Renowned director Tigmanshu Dhulia, whose upcoming web series Garmi is about student politics, believes in capturing the pulse of the changing times

Nonika Singh

“Times are changing.” But few things remain constant like National Award-winning director Tigmanshu Dhulia’s fascination with the world of crime and politics. As his new web series Garmi is all set to raise the temperature with yet another explosive exposé of nexus between power-play, crime and student politics, he observes, “The world is the same yet different. Stories keep changing. So has students politics and I wanted to explore that.”

Lately, OTT has become a familiar turf for him. Apart from The Great Indian Murder, he has directed several episodes of Criminal Justice and Out of Love too. Only, like many others he does not go ga-ga over streaming platforms. “Sure the long format allows makers to tell stories, build characters and the world in which it is set in vivid detail.” He cites many series like Peaky Blinders, Paatal Lok, Rocket Boys and Jubilee as ones which have done so beautifully. As for the creative freedom, he is not sure if explicit sex and use of abusive language can be qualified so, and reminds us how as a director he has stayed away from using cuss words in his movies. Sure as an actor he has been mouthing the same.

A director who is also an actor, is he more empathetic or sterner towards his cast? He says, “I understand that actors are not machines. You can’t be too harsh with your actors and you can’t hurt their egos. Every actor, big or small, is hyper-sensitive.” But, yes, the new crop of actors with limited attention spans does bother him as do those who try to copy others. Having worked with the best there is Irrfan Khan (Paan Singh Tomar, Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns), he remembers and certainly misses the great actor. To all the new gen actors out there he offers a piece of advice, “Remember Irrfan might have played a range of different characters. But he was always himself and never another actor.”

Inspiring journey

If Irrfan’s journey is an inspiration, his own starting from being a casting director to an assistant director to finally making a directorial cut with Haasil has been more than satisfying. Winning critical acclaim and National Award are great morale boosters.

Of course, when failure comes knocking, he does go into a shell, “It’s akin to failing in an examination.” That indeed should count for a lot since he hails from an exalted academic background what with his father a High Court Judge, mother professor of Sanskrit and brother a Supreme Court Judge. But be rebuts the claim that his is an elitist upbringing. “Only my exposure to art, culture, politics and aesthetics came early on. Munshi Prem Chand’s son would come to our house.”

As for love for cinema, “Everyone in the family was/ is a film buff.” Now his nephew Bhav Dhulia, whom people often confuse for his son, too is into filmmaking and has recently helmed hugely acclaimed web-series Khakee, based on a real-life gangster.

Aesthetic realism

On portrayal of realism, which has become an in thing today and was the hallmark of his films back in time, he says, “In the early days of my career, I assisted makers like Shekhar Kapur and Mani Ratnam who have a great vision but also keep the commercial aspects in mind. I think mine too is aesthetic realism.”

The grassroots world view that reflects in his films can be attributed to the city Allahabad he grew up in; as also the fact that he was always a keen observer. Even today the world outside his window, right from small things like signboards to people, interests him, “I am always looking outside.” Among the paradigm shift in the outside world, some winds of change in the entertainment world do perturb him. One reality that bites him is how the movies of today have become a tamasha “being made for 15 year olds or China which is a huge market”, a spectacle which audiences want to catch up for FOMO.

Interestingly, though cinema hall is at a stone’s throw from his home, his theatrical outing was way back for Joker. So why should viewers watch his upcoming Arshad Warsi-starrer Ghamasan in theatres or Garmi on OTT for that matter? He smiles and might say tongue-in-cheek, “For I want these to be successful,” but don’t expect him to utter euphemisms.

Talking biopics

On the rash of biopics that we are witnessing today, the maker, who started the trend of biopics with his arresting Paan Singh Tomar, observes, “Biopics are becoming a hot favourite for half the publicity is done by sheer virtue of the big names on which these are based.” Indeed, he too is making one on great movie mogul K Asif, maker of epic Mughal-e-Azam. Scripting for it has already begun. But till the magnum opus happens watch Garmi, whose USP he insists is, “It will make the volatile world of student politics and what it has become now come alive.”

(Streaming on SonyLiv from today)