Outsiders’ edge

Kangana Ranaut might have heated up the insider-outsider debate and taken it many notches above the accepted norm, but here are a bunch of filmmakers, outsiders in the quintessential sense of the term, who having made a mark with more than one film are only too eager to share their experiences. How outsiders can break through, what newbie makers need to do… in an interesting, almost marathon session, young directors such as R.S. Prasanna (Shubh Mangal Saavdhan), Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari (Bareilly Ki Barfi) and Raja Krishna Menon (Chef) reveal how making it  big in the competitive world of cinema isn’t all that scary. 

Prasanna, who struck a chord with viewers, owes it to days of doing nothing adding, “How there is great potential in being unemployed and just wandering about.” So when he decided to wade into forbidden waters and talk about impotency, he knew there was little to lose by way of expectations. Only he whetted his film with his parents and wife. Once they approved, he went ahead and tasted success.

No wonder, Menon the maker of films like Airlift and Chef feels, “A great and different script will certainly see you in.” Of course, in an industry that works on formulas, there is always an attempt to pigeonhole. Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari reveals how when she made her first film Nil Battey Sannata she was asked whether it’s a festival film, a commercial one and then it was finally labelled midstream! Menon too recalls how often he is quizzed about his genre. Makers strongly feel that it’s important to break the mould, “at the end of the career you can’t be making the same film several times over.” 

That’s why after a cause-driven film, Tiwary decided to have fun in Bareilly Ki Barfi. She believes, “It’s important to know whom your story is talking to. In the end the medium doesn’t matter, what does is whether story travels well or not.”

Indeed, coming without a baggage has helped them hit the bull’s eye. Perhaps, taking a cue from his film, Prasanna feels, “Just as over-anxiety is self-defeating in bed, so it’s in films. Keep your cool.” But since India is a land of many languages, language can be deal-breaker or clincher. While Prasanna and Tewari are moving between different languages (Tamil, Hindi), engineer-turned-director Karthik Subbaraj (Iraivi, Pizza and Jigarthanda), who never ceases to experiment, has decided to make a silent thriller. Insider’s advantage or outsider’s edge… ultimately it’s the idea that counts! —Nonika Singh