Hindustan Times
Critical acclaim or box office success?
I just read two interviews with Bollywood filmmakers Nagesh Kukunoor and Anurag Kashyap, and what struck me was how much both these critically acclaimed directors have always yearned for commercial success.
Nagesh’s Akshay Kumar starrer 8 X 10 Tasveer released in theatres this Friday. Here’s what he had to say in the interview: “The box office definitely matters more than critical acclaim. When you get critical acclaim you feel nice about the appreciation, but box office success helps you make more films. My main motive is to keep making films; if because of any reason I’m denied that, I will feel horrible.”
Anurag Kashyap, I thought, was more honest, brutally so, in his self-analysis. Before Dev D happened, Anurag had made Paanch which never got released but which achieved a sort of minor cult status because everyone who saw the film raved about it. Then he made Black Friday, which, fortunately, did get released and received outstanding reviews but didn’t have much luck at the box office. After that came No Smoking, which was too surreal for both critics and audiences (I tried to watch it and gave up after 15 minutes). But despite the flak Anurag got for No Smoking, the fact is that he had two highly praised films to his credit. The only problem was – the two released films hadn’t worked with audiences.
So what happened? According to Anurag, he sank into depression, alcohol and random partying. He would spend aimless evenings alone in clubs and restaurants or constantly surf the Net, looking “for God only knows what.”
One day, he suddenly realized that his life was going nowhere. He wrote the script of Dev D and made the film. It turned out to be a big success – audiences loved it and songs like Emosanal atyachaar became big hits.
Post the success of Dev D, life has changed completely for Anurag. (It also helps that he fell in love during the making of the film). He says he’s happy, and he’s learning to be a better man (he’s even apologizing to people he had slammed in the past — like Karan Johar).
In Nagesh’s case, he had made many highly rated films — like Hyderabad Blues, Dor and Iqbaal, to name just three — before Tasveer. And since he’s quite prolific, I don’t think the lack of commercial success hampered his ability to get projects. But yes, what must have rankled was being branded as a small, arthouse kind of director. The desire to get into the big league, to direct big stars, to taste big box office success seems to have been there all along. Otherwise, why direct an A-list commercial star like Akshay Kumar?
The truth is that most directors and actors crave for the kind of 70mm success that can only come with the audience’s love and appreciation.
No one’s life ever got into a crisis because critics didn’t like his film and audiences loved it. But when audiences reject a film, the filmmaker’s world can spin out of control. After the failure of Mera Naam Joker, Raj Kapoor was almost finished. Only the mega success of Bobby saved him.
It isn’t only about money. Of course, if you’re a producer and your film flops, you will be hit financially. If you’re an actor and your film flops, it’s likely to affect your market price. Ditto for a director.
But more than the monetary loss, it’s the loss of confidence and the feelings of rejection and failure that are the hardest to take.
Yes, there are some filmmakers who say they don’t care about the box office. They are happy to make films they believe in, send them off to various film festivals where they will (hopefully) win awards. And I think it’s a good thing that they’re around because you need all kinds of voices in the creative space. But when their films release in theatres, they’re as excited as their more commercial brethren if the films do well.
Show me one filmmaker/actor/director who says he or she doesn’t care about how his or her film does at the box office and I’ll show you a liar.
(5 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Posted by Poonam Saxena on Friday, April 3, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Filed under Pop Culture · Tagged Anurag Kashyap, Bollywood, Bollywood's directors, box-office success, Critical acclaim, Director, Nagesh Kukunoor
yes i agree with u,box office does matter,but i generally i don’t watch film after reading review coz most of them are biased,but some film makers are i think doesn’t care about much of box office,
take the example of the great shyam benegal,does it matter to him that most of his films were never box office hit and then in when era where there was no muliplex and he single handly change the art house films and so many great actors, or ask naserudeen shah if he will work on bollywood pot boiler or a small but sigificent role in menaigful cinema like “khuda ke liye”, and thanx 4 dat.we need some one like him or director who goes by their artistic instinct,other wise we can’t see movies like “welcome” of iqbaal.
and anurag kashyap apooligisng to karan johar,he shudn’t apologies coz he is fare better film maker then karan(u just have 2 see “gulaal”) ,
like yash raj production is loosing its shine and thanx god for that they bullied every one.
so they will also in future make film with content
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pavementfreud Reply:
April 4th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Unfortunately, Naseer has acted in several potboilers…he’s even donned a shocking pink swimsuit in one movie…well…they expose only if the role demands no
Of course, be that as may, Naseer Saab is undoubtedly one of our finest actors.
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poonam saxena Reply:
April 4th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Even Naseer went through his ‘commercial’ phase — it didn’t work, so he reverted to off beat films, which was a much better idea. He is, as you say, one of our finest actors and he just keeps getting better and better. I saw Firaaq and thought he was incredible.
But when Naseer directed his first movie (Yun Hota To Kya Hota), don’t you think he would have been delighted if the film had turned out to be a commercial success? Wouldn’t he have hoped it would do well?
(By the way, the swimsuit was — I think! — in a film called Tehelka)
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pavementfreud Reply:
April 4th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
I guess Smita Patil is another critically acclaimed actress who couldn’t resist the yearning for commercial success…she did it all…disco dancing with Mithun Da… a ‘rapat-lapat-white-chiffon-saree’ rain song with Big B! Methinks her redemption came in the form of commercial yet sensitive movies like ‘Aakhir Kyon’ and ‘Waaris.’ They were quite successful moi mom tells me…
Yes, commercial success would have been deeply satisfying for Naseer.
Yes yes…that movie was Tehelka…directed the Anil ‘Gadar’ Sharma…Nasser’s partner-in-swimsuit was Aditya Panscholi! I’ve been scarred for life…boo hoo
poonam saxena Reply:
April 4th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Anurag, when you say directors like Shyam Benegal didn’t care about the box office, you’re right — but there’s a caveat. I think people like Benegal didn’t ‘compromise’ when they made their films. They made films they believed in and they they made them the way they wanted to. They didn’t put in ‘commercial’ elements… like let’s change this because audiences won’t like it or let’s put in that because audiences will like it. That’s why they made some very sincere and wonderful films like Bhumika, Mandi etc. Why just Benegal, so many of the parallel filmmakers of that generation did so. But do you remember the widespread jubilation when one of these films (Govind Nihalani’s Ardh Satya) clicked at the box office? Ardh Satya is still a landmark because it was the one film of that time, or rather of the parallel cinema movement, which became such a popular success.
Oh and by the way, I saw Gulaal too and I was very disappointed. (I liked Dev D a lot). I thought the atmospherics of Gulaal were great and there were some very fine performances — but the story and story-telling? Didn’t work for me
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anurag Reply:
April 5th, 2009 at 12:01 am
yes i love ardh satya or govind nehlani of late movie dev, and i think the movie which blurr the art house and commercial line was ram gopal verma clasic “satya” more recently when benegal saheb directed welcome to sajjanpur he had to change his film name due to pressures form producers.
i think lots of this art film doesn;t get too many audince coz they doesn’t get to many recogonition and awards, where hrithik can get best actor award 4 krish and dhoom2(i don’t wat acting is this) and paresh rawal doesn’t get nomination for his world class performance in “mubai meri jaan”, look at the hollywood,in oscar it doesn’t matter what is the box office fate of the movie,sean penn getting best actor for milk(don’t think lots of us have ever heard of milk),or mike rourkee for the wreslter
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The doesn’t care attitude is a way to console oneself. Ofcourse people care, especially the ones who say that they don’t. Its human to work and expect good results, coz after working hard if you do not get the desired results or something close to it you feel terribly let down. The don’t care attitude only happens when you haven’t indulged in much of hard work, though in that case too theres a slight ray of hope that lingers on.
Great post , can be identified with common human emotions:)Happy Blogging.Best!
http://aspaceofonesown.blogspot.com
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poonam saxena Reply:
April 6th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Enjoyed aspaceofonesown!
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As rightly said by nagesh, critical acclaim will give you work satisfaction. while box office hit will empower you to carry on with the work.. ..but thanks to directors like anurag kashyap and nagesh kukkunoor who are raising the standards of Indian cinema, we are able to watch some brilliant movies. I think gone are those days when big stars used to make Big hits. (see Chandni chauk.. and Rab ne..) we need brilliant directors to make better films…
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The one filmmaker/director/actor you wanted to see -in my view- is Dev Anand.who in spite of string of flops continue to make film.and when he say that he is not concern about B.O i beleive him.After seeing his report card i dont think him you branded him as a liar.
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Ma’m…wrt your last line…’Show me one filmmaker/actor/director who says he or she doesn’t care about how his or her film does at the box office…’
How about Dev Saab…he hasn’t said so explicitly…but by the number of *evergreen* movies he churns out…one can certainly draw that inference
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poonam saxena Reply:
April 4th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
This is in response to both Sanjay and pavementfreud… yeah, Dev Anand is in a category of his own! For the last so many years he’s been making films which no one seems to have ever seen. I mean, do you know anyone who has seen Censor, Love At Times Square or Mr Prime Minister? And much as I love Dev Anand in his early black and white films (what songs!!), I have to say I don’t much care for what he’s been doing in the last fifteen - twenty years ( and I suspect no one else does either). Dev Saab says he doesn’t care about the box office, but I rather think that’s because nothing he’s done has worked at the box office for years and years. But yes, the fact that he keeps making films, whether anyone sees them or not, is quite remarkable!
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anurag Reply:
April 7th, 2009 at 11:54 am
dev anand tried his best to be a director to match his brother goldy anand ,who doesn’t got his due as a film maker coz no body remember him now much,who was a great film maker,made some great film like guide, jewel thief(the most suspence movie i have ever seen in hindi film),thriller johny mera naam, but dev anand fail miserably
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Dipta Reply:
April 8th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I have a question - who finances Dev Anand’s films?
As you rightly said, he has not made a single watchable film in the last two decades, most of which did not even get a proper release, let alone success.
Does he have so much money from his acting days that it can fund an abominable film every year?
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If we are talking about reviewers, I just wanna let it out of my system - paras tomar is the worst reviewer i have come across. His review on confessions of a shopaholic was hilarious. Because in the end he says - “I realize that i am not the target audience for this movie” HELOO??? Does that ring a bell on why you didn’t like the movie.
I agree with anurag. Reviews can be really heartbreaking for people who care about it. That is because reviewers, like lawyers and journalists, like the sound of their own voice, see their name published against some piece of writing in the papers. I gave up on reviews when they gave 5 star rating to K3G in one of the LEAD national dailies…. !!!!!!
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pavementfreud Reply:
April 4th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
oh Ishmart Alec…bro I totally share your sentiments…wrt K3G…I felt betrayed by Khalid Mohammad and by Times…more by the former actually…never saw another Dharma Production’s movie ever since!
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anurag Reply:
April 4th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
right say bro,i certainly was despointed when krg got five star and lagaan got 4,critics are now became promoter of certain production house or they favour some body,
take the example of khalid mohmaad,what he write no body understand and i doubt if he understand as well,he gave a very bad review of jodha akbar and worst review for oneof the most hillarious movie bheja fry.
so they are like poll pundits now days who comes on news channel and predicted certain poll and every time wrong and shamelessly told u dat they told u so
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I personally liked Black Friday more than Gulaal and Dev D. It could have turned out into a boring documentary sort of movie, but A .kashyap made it an interesting….
kay kay menon is good as usual, but pavan malhotra as tiger m is absolutely sparkling…i cant believe the guy has not won much acclaim in India…I hope to see these three working together in more movies
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I totally agree with the analysis which you have done.The appreciation of the audiences matter a lot to the directors and even to all the actors..if they fail to capture the attention of the audience then they willl suffer and also their money wouldn’t be recovered,
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Shashi Kapoor was one such person who made better films than he actually acted. His home productions were always top quality. Never compromised on productions values. Maybe the Jennifer effect
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I just came out of theatre after watching Nagesh’s recent movie 8*10 tasveer…how i wish he would have struck to the domain he is familiar with…Previously He has tried to cross over to the commercial territory with the super stupid bombay to bankok and seems he hasnt learnt a lesson.
I think its understandable that every filmmamker wants to have commericial success, but every one has an area of expertise and Anurag kashyap and Kukunoor are the guys who are gud with a “different” kind of film making. Farah khan can make an “om shanti om” because she is gud at that kinda cinema and she does a wonderful job at that.Guys stick to what you are good at. Stop making a desperate attempt with movies like tasveer, just to prove ur commercial worth.These days audience would love a movie if the script/direction is good and even if its a low budget one!!. A wednesday, bheja fry dev d are proof enough!!
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poonam saxena Reply:
April 6th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Hi Nitin, yeah, some friends saw Tasveer and said they didn’t like it at all. Actually, as you say, certain filmmakers aren’t cut out to do the big Bollywood thing and they should stick to what they are best at. Also, it’s not easy to do the big Bollywood thing.
And I totally agree with you that you don’t need to make a commercial film for it to do well commercially. (Like Bheja Fry, which was great fun and did great business too). But I think a lot of ’small’ filmmakers at some point want to prove to themselves that they can do a full-on Bollywood film with big stars, big budgets, and all the hype that goes with such projects. But it’s hard to pull that off. Result: lots of them fall flat on their faces!
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Hi Poonam. You’re right about the premise of the blog, but I really miss the parallel cinema days when some real great stories were told and we got to see great performances. I love our regular Bollywood fare but would love to see Shyam B, Govind N etc do their thing (not like Welcome to Sajjanpur but the real parallel genre).
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poonam saxena Reply:
April 6th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Alas, TSinha, I think that particular movement is well and truly dead now. At some point of time it fell into a formula trap of its own and then, times changed as well. But yes, at its best, it gave us some truly fabulous films. I have my own favourites from that era — and ones that I didn’t like at all. For instance, I know everyone loves Ankur, but I like other Benegal films much more. And I don’t think Kundan Shah ever made another film as good as Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron.
I also love some of Sai Paranjape’s films of that period — particularly Chashme Buddoor (I watched it on TV the other day, it is so utterly sweet and innocent and set in a Delhi which is totally unrecognisable!), Sparsh and Katha. And so many others… Ketan Mehta’s Holi and Mirch Masala (didn’t like many of his other films like Hero Hiralal, and more recently Mangal Pandey), Govind Nihalani’s Aakrosh, Saeed Mirza’s Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai…
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TSinha Reply:
April 7th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Spot on with all that you named. Being a Bengali I also saw a lot of Mrinal Sen, Satyajit Ray etc who were obviously great. And whatever happened to the Basu Chatterji, Hrishikesh Mukherjee type genre? AHH! Getting old I guess with all that nostalgia and reminiscing. Need to get back to appreciating Singh is Kingg with my 5-year old (who has watched it 4 times, can you beat that?? Thats the target audience I guess, though would lie if I said did not enjoy it myself).
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Ishmart Alec Reply:
April 8th, 2009 at 9:07 am
There are phases for moviedom too I guess… ranging from violent movies parading as realistic cinema to candy floss movies, top family values movies , period movies.. but the theme that sticks out is the romantic movies. regardless of the age that we are in…
Parallel cinema is independent of the phases. i believe. These are movies that are the product of someones imagination who wants to see it on screen rather than sell it to a distributor…
mywriterkeeda.wordpress.com
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Commercial success is a proof of directors ability, his/her acceptance..why would any director not crave for it…and why even this debate. Dont we all like to be appreciated by as many people as possible. It is natural for all human beings and directors are humans too. Why should we expect them to behave any different. And of course money that comes with commercial success also helps.
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pavementfreud Reply:
April 8th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
You mean films (and I refer to *good* films) that do not appeal to a wider audience are proof of their director’s incompetence? Does the success/acceptance of OSO make Farah Khan far more competent/able than say Anurag Kashyap?
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poonam saxena Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Nooooo! They’re two very different filmmakers. It’s like apples and pears. I LOVE Farah’s mad, whacky sensibility, her crazy sense of humour, her hardcore Bollywood roots. I also like Anurag’s gritty, push-the-boundaries style (but do think he becomes a little self-indulgent at times. I mean, I feeling like telling Anurag, yes, yes, we know you’re really talented, but take it easy, you don’t have to hold a placard that says, “Did you see that scene? See how radical and experimental I am!”)
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anurag Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
yes ,but i like anurag being radical,what’s the excitement in being so soft,comedy ,and same old switzerland song with chiffon saree,he blast the yash choprsa sarson ke khet in dev d paro’s with her cycle and bed), because he is like that people wants to see his film,he will fail some time,but his failed film will also be good.
look at quantantino trantino he is as radical as any one can,he fail some time,but he still make his kinda of film.
or our shyam benegal,he doesn’t make usual bollywood potboiler, he makes the film to show the india what the main stream bollywood forgot long time ago.
as for farah khan he is no director any body can make her type of film(if she can make film without srk,and lets see that), if her both film were flopped,i am sure not you remember her and not any body else.
Well actually what you have written up there is very true and i like the last line which sounds like a movie dialogue.
Show me one filmmaker/actor/director who says he or she doesn’t care about how his or her film does at the box office and I’ll show you a liar.
Well one more thing which I’d like to say is that you are doing a really good job as the editor of Brunch.The magazine is really very, very good.
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Agam Reply:
April 11th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
i think its only in hollywood and bollywood that you find these directors who run after box-office success. the Tarkovskys,sukorovs and kiarostamis couldn’t care lees
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