Bollywood is a place where people can have big egos; when the going is good, most artists will come across as those who know-it-all and will refuse to accommodate any sort of creative changes. However, when times are bad, most will be ready to do everything to get their next film on the floors.
In Bollywood there’s a saying that ‘You are only good as your last film’, which means it really doesn’t matter how many movies you have made, your last film determines how the industry is going to perceive your talents (this may probably not apply to the Khans though).
So it definitely helps to be flexible!
Besides, when people like Aamir Khan, Raju Hirani, or Karan Johar are offering their creative inputs, its difficult to ignore their inputs (well, you don’t want to offend such powerful filmmakers after all).
Aamir Khan’s Filmmaking Tips to Nikhil Advani
Nikhil Advani did start with a bang, with a few successful films in Bollywood, but then seemed to have lost the plot. He’s back with ‘Katti Batti’ that stars Imran Khan & Kangana Ranaut. And because it stars Imran Khan, you can expect Aamir Khan to be involved as well.
Nikhi Advani had shown the movie to Aamir Khan a few days back, and the ‘Lagaan’ actor asked him to make two changes. One was to cut down on the usage of English in the film, so as to maximize audience reach. Another one was to cut down on the emotional content as the movie came across as too heavy and teary, which is not what the audience wants nowadays.
I’m sure Nikhil Advani will head back to the editing table to get these tips implemented.
Anurag Kashyap & Ram Gopal Varma to Learn Filmmaking From Karan Johar
The latest film director to face a big debacle is Anurag Kashyap, whose Bombay Velvet flopped miserably at the box office.
In fact, the reviews and word-of-mouth is so bad that many are comparing Bombay Velvet to Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Aag’, considered to be the biggest flop in recent years.
Ram Gopal Varma (RGV) himself slammed Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet and compared it to his much criticized 2007 Sholay remake ‘Aag’. Take a look at their conversation (sort of duel) in the social media.
- RGV posted on a microblogging site, “A director standing by his film that is rejected by the audience is like him telling a girl ‘I love myself and I don’t care if you don’t love me’.”
- But kudos to Kashyap for taking the debacle (and the criticism) in a better spirit. After reading RGV’s comments, Anurag responded by saying, “Sir, I love you too much. Now put that vodka aside and sleep. Lots of kisses.”
- RGV, not the one to take things lying down, responded with a bit of sarcasm, “Well Sir, for your info, I stopped drinking. I am not into kissing men but love you too.”
- This is where Anurag Kashyap should be commended for realizing where the duel was headed and he called it a truce by suggesting, “Then lets have filter coffee together soon to celebrate the Aag.”
- Varma, getting a hint, responded similarly and displayed his wicked sense of humour by saying, “Sir, you very well know that I love you more than you love me and I suggest that we both have coffee with Karan (Johar). And in the course of having coffee with Karan maybe we can learn from him how not to make Aags and make Kuch Kuchs.”
There’s no doubt that Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet is a box office disaster, but Kashyap seems to be taking the failure in the right spirit.
Having said that, Anurag Kashyap is still one of the most talented filmmakers in India, and students of film-making make it a point to watch his movies, to learn something new.
Grapevine has it that Anurag Kashyap may move to France (temporarily) for making films, but for Ram Gopal Varma, we seriously hope he doesn’t come up with his own version of ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’.
