang' is set in the 1970s and is the story of Guna, a village wrestler with a love for Maharashtrian popular theatre (tamasha) who decides to create his own village troupe when he and his friends are suddenly hit by unemployment. Strong and manly, Guna dreams of writing a play in which he will portray a king but things take a different turn as he becomes confronted with the choice of playing a 'nachya' (effeminate character), without which he would have to say goodbye to any possibility of making his artistic dreams come true.

The film about his ravaging passion for popular theatre begins as a lighthearted story and progressively evolves towards the dramatic destiny of its main character as the plot thickens. 'Natarang' touches such sensitive subjects as gender roles and expectations in 1970s Maharashtra, the fear ofsurpassing oneself, art politics, family ties and society's prejudices.

Ravi Jadhav has brought together an extremely talented cast in which everyone should be mentioned, from the villagers to the politicians or to the beautiful heroine embodied by stunning Sonali Kulkarni.   



Sonali Kulkarni could make a fortune giving charm and spunk lessons

Nevertheless, the film's piece de resistance is Atul Kulkarni's performance. Whether it be as a wrestler or a man who plays an effeminate character, he has surpassed in our eyes many other actors of his generation in Indian cinema, firstly, for accepting to give it all to such a rich role, and secondly, by fulfilling it brilliantly to its absolute and full extent with a solid stroke of acting genius.

Atul, who recently granted our blog an interview for the charming and lively film 'Valu', is back to talk with us about his commitment to his role as wrestler cum pansy who transcends it all to reach inner freedom in 'Natarang'.

HCB – ‘Natarang’ focuses on lavani and tamasha (popular genres of Marathi music and theatre respectively) to tell its story. Are these cultural traditions that you have been acquainted with yourself?

AK – I have not seen tamasha the way you see it in the film because plays are no longer like this anymore and the tradition has lost its original form. The reference point in the film was old Marathi films from the 1960s and 1970s which were based on the tamasha form. Some of the most well known films made on tamasha background are V. Shantaram's and 'Natarang' is based on this type of film. Of course, there are also photographs or books of old lavanis that were also used as reference since new lavanis are not currently being written, only sometimes for films, but not for performances on stage even if old lavanis are still sung at shows, just the music, without a traditional (theatre) play.

HCB – The soundtrack is absolutely lovely. Do you have a favorite song from the film?

AK - Yes, I have a song I like very much, it is a background song: ´Khel Mandal’.

HCB – ‘Natarang’ is Ravi Jadhav’s maiden film, tell us how both of you met and how your collaboration on this film came about.

AK - Actually the producers knew him and they called me up. I had not met Ravi before that. When we met he had already done a lot of preparation as he was already working on the music, was preparing the screenplay and had downloaded several photos of myself on the Internet and had worked on them to show me how my character would look. He narrated the story in a nutshell to me and I requested to wait for some time and eventually I read the screenplay. When I read it, I had some creative ideas for him and that is how we started working together.

HCB – During the film you go from wrestler to ‘nachya’ (an effeminate male dancer) sporting a mindblowing physical transformation! How did you manage to build up so much muscle and then lose so much weight for your role? And how many days did you shoot?

AK - As soon as I heard the story I knew the basic challenge was physical. I have never had a muscular body, so I went to my personal trainer, Shailesh Parulekar, who knows my body, how I can work out, etc. He read the script and calculated until he figured out how much time I would require to build my body as I was required to weigh 85 to 86 kilograms. He also calculated the time needed to lose that weight later.

I had to finish two films at the time but after that I took 7 to 8 months out for 'Natarang' without working on any other film. During the time I was finishing work on the other films I was already training just to increase the stamina of my heart so I would be prepared for weight training later. It was two months of basic preparation and then another three months of heavy weight training. We then shot the first half of the film and then waited a gap of 50 to 60 days. In 43 of those days I lost 17 kg. This had to be done under very able guidance and checkups. I kept a journal, both for food and drink, as well as hours slept. I would say this is not advisable to do without guidance. I don’t smoke and I don’t drink so my trainer found it easier to prepare me even if  age was not on my side, as I am 44 and that could make things difficult. So full credit goes to my personal trainer.

HCB – Did you read Dr. Anand Yadav’s novel or meet the author in order to approach your character?

AK - Yes, of course. I had not read the novel before I was contacted for the film, but I immediately read it after I was told the story and it helped me a lot. Not only this, but also the films (from that time) that I saw, the biographies of tamasha artists… I still have a feeling that this helped for the background but ’Natarang’ is also about human beings, about what a person goes through to get what he wants, about the set definitions of how a man should be or how a woman should be, especially in the Indian context, where these definitions are very stark.  The film talks about gender politics, my character grows long hair for the kind of job that he does on stage and the film shows how society reacts to this.

So beyond research, you have to empathize with the character while reading the script. Additionally, for some characters one may prepare by doing a journey from the internal to the external, but in ‘Natarang’ I prepared by doing a journey from the external to the internal: in the way I was changing my body I could better understand the character.

HCB – Many women surely wish they could be as charming and convincing as Guna since your mannerisms as Guna the dancer are impeccable. Give us your recipe. Did you work with someone in particular on your walk and gestures?

AK - Yes. This work was done with choreographer Phulwa Khamkar. She worked quite hard and vigorously on me. When I started shooting, after all the heavy weight training, the heaviness of my body was an issue as I could not do the exercises required by the choreographer but after the first schedule, every afternoon she taught me all these movements. All the credit goes to her.

HCB – ‘Natarang’ not only talks about gender politics but also touches the subject of how artists may be judged by society or their families, as art is considered an occupation that does not earn enough or can even hurt a family’s honour. Did you ever have to overcome that type of difficulty or judgement in your own life when you decided to become an actor?

AK - The only thing I faced was the worry of my parents because they wondered what would happen to me. No one from the family was in the profession so they hardly knew it and they were basically concerned with the uncertainty of this profession, which is natural. However, these days all these ideas about artists (and family honour) as shown in ‘Natarang’ are not relevant anymore.

HCB – You were fairly new to cinema when you acted in ‘Hey Ram’ and surely learnt a lot from Kamal Hassan. You are now the key to understanding cinema maybe for other actors who are starting to enter cinema, we are thinking for example of Sonali Kulkarni. Do you enjoy introducing your fellow actors to your experience of cinema?

AK - I don't know if I know that much (laughs)! I love talking about cinema! I tell them what I know and I can just share my experience with other actors… this is of course very subjective. I make it a point to talk about my experience because I have had the chance to work with eminent people in cinema, this of course depending on whether some people want to listen to me (laughs).

HCB – Even briefly, ‘Natarang’ also focuses on the hardships of living in rural India at the time (unemployment, rumours that reach all corners of a village). We could not help but think of another film that has been released recently in Hindi and is doing very well, called ‘Peepli Live’. Would you say that Hindi cinema may now increasingly go back to exploring stories based on rural India?

AK - We have always dealt with the topic. All the movements of art films of the 1970s... many of them dealt with rural India. Commercial cinema, meaning Hindi commercial cinema of the late 90s and early 2000s, is sometimes necessarily urban or even takes place in Western countries. In the case of ‘Peepli Live’, there is a kind of fresh thinking about the problems of rural India. It is interesting to see the way the film has connected these rural problems to the city. It is a social political scenario in India that reflects the divide between India and Bharat.

Marathi cinema has almost always dealt with the subject of rural India because it has had a wide rural audience. In fact with the modern wave of cinema urban problems have also become more present. It is still a point of debate whether rural Maharashtra is the real Maharashtra. In 'Natarang' the rural Marathi dialect was used. This type of Marathi was incidentally common in films that were made in the 1960s and 1970s in Kolhapur, an area in southwestern Maharashtra where the per capita income is quite huge. The novel 'Natarang' had the Kolhapur dialect and tamasha was predominantly present in that area too.

HCB - The recent screening of ‘Natarang’ at the Munich Film Festival was very successful. Tell us a bit more about how it all went.

AK - The screening went extremely well!

One of the screenings we were quite nervous because Germany was going to play against England at the same time. The screening coincided with that match and we were really quite nervous about it. Surprisingly the auditiorium was full. We had had the first screening just the day before and the word-of-mouth publicity was brilliant so the next day the audience was almost full.

The parameter of how people have liked a film is generally how people react to the Q and A session after the film has ended. How many people have walked out during or after the film? How many people are really interested in knowing more about the film, in talking to the director? I was really happy that almost 96% of the audience stayed back, they asked questions, they wanted to know more. Actually, the organizers had to stop and take it outside because the people for the next screening were waiting outside! So it was quite an overwhelming response I must say. It was not that only Indians from Munich had come… no, that was not the case. Very few Indians and Maharastrians had come for the screening. Most of the audience was basically local. Really heartening.

HCB – Have you ever given thought to producing/directing films yourself? What about writing scripts, alike Guna (Atul’s character in ‘Natarang’)?

AK - (Laughs) Right now I would not deny either possibility but I cannot say when and how.

The Hindi Cinema Blog wishes to thank Atul Kulkarni for gracefully accepting this interview as he prepares for his next release: Ramesh  Rao's ‘Yaksha’, a Kannada film in which he will be appearing alongside Nana Patekar, Yogesh and Ruby Parihar. 'Yaksha' releases on October 1st. The Hindi Cinema Blog recommends booking the date in your calendar!

NATARANG
Director: Ravi Jadhav
Writing credits: Ravi Jadhav (screenplay), Dr. Anand Yadav (story)
Lyrics & Dialogues: Guru Thakur
Music: Ajay-Atul
Producers: Meghana Jadhav (Athaansh), Nikhil Sane, Amit Phalke ( Zee Talkies)
Cast: Priya Arun, Vibhawari Deshpande, Kishore Kadam, Atul Kulkarni, Sonali Kulkarni

Purchase the Natarang DVD and novel online
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Read another exclusive interview with Atul Kulkarni: Valu Strikes a Universal Chord

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ATUL KULKARNI Exclusive Interview - 'VALU' Touches a Universal Chord

India has featured as the special guest of the 2010 La Rochelle International Film Festival in France. Its programme particularly focused this year on the work of Maharastrian director Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni, who screened his films to a full theatre. His film 'Valu' ('The Wild Bull') delights the viewer with memorable landscapes, touching moments and incessant wit and humour.

The 'Valu' is a misunderstood bull that roams the vicinity of the remote village of Kusavde, much to the villagers' fear and disarray. Politics, relationships and the general atmosphere in the village take a turn when a forest officer (Atul Kulkarni) is sent to capture the roaming bull. He is  accompanied by a budding film maker who wishes to film a documentary about the misfortunes linked to the animal's supposed mischief.

'Valu' was filmed in Marathi and is representative of how Maharashtra is now not only the cradle of commercial Hindi films but also increasingly a breeding ground for exceptional Marathi screenwriting and acting talent. A key actor in contributing to the excellent reputation of Marathi theatre and new Marathi cinema in recent years is Atul Kulkarni, who stars as the main character (Swanand Gaddamwar) in 'Valu'.

The actor who is known and admired across India for his roles in 'Rang de Basanti', 'Khakee', 'Hey Ram', 'Chandni Bar', 'Page 3' and numerous other outstanding performances in theater and cinema alike, speaks to the Hindi Cinema Blog about his career, regional cinema and of course Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni's 'Valu', where he portrays his most comic character up to date.

HCB - You are known to be an actor that is very versatile but your role in ‘Valu’ gives us a glimpse of a lighter Atul Kulkarni than what we are normally accustomed to. Your character is often trapped in truly comic situations. Is the comedy what basically attracted you to the role?

AK - Whenever I select to do a film what I look for is the basic story. The main criteria for me is if the story appeals to me as an audience and then of course there is the character. The genre of the film, as in if it is serious or comedy, is definitely secondary. So as far as ‘Valu’ is concerned, I basically loved the premise of the story and the way in which Umesh was trying to tell the story through the script. Of course it was an added attraction to me because, as you rightly said, people have not seen me in comedy in films, so I would definitely say that was an added attraction.

HCB - How did you prepare for your role as Swanand Gaddamwar?

AK - Actually, Umesh and Girish based this story on a real life incident and a real life character. He is not exactly a forest officer but a veterinary doctor whom they roamed with in small villages when he went there for his job. The doctor was in a way the anchor point for the role. I spoke to him and discussed his experience whenever he went to small villages and towns on such jobs.

I spent a lot of time with him. I learnt how to blow the dart from him and he showed me a lot of (video) clippings of himself which were shot when he was on the job. I picked up a lot of the mannerisms while handling the blow pipe from those clippings.

In any profession the thing, instrument or whatever it is you may be handling, should look as part of your own body, you know. You should be very easy with the instrument you are handling. So when he showed me his clippings, I saw that the blower is basically divided into two parts and they join it and then blow into it. In a clipping, I couldn’t see the animal that he was shooting the dart at, but I could see him. He blew the dart and he knew that it had hit at the right spot and it had done its job. It was all in his body language... He just dismantled the blow pipe at that very moment and started packing. He didn’t even look at the animal! That is what I picked up from him, for example, and I used that in the film. The moment I hit the bull, I dismantled the blow pipe... since it is sure that the job is done. So those clippings and the discussions with him definitely helped me a lot.

The script was the second anchor point I would say, because it was very self explanatory. When Girish and Umesh read the script for the first time to me they explained the character and what they really expected out of it. So all these factors helped me and were points to start preparation.

HCB - Can you share a funny, important or surprising anecdote during the making of ‘Valu’ with us?

AK - The Valu himself was the surprise basically (laughs). He had decided to behave exactly opposite as he was expected to in a particular shot. When he was on the set and we were going to shoot the next day, he was absolutely wild and all furious, opposite to what we wanted him to be on camera. But most of the time, when the camera started, he was absolutely like a gentleman. He refused to misbehave which we wanted him to. So his trainers had to really push him to do that. A few of the scenes he really scared us. I remember one scene in the climax, when we actually follow him and we are chasing him… That time he almost went into the camera and almost hurt the camera man and damaged the camera. That was quite a scary moment for all of us.

HCB - Moving beyond ‘Valu’, we would love to talk about your career. Your mother tongue is Marathi and you are completely fluent in Hindi. Do you feel it is a challenge to deliver performances in languages you are less familiar with (Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam)?

AK - As far as all these languages and the industries in these particular languages are concerned, they come with their own culture. I believe it is true with every industry in the world. The people who are involved are basically from that culture and a lot of social, political, educational (elements) are responsible for that particular culture that an industry works around. I have found that every industry is different. Though all of them are in India, they are quite different from each other and it basically depends on the cultural nuances of all these people who handle and are in that industry.

As far as I am concerned and as far as the language is concerned, yes, it is certainly very easy to work in the language that you know the best or that you usually speak in your day to day life. So Marathi, Hindi and English are quite easy. Marathi is my mother tongue so that is easier. A mother tongue is always a mother tongue. Hindi is definitely my second language but has almost become a mother tongue to me. When I was in the National School of Drama in New Delhi we did all the plays in Hindi, I have done lot of work in Hindi and I have done Hindi films.

I am born in Belgaum, which is in Karnataka, where the language Kannada is spoken. I can understand Kannada quite well and I can speak it, not very fluently, but I can manage. So all in all, I have a little flavor of the South Indian languages because of the Kannada that I know, though I do not understand Telugu, Tamil or Malayalam or I cannot speak it. Naturally Kannada is easier, but even in Kannada and other languages I write the dialogues in Devnagari, the lipi (script) in which Marathi or Hindi is written, because I cannot read the lipi in which Kannada or the South Indian languages are written. So I write my dialogues in Devnagari and I mark my pauses. When I speak, I know the meaning of each and every word. Of course you have to work fifty times more than what you work in Marathi or in Hindi.

HCB - That sounds very complicated!

AK - It is complicated because it is as if you are putting words which absolutely mean nothing to you in front of each other and trying to bring a meaning out of it, so I usually have an assistant appointed by the production who helps me in this.

HCB - In speaking of films, you have said “more the regional, more the universal”… You have been travelling recently for the screening of ‘Natarang’ in Europe. How do you feel about the appreciation your Marathi work is getting outside of India?

AK - It is certainly a pleasure because… you see, cinema is a medium which can really cross boundaries and go as it is to the people. It is not like theater, where it is not that easy to take the art to people around the world. Cinema is much easier.

I was in Munich for the screening of ‘Natarang’. Basically, the part of communication through cinema is tested in such festivals or when a film is screened outside your region, why only outside the country? Say for example... if a Marathi film is screened in Tamil Nadu or in Karnataka, it is as if it was being screened in Paris or in Munich. All of a sudden, though there are subtitles in English and you have explained to the people the cultural nuances of a regional film, this information is not enough. I guess a part of cinema lies in what is communicated (beyond the language) to hold an audience. 

I totally accept that 100% of a film will not reach the audience because some nuances are very hard to explain in another culture and language. But still the basic things are communicated. This is why “more the regional, more the universal”. Basically, more the personal, it is more the universal. I guess regional films talk about the very basic things which are common all over the universe. For example in ‘Valu’, the inter-relationships of people are the same: a person comes from outside and there is conflict. Around that, the basic emotion and the basic politics between the characters are the same all over. It is just the outward cover that changes.

Another example is ‘Natarang’ which is about gender politics. It is about the basic definitions that we have carved in our minds about what a woman is and what a man is… or what a woman should be and what a man should be. When those definitions are countered, how does society react? The film is all about that and it is universal.

I guess all these things definitely are tested and you really come to know if you have communicated well through the medium that you have when your film is being screened for a totally foreign audience in the respect of the language and culture.

HCB - So apart from ‘Valu’ and ‘Natarang’, for example, which are already being screened to full theatres in Europe this summer, which other regional films would you recommend to foreign audiences?

AK - As far as my films are concerned, there was a Marathi film which I did about three or four years back which was named ‘Devrai’*. It is about a schizophrenic character. I really love that film of mine and we really had taken a lot of effort. I really wish that more efforts were taken to take this particular film to other nations and countries.

Apart from that, I would definitely recommend Malayalam films which I am sure internationally are quite acclaimed. 'Vanaprastham'** for example is a film by Mohanlal, a wonderful film. Quite a few Bengali films are nice… These are the two regional languages in which I would definitely say that a lot of good cinema happens.

HCB - What do you do when you are not acting in cinema, theatre, rehearsing, promoting Marathi poetry, etc?

AK - I have always thought that my profession is not my life. It is very important but a small part of my life. So I am interested in a lot of other things. I write in newspapers about various issues. I am interested in child education, so we have an NGO called QUEST (Quality Education Support Trust)***. I am chairman of that NGO, so there are a lot decisions to be taken and things to be done for that. I have a piece of land in a very remote area which we bought when it was a barren land. In the last five or six years we have planted about 800 trees in that land even though it is quite a difficult terrain. So that also demands time. In fact, ‘Valu’ has a shot of that area: the “windmill shot”. I own the land just next to the windmill...  I travel a lot when I get a chance in India and outside India. Of course then there is reading, watching films and theatre and spending time with friends and things like that. Normal things.

HCB - Is there anything you can share with us about your ongoing and future projects?

AK - I’ll start shooting for a film in August. It is a wonderful and a very lighthearted script. I am really looking forward to it. It is in Hindi and I will be working with Mr. Naseeruddin Shah and Mr. Kay Kay Menon.

* 'Devrai' (Sacred Grove 2005) is a definite must-see that has been highly appreciated as one of Marathi cinema's brightest pearls, winning 15 regional, national and international awards. It is directed by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar and features an outstanding Atul Kulkarni starring opposite Sonali Kulkarni. The film has sought to demystify schizophrenia and has donated all of the release's proceeds to the Schizophrenia Awareness Association. Highly recommended.

* 'Vanaprastham' (The Last Dance 1999) Internationally acclaimed and award-winning Malayalam film directed by Shaji N. Karun. The film tackles the caste system through the life of a tremendously gifted dancer, portrayed by Mohanlal opposite Suhasini Mani Ratnam.  

** QUEST (Quality Education Support Trust) is an NGO comprising educationsts and people from numerous professional backgrounds who are dedicated to research and action in view of enhancing the quality of education for every individual. QUEST develops educational programmes in Maharashtra and Karnataka. For more information, visit http://quest.org.in/

FILM - VALU
Directed by: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni.
Produced by: Mukta Arts/Malpix Films

Starring: Atul Kulkarni, Mohan Agashe, Girish Kulkarni, Veena Jamkar, Nandu Madhav, Mangesh Satpute and Amruta Subhash
Screenwriting: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni, Girish Pandurang Kulkarni
Executive Producer: Nitin Vaidya
Language: Marathi
Year of Release: 2008
Music: Mangesh Dhakde

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