Vasan Bala is currently receiving critical acclaim with the Netflix movie Monica Oh My Darling, titled Cinema Malte Damn Tak, which takes viewers to the B-movie era. I’m back with an unscripted documentary. Vasan recognizes that pulp films have fallen prey to social media memes, but argues that there is still much to be learned from such filmmaking as well. He feels inspired by their passion for finishing films in the least amount of time and money, and how he discovered the world of B-movies as a child. I’m talking Also Read: Vasan Bala’s Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota Makes History in Toronto, Watch the Reactions
In the Amazon Original reality documentary series, Cinema Marte Dum Tak, the filmmakers bring four seminal filmmakers from the ’90s. He told his Hindustan Times about the novel concept and all the remarkable things about the era.Excerpt:
What is the concept of Cinema Marte Damtak?
In the 80’s and 90’s there were so many different types of filmmakers and so many movie markets. When the app came along, it’s now a level playing field. Pulp cinema is a world that exists around us, but no one knows much about it. It made a lot of money and had a big impact at some point. We were so intrigued that we went back to that cinema. It’s an industry you know, but it’s lesser known. So we decided to dig deep and bring them to the foreground to understand who they are and why they do what they do. , had entered the really pulpy underground cinema that had all but died with the advent of multiplexes in the early 2000s.
Are we talking about B movies here?
Yes, that’s the term we use loosely. We call them B-grades here, but Hollywood calls them B-movies. They’ve become really cool in Hollywood because they’re blockbuster movies. We prefer to call them Pulp Cinema. We don’t look down on them, but provide them with the essence of what they’re after and satisfy them instantly.
The current generation makes fun of such films, and the glimpses are mostly seen as social media memes.
Our responsibility is not to look at them that way and avoid judgment and show them in the real light, but perhaps an interesting conversation with the final audience and what they were laughing at . After getting to know them, they probably create some kind of empathy or understanding of who they are. Viewers can have their own opinion about them.
Your take from the pulp movie era.
The biggest lesson was how efficiently they completed the film. If you have one white wall, you can shoot her 50% of the film on that one wall of hers. It was a big lesson to tell that the story is not about the place or the background, but what the creator wants to do. They were very efficient in that sense. All these filmmakers are good editors. If the actors aren’t present on set, they edit to make it feel like everyone is in the same room and interacting at the same time. One actor would have given only half a day to shoot, while another actor would have given three days three months later. Sometimes it makes perfect sense, sometimes it doesn’t make sense at all. But the fact that they were challenged and had ambitions is what makes it so fascinating about this world we’re trying to introduce through the series.
Do you have any tips from the making of this documentary series that you would like to incorporate into your own filmmaking style?
Of course, I have only made films like this.My first movie, the peddler, I tried to make it down ¥600,000 rupees. I had no money, so I painted the same wall over and over again. These are cinema his hacks when you want to tell a story and don’t have the resources. It’s comforting to know that cinema is a great equalizer that can tell stories from the heart. Even the biggest filmmakers must have used these techniques when they entered the industry. When James Cameron made the Terminator, he would have had to use these techniques.
How would you describe a movie you saw growing up?
I discovered them (Pulpy Cinema) through VHS. If we went to rent the Ramsay Brothers films and they were already rented, the VHS rep would say, “This is horror too, the actors look alike,” and push these films. prize. That’s how you discover Harinam Singh or Mohan Bakri. These are the films Ramsay was offered when he had no films available.
Back in 2008, Richa Chadha would host screenings of these films like Harinam Singh’s Khooni Dracula at her home, discuss them and have her friends watch them. That tribe was always around. There are wonderful people who invest in them, observe them, discuss them and are very serious about their passion to seek them out.In a particular center these films are her Subhash Ghai films I was making more money than I was. Gunda exploded and became the biggest hit pulp.
Objections are raised in almost every movie these days. Could these films be made today without a censor board ordering a few cuts?
At that time they were facing the same problem. Either the pair have a jodhkelly batchart (you’ll be asked to save the film reel). Sometimes I would go for a 2 hour movie and come back for a 30 minute movie. Now the connotations are even more different.
Can such films be released in theaters without protest?
Jisco hara karuna hai wo to karenge hi. log tabi hara karte hain jab koi vada insan judah hota hai. Chhote mote logo mein headline banegi nahi (Those who want to shout shout. People only make noise when big names are associated. Targeting small names doesn’t make headlines.) What they’re voicing isn’t really a moral, it’s the name they’re trying to evoke. Noise is not for content, it’s for their own name. Jisko heera dhundna hota hai wo dhundh lega (Those who seek diamonds will find them).
You directed Monica Oh My Darling, which has a lot of interesting Easter eggs.
Mad Ko Dad Nahi Hota also had Easter eggs, but people didn’t see them much.Easter eggs should always be placed in the background, not the foreground. It’s not part of the story per se, it’s a surprise. It doesn’t affect how you watch movies. If you notice them, they add an extra layer of interaction. Easter eggs are for me, and whoever discovers them has a connection.
Your movie will become a cult over a period of time. Will these films do well commercially?
I’m far from evaluating anything commercially. I have no knowledge. All I know is my movies and stories I want to tell. I don’t know about the business side. Commercially, I have no clue. How things work and how they should fit together. I’m just interested in the more creative side and protecting them.
