Javed Akhtar says filmmakers moving away from the tradition because they are embarrassed of it
New Delhi:
Lyricist and scriptwriter JavedAkhtar, who has been in the film industry for four decadesnow, says directors of today are moving away from traditionalfilmmaking and hence losing their USP.
"There is nothing wrong with Indian cinema, it is thefilmmakers who have problems. They are moving away from thetradition because they are embarrassed of it. The people whoare making films listen to English songs, their interest infood, clothes and films are non-Indian.
"So how can we expect them to make Indian films?" Akhtarsaid while speaking on the topic of 100 years of Indian cinemaat the CII Media and Entertainment Summit, 2012 today.The 67-year-old, whose children Farhan and Zoya Akhtarare both directors, said that films nowadays are being made inan international format - shorter and without songs, which ishampering the culture.
"The songs are being played in the background and notincluded in the films at all. The movies are shorter. Indianfilms are losing their identity. Songs are integral to Indianfilms. Removing them from our films is like omitting songsfrom an opera performance. They are removing what is the USPof Indian films," he added.
On the other hand, veteran director and seven-timeNational Award winner Shyam Benegal feels young directors arerather doing a great job with their path-breaking films.The 77-year-old, who himself is known for creating a newgenre of alternate cinema, said, "I feel that young directorsare doing a great job. We have directors like DibakarBanerjee, Anand Gandhi, who are showing a different kind ofnarrative in films.
"The work of the new directors are very interesting. Theyhave a capability to hold on to the audience and that is whatmatters," he added."Sholay" director Ramesh Sippy feels that although thereis no dearth of talent in the country, there is no backing."There are so many talented filmmakers, who are waitingto be noticed but unfortunately there is no one to back theirproject financially. So we cannot blame filmmakers for notdoing a good job as we don't get to see those great films,"Sippy said.
"There is nothing wrong with Indian cinema, it is thefilmmakers who have problems. They are moving away from thetradition because they are embarrassed of it. The people whoare making films listen to English songs, their interest infood, clothes and films are non-Indian.
"So how can we expect them to make Indian films?" Akhtarsaid while speaking on the topic of 100 years of Indian cinemaat the CII Media and Entertainment Summit, 2012 today.The 67-year-old, whose children Farhan and Zoya Akhtarare both directors, said that films nowadays are being made inan international format - shorter and without songs, which ishampering the culture.
"The songs are being played in the background and notincluded in the films at all. The movies are shorter. Indianfilms are losing their identity. Songs are integral to Indianfilms. Removing them from our films is like omitting songsfrom an opera performance. They are removing what is the USPof Indian films," he added.
On the other hand, veteran director and seven-timeNational Award winner Shyam Benegal feels young directors arerather doing a great job with their path-breaking films.The 77-year-old, who himself is known for creating a newgenre of alternate cinema, said, "I feel that young directorsare doing a great job. We have directors like DibakarBanerjee, Anand Gandhi, who are showing a different kind ofnarrative in films.
"The work of the new directors are very interesting. Theyhave a capability to hold on to the audience and that is whatmatters," he added."Sholay" director Ramesh Sippy feels that although thereis no dearth of talent in the country, there is no backing."There are so many talented filmmakers, who are waitingto be noticed but unfortunately there is no one to back theirproject financially. So we cannot blame filmmakers for notdoing a good job as we don't get to see those great films,"Sippy said.
