The Indie Picture: Cinema beyond Bollywood

The definition of independent cinema (often termed indie) in India is fuzzy. Any movie that does not follow the typical Bollywood formula, doesn’t aim to be in the 100-crore club, experiments with camera angles, has a generous dose of seedy violence, abusive words, and is made on a low budget is often termed ‘indie’. But moving away from formula alone doesn’t make a film independent.There are other criteria.
What’s indie all about?
The most characteristic difference of an independent film made in the West is that it’s produced mostly or completely outside a major film studio or production house. They are distinguishable by their unusual content and a very distinct style in which the filmmakers’ personal artistic vision is realised. Usually, these films are made with considerably lower budgets, and the marketing of such films is characterised by limited release.
Actor Manoj Bajpai, who played the lead role in director Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur (GOW), explains the difference. “While Black Friday and Paanch by Anurag were independent films, GOW falls under the category of new wave Indian cinema. Anurag got the support of new wave cinema because of what he had earlier created as an indie cinema director.”
In Hollywood, that has a traditional studio system, the distinction between the two forms is clear. But India is a different picture. The multiplex movie culture has new directors who often sell anything that’s un-Bollywood as ‘independent’. And therein lies the trouble.
Nila Madhab Panda, director of I Am Kalam, says, “Many new Hindi filmmakers claim to be original and ‘artistes’, but when you watch their movies, you will know that all they are doing is copying the ideas from obscure European films, and confusing the audience by flaunting the ‘avant garde’ tag.
Indie director Trisha Ray, based in the US, says, “Just making a film with friends doesn’t qualify it to be an indie. When people make an indie, they forget about food and living conditions. They don’t even worry about getting paid.”
Compromise formula
Onir, who directed the national award-winning I Am, says, “Independent films are increasingly becoming a part of mainstream because many indie directors have appropriated themselves to the studio system and are working within the mainstream parameters.” What they make and where they make it doesn’t challenge the market forces or the existing system. They rather conform to it while using themes and settings that are perceived as non-mainstream.
“The struggle to find something new for the purpose of selling is being termed as independent cinema in India. But that’s not it. An indie is always an exercise to be free of any hostile or disruptive forces during the film’s creation,” says Q, whose controversial independent Bengali film Gandu went to the Berlin International Film Festival in 2011.
Explains indie director Amitabh Chakraborty whose film Cosmic Sex is awaiting release, “Independent cinema in India is thriving beyond Mumbai. The moment you get into the Mumbai format of funding for cinema, your story no longer remains your own. Stars join the fray and the dynamics of cinema changes.”
Hope floats
The very purpose why independent cinema came into being was to give full creative control to a director’s vision and narrative style without studios, producers or market forces calling for a compromise. Indie filmmaker Shivajee Chandrabhushan, whose film Frozen won 22 international awards and the National Award in India in 2009, says, “If I had a studio backing Frozen, I would have been asked why it was made in black and white, why I wanted to shoot in Ladakh. Countless arguments would have ensued to prove my vision was wrong.” But he stuck to his guns, sold almost all his material possessions and produced the film without compromising an inch of his vision. And that is where non-mainstream films differ from independent cinema.
Karan Gour, whose indie film Kshay was made by two people in four years with a budget of 8 lakh (which is not even the art direction budget of a normal film), says, “While I edited, directed and scored the music, we even made wigs and props on our own because we didn’t have funds to afford them.”
While these problems may push some to take the middle path — take help from established production houses, but make films that aren’t typically Bollywood — there are some who are staying true to the indie form.
Ashim Ahluwalia
Film: Miss Lovely (yet to be released) Budget: 6.5 crore
Plot: This Hindi film is set against the backdrop of ’80s Mumbai’s C-grade film industry and follows the lives of two brothers who produce sleazy horror films.
On Indian independent cinema: “My definition of independent cinema would be one that is financed outside of the traditional studio and is based on the director's vision, not that of the studio. The Indian new wave cinema is often loosely referred to as independent cinema because anything outside the dominant traditional Bollywood fare is given that label. Besides, there are directors who don’t want to be associated with the term ‘Bollywood’. But then, their films are still industry films.”
Problems: “Censorship is an issue since some films are raunchy and gritty. India doesn’t have independent distributors. You can’t have similar distribution channels for a Salman Khan movie meant for 60 billion people and Miss Lovely (which was chosen for Un Certain Regard section at Cannes 2012).”
Mangesh Hadawale
Film: Tingya (2008) Dekh Indian Circus (awaiting release)
Budget: Tingya 27 lakh, Dekh Indian Circus 7 crore
Plots: Marathi film Tingya is based on the life of a village boy and his friendship with a dying bull. Dekh Indian Circus is a poignant story of a poor couple’s efforts to take their children to a circus.
On Indian independent cinema: “If by independent cinema, one means a movie shot in a guerrilla style with low budget, Tingya was an independent movie. I worked with non-actors and completed the film in 14 days flat. But Dekh Indian Circus wasn’t an independent film. Problems: “By 2003, I had written Tingya. But I had never assisted any director and faced rejection from 41 producers in two-and-a-half years of my struggle in Mumbai till Ravi Rai (who made serials like Sailaab, Sparsh) saw my script. He asked me if I could shoot exactly the way I had narrated it. I agreed.”
Sujay Dahake
Films: Shala (2011), Ajoba (in the process) Budget: Shaala 2.5 crore, Ajoba 1.5 crore
Plot: Shala, set in 1970s India, is a story of two nine-year-old children in rural India who explore the concept of love. Ajoba is about a leopard, and how it canvassed some 120 km from Malshej Ghats to Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park before its life was truncated in a truck accident. On Indian independent cinema: “There is a difference between regional independent cinema and those made in Hindi. Regional cinema is about going more grassroot. Contemporary Marathi cinema gives the freedom to choose the subjects one wants to. The moment one chooses Hindi, there is a trend of using pan-Indian subjects.”
Problems: “Making Shala was difficult though it eventually did very well at the box-office. There were few takers for a love story on kids based in the ’70s. My age was another concern. The producers can be unfair to a 24-year-old 5’4” man setting out to make a movie debut.”
Amitabh Chakraborty
Film: Cosmic Sex (Yet to be released) Budget: 85 lakh
Plot: One night, 18-year-old Kripa has a fight with his father and murders him. Scared and guilt-ridden, he runs away from home. Kripa eventually meets a lady who adopts him as her son, and teaches him to travel inwards using his sexual energy.
On Indian independent cinema: “Independent cinema in India thrives beyond Mumbai. The moment you get into the Mumbai format of funding, your story no longer remains your own. Stars join the fray and the dynamics of cinema changes. In the Northeast, I’ve seen how people are working on shoe-string budget to make their own digital movies. Some have even come up with 1.5 lakh digital films that are shown in tents!” Problems: “I was turned down by six producers and finally decided to use my own money. While shooting outdoors, I used the working title of Sadhana instead of Cosmic Sex.”
Umesh Kulkarni
Films: Valu (2008), Vihir (2009), Deool (2011) Budget: Valu 2 crore, Vihir 1.5 crore, Deool 3.5 crore
Plots: Valu is the story of a man who comes to a small village to get hold of a bull that was once considered holy. Vihir narrates the tale of two adolescent boys who struggle with their unconventional outlooks. Deool explores the changing dynamics in a village when a simpleton says God has arrived!
On Indian independent cinema: “What is called independent cinema in the US is certainly not what we call independent cinema in India. I feel, the American model can’t even be sustained here. My first film, Valu, was made on a budget of 2 crore. I waited for two years for a producer and finally took loans from friends and family members to go ahead.”
Problems: “India has independent directors but not independent producers. Till we get people willing to fund independent films, life will be difficult.”
Shivajee Chandrabhushan
Films: Frozen (2007), One More (awaiting release), The Untold Tale (in the process) Budget: Frozen 3.5 crore, One More 1.25 crore, The Untold Tale 12 crore
Plots: Frozen based on a father-daughter story was set in Ladakh. One More is a film on ice hockey. The Untold Tale (only Indian project to make it to Cinefondation’s L’Atelier at Cannes 2012) is about a young puppeteer’s journey to India.
On Indian independent cinema: “An independent film has no studio backing, almost no money to begin with and unknown actors to flaunt. The director narrates in his own style.”
Problems: “If I had a studio backing Frozen, I would have been asked why it was done in black and white, shot in Ladakh etc. To stay true to my creative space, I eventually moved out of Mumbai. It asks for a lot of compromise.”