Ace storytellers dissect visual content in digital age

Mumbai: From large screen cinema halls to palm-sized cellphones, the journey of storytelling via the visual medium has transformed beyond recognition in recent years. Both in form and content.On Friday, the creme de la creme of producers, directors, scriptwriters and channel heads gathered to discuss the ‘Evolution of Storytelling in a Digital Era' on the second day of WAVES at BKC. Producer Guneet Monga Kapoor, director Michael Lehmann from the US, producer Siddharth Roy Kapur, Ruchikaa Kapoor Sheikh and Tanya Bami, both of Netflix, as well as Supriya Yarlagadda of Annapurna Studios featured on the panel of speakers. The session was moderated by film critic Baradwaj Rangan.Bami, series head at Netflix, said she puts herself in the audience's seat when commissioning stories. "Amid a surfeit of comedy, romance is underserved. So, that is a genre we are building. The more locally rooted your stories are the wider their universal appeal."Sheikh, who is director, original films, Netflix India, said, "To me, it is important how we are left feeling after the credits roll. [At Netflix] Our choices are not incidental, they are intentional. We want creators to come and blow our minds with fresh ideas. We want stories that are innovative, disruptive, that make us ‘uncomfortably excited'."Lehmann referred to the filmmaking scenario in the US. "There is a tremendous expansion of everything. Thirty years ago, you would not get to see all films easily in all theatres. Now, everybody has access to everything, there is an awareness of different cultures. Yet, the US is still looking for that big blockbuster. It is harder to make smaller movies about real people."Guneet Monga, whose documentary ‘Elephant Whisperers' won an Oscar in 2023, recalled how the word ‘documentary' used to be a bad word. "But, in fact, it's also an art form, like films, music videos and series. Documentary is as real as it gets. Sadly, in India, it is classified as art house. Outside of India, people will say it was great cinema, but here, it is labelled art house. We like to put things in a box. But it is an exciting thriving form of storytelling. I love documentaries!"Supriya Yarlagadda, executive director of Annapurna Studios, objected to the blanket use of the term ‘south Indian films', pointing out how Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam make independent, distinct content. "It is true that cinema still looks big to us. So we are lagging behind on the series front. But we will catch up. It is our time now," she said. She drew applause when she said the bottomline for commissioning content should be, "Did I (myself) like it or not?"Kapur reflected how earlier audiences would make a commitment to watch a movie. "They would stand in line, buy a ticket, spend the day with family to travel to a theatre and sit through a movie. Now, attention spans are shorter. We are required to produce films that people will make a commitment to and come to see in theatres for at least a week or two. Eventually, they know it will stream on a platform."