Madhur Bhandarkar interview: People have seen superior quality on OTT, everyone is cinema literate now

No one does realism in Indian cinema like director Madhur Bhandarkar. After a successful spate of films that have done exceptionally well at the box office and have earned critical acclaim for him, Madhur'slatest, ‘India Lockdown’ released on December 2 on ZEE5. Based on the backdrop of the first phase of lockdown in India as coronavirus spread all across the country and world, it tells four stories of human triumph in the wake of a pandemic.

Multiple National Film Award winnerMadhur Bhandarkar spoke to WION about his film 'India Lockdown' and why the Hindi film industry needs to pull up its socks.

Read the edited excerpts of the chat here:

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WION: India Lockdown relives a time that many of us want to forget about. Did you ever consider that people might not like you taking up this subject for a film?

Madhur Bhandarkar: Pressure was always going to be there. Lot of people called me to say that we don't want to see what's already there but there are also those who want to see what happened. The film shows the human side of it, how humans fought this battle. No one has made a film with covid lockdown in the backdrop. It's a story of the undying human spirit, of human triumphant journey. I wanted to document the lockdown. 20 years from now, the new generation would like to see what happened. This movie will relate universally.

WION: The film has some good actors who play their parts convincingly but there are no big names from the industry attached to the project. Was that a conscious decision?

Madhur Bhandarkar: This is a small budget film, the costume budget of a big film. I wanted to make this with good, talented actors. I make films with people I want. In Chandni Bar, I castAtul Kulkarni opposite Tabu. I love to make films that are story-oriented. I make films.I don't make proposals. I’m not in that race at all. I never get into the race of casting actors. For ‘Page 3’, I tried getting some actors but after they didn't agree, we made the film with newcomer Konkana Sen. She had not done any Hindi film at the time.

I'm in my own zone. I'm not in any lobby. I don’t have friends in Bollywood at all. I make films that I want to make with the stories I like.

WION: You took India Lockdown directly to OTT for release, foregoing theatres. Why such a move?

Madhur Bhandarkar: The film was stuck for a long time because of lockdown and then 'Babli Bouncer' happened. Then ZEE came into the picture. We recently took our film to IFFI, Goa for its premiere. As for OTT, I feel it gives India Lockdown a wide medium to reach out to people. I want everyone to connect with the film. Everybody can see themselves through the characters.

WION: How was the lockdown for you personally?

Madhur Bhandarkar: The first lockdown was a good time. I spent my time reading a lot of books, watching films, series and documentaries, and reading history. I was enjoying that phase. I connected with friends. The second lockdown was bad as we lost a near one. There was a time when I didn't want to watch TV also.

WION: Of late, hardly any Hindi film has worked in the theatres. Most A-listers have had a flop this year. Do you think the charm of cinema is over?

Madhur Bhandarkar: Last 6-7 months, the industry has gone through a big turmoil. There is nothing to hide in that. People are not very receptive to Hindi cinema right now. Whatever profit has come, it has come from south cinema – be it RRR, Kantara, KGF. They have done fabulous business while the Mumbai industry has suffered.

People in two years of the pandemic have started depending on OTT, they have seen far superior stuff, quality on OTT so now everyone is cinema literate. People also have a mindset that it will eventually come to OTT but I still feel personally that the magic of cinema will always be there, it won't ever fade. If that was the case, people wouldn't have gone to see Kantara. No one knew of Rishab Shetty before Kantara. So the connection with theatre is still there.

We need to focus on quality, write potentially strong and not just remake. I'm looking forward to some great films and I'm sure they will do well.