Malayalam filmmaker Priyadarshan recently opened up about his experience working across different film industries as his upcoming film ‘Bhoot Bangla’ is creating much hype among the audiences.Looking back at his work, the filmmaker admitted in an interview with PTI that he now feels creatively tired after decades of making films. The ‘Oppam’ director said he is “almost exhausted because nothing more is left”. Despite this feeling, Priyadarshan continues to remain active in cinema and is preparing for his upcoming projects.
Director explains Bollywood’s trend-following culture
Priyadarshan shared his views on the differences between Bollywood and Malayalam cinema.According to him, Hindi cinema often follows trends rather than experimenting with new ideas, “Hindi cinema has one habit which has been there for years — from those days (where stories were) about brothers (getting) separated and would reunite years later. In Hindi, if one film works, everybody wants to make that kind of cinema and when people get fed up with those things, somebody makes another break (with a new story). Then everyone goes behind that kind of cinema.”
Priyadarshan also spoke about the creative challenges directors face in the Hindi film industry. He said, “They have to listen to the ideas of many people, the producer, the actor, everybody interferes mostly… So the directors and writers are forced, their hands are tied, they have to make what others want, this is the situation.”
Malayalam cinema thrives on storytelling
While discussing Malayalam cinema, the filmmaker highlighted a different challenge faced by that industry.According to Priyadarshan, Malayalam filmmakers usually operate with very limited budgets.However, he believes that this limitation encourages filmmakers to focus more on storytelling, “I always say this — we have shoestring budgets and our immediate competitor is Steven Spielberg. We don’t have money, so what we do is we believe in content.”The director said that strong storytelling has always been the backbone of Malayalam cinema.According to the ‘Kunjali Marakkar’ director, this approach allows filmmakers to compete creatively with global cinema even with financial limitations.
Priyadarshan on comedy and creative challenges
Priyadarshan believes comedy is the most difficult genre to execute.The filmmaker said, “It is easy to make someone cry or feel sad but most difficult to make someone laugh and they should laugh from the heart because there is a child in every human being’s mind. You have to bring out that child and make them laugh.”He also spoke about his filmmaking style and why he avoids certain types of humour, “I basically don’t believe in these double meaning comedies and all because a family should be able to sit together without embarrassment and watch films, so that’s the way I make my films mostly.”
Upcoming projects including ‘Bhoot Bangla’
Priyadarshan is currently preparing for the release of his upcoming Hindi horror comedy ‘Bhoot Bangla’. The film reunites him with actor Akshay Kumar and also features Tabu, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav and veteran actor Asrani in his final screen appearance.The movie is scheduled to release in theatres on April 10 and after this film, Priyadarshan will work on another project titled ‘Haiwaan’. The film will star Akshay Kumar alongside Saif Ali Khan, Saiyami Kher and Shriya Pilgaonkar.The director has also announced that his milestone 100th film will be with Malayalam superstar Mohanlal with whom his previous collaboration was ‘Kunjali Marakkar’.
