5 contemporary filmmakers stars aspire to work for

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5 contemporary filmmakers stars aspire to work for
Sanjay Leela Bhansali is believed to be in complete creative control of the projects he helms

Published: Thu 9 Nov 2017, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Fri 17 Nov 2017, 8:05 AM

Quite quaintly, the tradition is to still call them 'captains of the ship'. After all, they have to steer a project through low as well as high tide, and eventually must take credit or discredit on reaching the shoreline.

Of late, in Bollywood, the director - more often than not - has to kowtow before A-list stars, who dictate drastic changes in the script, demand their own specific co-actors and even intervene in the final edit.

Worse, just a select few directors have succeeded in retaining their distinctive imprimatur. Or have avoided compromises in the way they envisioned a film - right from its conception to the ending, its promos and release. As it happens, a director's signature is becoming illegible to the point of disrecognition.
Instead of evolving as solid storytellers, with an individualistic style, there has been either a stasis or a decline. Take the most glaring case in point: Aditya Chopra's lamentable lack of growth from the unanimously adored Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) to the vapid Mohabbatein (2000) and the comme ci comme ça Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008), rounded off by the thoroughly execrable Befikre last year.

Another example: Sooraj Barjatya's homely, catering-to-family-audiences brand of helmsmanship from Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) to Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015) has been dispiriting - to put it politely.

Meanwhile, Indian cinema's Hyderabad-anchored wunderkind S.S. Rajamouli, of the two Bahubali techno-dazzlers, has been saluted as an unparalleled director of blockbusters. Attempts to woo him to the Bollywood fold have been in vain.
In the event, there are just a fistful of Bollywood directors who have succeeded as powerful brands. Over, then, to a personal selection of the five whose oeuvre has a certain style, sense and sensibility, their output appealing to the trade as well as viewers across generations:

Sanjay Leela Bhansali
At the beginning of his career, the Film and Television Institute of India graduate choreographed dance sequences of Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 1942: A Love Story (1994). Thus far, he has completed eight feature films, kickstarting with Khamoshi: The Musical (1996) and is now about to unveil the ostentatiously-mounted Padmavati, one of the most awaited films of the year.
Visual splendor, lavish studio sets, costumes fashioned after detailed research and rousing music scores are the main ammunition in his armoury. Identified with grandeur ever since Devdas (2002), Goliyon Ki Raasleela: Ram-Leela (2013), a take on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and Bajirao Mastani (2015), he is certainly a fastidious filmmaker.
Some of his films like Saawariya (2007) and Guzaarish (2010) left spectators with mixed feelings. Still, there's no denying that Sanjay Leela Bhansali - influenced by K.A. Asif's classic Mughal-e-Azam (1960) as well as the masters of world cinema - is at the top of his game right now.

Rajkumar Hirani
In 14 years, the once would-be chartered accountant from Nagpur has batted out four feature films besides countless ad endorsements. At the age of 54 today, he is filming the biopic of Sanjay Dutt, who received a new lease of life as an actor with his Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) and its sequel Lage Raho Munna Bhai three years later. These were followed by the box-office smash hits 3 Idiots (2009) and PK (2014), both toplining Aamir Khan.
The director has patented a straight, devoid-of-technical-flourishes style. His forte is in the writing: the lines of dialogue replete with humour and colloquial banter without ever lapsing into the bombastic. The women characters in his films could be etched far more sharply. As the titles of his movies indicate, the scripts are essentially male-centric.
Consistently low-profile and congenial, Rajkumar Hirani's real-life persona is perceptible in his work, which is based in the middle-class milieu.

Karan Johar
The six feature films helmed by Karan Johar - also an ubiquitous TV personality and occasional actor - have been youthful, on-the-go, trendy and have sought to evoke a balance of smiles and tears. The 45-year-old son of Yash Johar, the late charismatic producer of Dharma Films, KJo - as he is fondly called - has kept the banner flying high as a producer too, with a rapid array of designer entertainers handled by young directors he has mentored.
Karan Johar has often acknowledged his debt to the vision of Yash Chopra, extending the romantic genre with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), a title which encapsulates the tenor his films, and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006).
With My Name Is Khan (2010), he strived to assert that he's socially concerned. With last year's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, he reaffirmed that when it comes to sophistication (rich sets, zippy treks through global locations, haute couture) and extracting memorable soundtracks, he's the boss.
Question was: can he click without Shah Rukh Khan in a lead role? He could, as proved by Student of the Year (2012), which introduced Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt and Sidharth Malhotra who are now among the most-wanted talents in show business.

Aanand L. Rai
From Delhi, he studied engineering but chose to assist his elder brother, Ravi Rai on TV serials. Going solo eventually as a director, his debut feature Strangers (2007) - adapted from Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train - and an oddity titled Thodi Life Thoda Magic (2008), are barely recallable.
Striking big time with Tanu Weds Manu (2011)and its sequel Tanu Weds Manu: Returns (2015), and Raanjhanaa (2013), the director has displayed a fond eye for the life and times of families located in the smaller towns of north India. Currently, the 46-year-old is in the midst of completing the next Shah Rukh Khan film, which portrays the actor, who's sorely in need of recovering lost ground in the popularity charts, as a dwarf. Sounds interesting!

Shoojit Sircar
He made a whopper impact with the modestly-budge ted, out-of-the-box comedy Vicky Donor (2012). Before that, there was the critically lauded but commercial clinker Yahaan (2005) with Jimmy Shergill that examined the ongoing strife in Kashmir.
The director-writer from Kolkata had to can Shoebite, starring Amitabh Bachchan, for reasons that remain unclear. Some claim it was 'inspired' by a foreign film, which could have led to copyright hassles; others say there was a legal wrangle between the companies funding the project.
Next: John Abraham acted in and produced the political thriller Madras Café (2013). Subsequently, Piku (2015), a sensitive account of the generation gap starring Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan, pushed the director to the forefront. The next year, his production banner came up with the hard-hitting Pink.
Influenced, to an extent, by Satyajit Ray, Sircar's forte is his slice-of-life subject, besides motivating his ensemble cast of actors to deliver life-like performances.
Here's ending with a wish then: may there be more directors, and soon please, who can be rightfully called captains of the ship.
wknd@khaleejtimes.com
 

by

Khalid Mohamed

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