A comment Rani Mukerji made on a recent roundtable has triggered a debate she may not have intended. Rani, who is not on social media (officially at least), trended this week after a clip from the Galatta Plus roundtable on which the actress appeared with several others, among them filmmaker Prithvi Konanur. In brief, Prithvi praised Iranian cinema and Rani interjected to say that India makes the best films in the world based on the example of recent sleeper hit 12th Fail.
WHAT PRITHVI KONANUR SAID
At the roundtable, the filmmaker suggested that Iranian films were superior in ideas to Indian cinema. "I ask people to watch Iranian films. Watch them. You can see a vast difference between our films and their films. I feel we are, for some reason, actually far behind Iranian cinema. This is an honest opinion. I request people to watch Iranian films and see how advanced they are in terms of ideas, maybe not in terms of technology, but in terms of ideas where they are," he said. The roster of Iranian cinematic greats feature filmmakers like Majid Majidi, Asghar Farhadi and Abbas Kiarostami. Iranian actor Golshifteh Farahani, a popular face globally from the fifth Pirates Of The Caribbean film, Extraction and other projects, has been nominated for a Cesar Award.
WHAT RANI MUKERJI SAID
Interrupting Prithvi Konanur, Rani said: "So I would like to say something here because I am a little offended when he says that we should learn from other people's cinema. I do believe that Indian cinema is the best in the world, so I would not agree with that. I am really sorry because if you want to talk about films that come from the roots, I think you must watch 12th Fail. It is a brilliant film made by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and it talks about India... everything is very brilliantly shown... I feel that we in India make the most diverse films. When you talk about films from outside India, they don't have the diversity that India has. I believe Indian cinema has a lot to offer and actually are the best in the world... I would not want to compare Indian cinema with any other cinema in the world because we have the truest stories, most grounded stories…"
ABOUT 12TH FAIL
Starring Vikrant Massey in the lead role, 12th Fail was an unexpected hit last year, sneaking up on the box office as well as critics. Vikrant and Medha Shankar play real life couple Manoj Sharma, a police officer who became one after beating extreme poverty and academic failure, and Shraddha Joshi, a revenue officer.
SORRY RANI, X DOESN'T AGREE
A clip of Rani's response from the Galatta Plus roundtable was shared on X with the caption: "India makes the best films in the world – Rani Mukerji. Do you agree?"
A glance through the comments thread shows that most do not agree. "We do make all kinds of films but that's not to say we're the best in the world. If what Rani says is true, why do our films struggle to find a spot in the international circuits? Most of our films are subpar and banal," read a comment. "The argument she uses is mind-numbingly facile," read another. Some responses offered the opinions that India makes good films but Bollywood doesn't, and that Indian cinema before the 80s was vastly superior to films made ever since. Many comments criticized Rani for not allowing Prithvi Konanur to make his point. "She just kills the vibe," read a response, "Why is she attending this roundtable?"
Other comments in the thread did agree, at least partly, with Rani Mukerji – or disagreed with Prithvi about Iran making good films.
Elsewhere on X, the majority view was that Rani Mukerji didn't have a clue and spoke from a position of privilege denied to many in the film fraternity including Prithvi Konanur.
There was also the inevitable meme.
Rani Mukerji, star of Bollywood hits such as Hum Tum, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Bunty Aur Babli, Chalte Chalte and more, made a comeback of sorts last year in Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway (the reason she was on the roundtable panel).