Veteran film actress, Deepti Naval finds that the Hindi cinema has normally gone ‘frothy’ over time, but for some films which have a strong subject.
“Actually there is good and bad, both, happening. Something is lost, but we have gained some other thing,” the soft spoken actress observed in an interaction at the third international film festival of Shimla that concluded on Sunday.
“In our times in 80s, the films had a subject matter. The subject was in depth and intensive. The finance was sloppy and technology was poor. Now cinema has grown in terms of technology. Looks and fitness have become important and finance is good,” she said, humbly accepting, “The changes in every era.
She said the definition of art movies has now changed. “Today, the art is being presented in more viable way. This is a positive change. In our times, some art movies never reached theatre, as distributors were always apprehensive,” she said.
She referred to a film ‘Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Char Aane ki Baarish’ written and directed by her, which she said, was an experimental subject on ‘bonding of ‘aeging prostitute, struggling gay lyricist and a disabled child’, never got promoters.
She said some of her best work could not reach theatre for many reasons, and she had now plans to put such films on You Tube so that people can watch them.
Naval remarked that ‘Toilet-Ek Prem Katha’ starring Akshay Kumar a purposeful film, which has a subject relevant to the country. “The film has been artistically made. None could think making such a film in a commercial way, earlier.” She said movies like Piku, Three Ediots, Dil Chahta Hai were some other films with strong subjects in the present era.
On a question, she said she it appears that women are being taken as mere decorative pieces in movies. “I never wanted to be that. I picked up the films where women characters were equally strong, whether Chashmey Badoor, Saath Saath or Main Zinda Huun and many more. I represented the women of my times, where she faced problems to speak their mind,” she quickly replied.
She said whatever be the influence of internet, You Tube or other sources of information and entertainment on coming generations, the Hindi cinema would never die. “We can’t get rid of cinema in India. It rules the heart of people. It is a part of our culture,” she said.
Naval felt at ease in Shimla, the state capital of a state, from where her maternal grandparents originally hailed. She talked about her fears about theatre in early days. “I was always fearful of forgetting the script so I never went for theatre,” she said.