Lokmat Column on Documentary Film Making – Bringing Real on Reel

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Feb 222013
 

MY column for Lokmat First’s Youth Page

Lokmat column - Documentary Film Making

Documentary film making, as the name suggests has two aspects to it. The first is documenting a subject area, and the second is film making or visually building a story around it. Documentary film making generally deals with those topics that deal with reality – these could be historical, biographical, environmental, scientific, current affairs, sociological – anything that helps people understand the world better. There are many kinds of documentaries that are made – you have documentaries that are feature film length and are shown in theatres, and there are documentaries that are programme length and run on TV, and there are documentaries aimed at communicating an issue  or training people on a method, that are used for private screenings.  Documentaries communicate many different agendas, and can take anything between a few days and a few years to complete. For example, the average television documentary is usually put together in under a week, while a documentary that documented a number of children in the US as they grew up was spread over many years.

To be a documentary film maker you need to be curious about the world around you and have an aptitude for research and for story telling. So are there careers in Documentary Film Making?  Yes there are.

The following are some of the ways in which you can get into documentary film making. Whether you become a documentary film maker depends on your passion and dedication.

  • Join a News Channesl. Most news channels work with the documentary medium, either within a news programme or as a separate documentary slot.
  • Join a production house that specialises in making documentaries. There are companies that work with TV channels making documentaries either for the Indian or international audiences.
  • Work with a documentary film maker as an assistant. There are enough and more documentary film makers in India, and one of the best ways of learning, even today, is working with a senior film maker as an apprentice.

You may also want to look at the option of starting life making your own documentaries. Without working for anyone. In  today’s day and age, with the cost of technology dropping that is possible. These would be the steps in making a documentary on your own :

  • Find a subject that interests you and that you believe has a story that other people will find interesting.
  • Conduct research on this topic. All research does not come out google, you may have to talk to academics, journalists, specialists, policemen, lawmakers – depending on the nature of your documentary to – to collect more data on the subject
  • Collate this data – and start writing a structure for your documentary. Also based on your research, you would have a fair idea of who will sound good on camera and who will not.
  • Call up people and fix appointments for filming. If you are shooting the film yourself, without a cameraman, then practise shoot at home and play it back to see if it looks and sounds good.
  • List out other shots that you may need.
  • Go and shoot – and make sure both the audio and the video are good. Sound in documentaries, plays as important a part as it does in fiction. You can dub someone in a film or a programme, but an interview with bad sound is difficult to redeem.
  • Watch what you have shot, and write a story around it.
  • Use a free programme such as windows movie maker to edit your film.
  • Upload on a site and tell everyone you know.

The more you make, the better you will get. Don’t expect to make an award winning film the first time around – if you do it is a bonus.

DNA Column – Dying on the Streets

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Feb 182013
 

My column in today’s DNA

In Mumbai, a few days ago, Mobin Barmare decided to save some time, by speeding on the wrong side of the road on a one way street. Two people died as a result of this. Chandrakant Tupe, who drove an auto rickshaw, was handing back change to his customer, when the car rammed the rickshaw and killed him. The second victim, Mahesh Ajwani, was a diamond merchant, returning from dropping his son at school. The car hit the bike, the impact flung him and he landed on his head. Both Ajwani and Tupe were declared dead on arrival at the hospital. Two men, both of whom were the sole bread winners in their family, left home in the morning for an ordinary day at work – never to return. Every family’s worst nightmare come true.

Every day, countless such accidents occur throughout the length and breadth of India. The UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) in its survey in 2009, looked at the sorry state of road safety in India. There were, in that year, over 4.8 lakh road accidents, 5.15 lakh injuries, and 1.25 lakh fatalities. This works out to a staggering figure: One accident every minute, and one death due to road accident every four minutes in India. According to FICCI, India accounts for 15% of the world’s road fatalities, when India has just over 1% of the world’s vehicles. They also estimate that the economic loss due to road accidents is almost 2.5% of the GDP. According to Government of India studies, almost 80% of all accidents in the country occurs due to error of the driver. The remaining 20% includes fault of pedestrian, cyclist, poor roads, badly maintained vehicle, falling boulders, crashing bridges and the like.

Ready, Steady, Go

Every day, when one commutes in any major city, using the roads, one cannot help but marvel at the fact that more people aren’t dead or injured in accidents. The entire system seems to be geared not to follow any rules of road safety. Forget road safety for a minute, they are not even geared to follow rules of basic common sense. If Darwin had seen the way Indian motorists and pedestrians behave, he may not have said ‘survival of the fittest’. He would have probably modified his theory to ‘survival of the luckiest’.

Motorists and pedestrians alike seem to be living on a wing and a prayer. In many ways, the Indian approach to traffic is symptomatic of our approach to law. If no one is watching, break it. It is easier to break the law, than to follow it. If you, by mistake, stop at a red light there will be irate motorists behind you who will honk like you have committed a capital crime. Every time there is a fatality, there is handwringing but pretty much little else. People do not change their fundamental behaviour, and that is to break the law. The rationale used is ‘everyone else is breaking it; And since there is neither economic, nor social nor legal cost attached to breaking the law, more and more people do this without any qualms.

The solution is not more laws. There are enough and more of them already. The solution needs to be acute inconvenience caused by breaking the law. Today, the penalty for most traffic violations is miniscule. For most, including cab drivers and rickshaw drivers, it is a small part of the income. The loss due to complying with the law, for most, is greater – less number of fares, more time taken to arrive, et al. So how does one change that? By raising the inconvenience caused by breaking the law. One is a more sophisticated mode of insurance that does not pay if people haven’t followed the law. This is one of the key ways in which compliance is ensured in the West. Not wearing a seat belt and in an accident – the insurance company will pay for neither the loss due to the accident nor medical treatment. While India evolves a more sophisticated insurance system, there may be a slightly more effective punishment that does not overload the already bursting at seams jail system. Confiscate the vehicle and keep it on the outskirts of the city. Jump a signal, not wear a helmet, talk on the phone while driving lose your vehicle for a period of time ranging from a few days to a few week. Let the owner of the vehicle, not the driver, go there to redeem it, for a fee. Nothing hurts like inconvenience. And, it is the fear of inconvenience, not the law, that will get people to comply.

Tehelka Blog – Inglish Hamari Hai

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Feb 162013
 

My blog for Tehelka on English

Photo: Garima Jain

Students waiting for their English classes in Indore Photo: Ishan Tankha

There was a time when very little English was used by Bollywood. What little was in the form of expletives – Dharemendra flaring his nostrils and casting blazing looks at the bad guys as he rasped “you bloody bastard”, or the heroine giving drop dead looks to the hero as she screeched “you idiot, you stupid” at him. There was the occasional “I love you” especially if the film was about young urban love birds. And, there were the comedy pieces aimed at poking gentle fun at the galleries and their penchant for speaking in a foreign tongue. The most famous, of course, was Amitabh Bachchan in this masterful scene in Namak Halal

English was, even twenty five years ago, a very formal language used by the elite for conducting their lives. Schools that had the mother tongue as the medium of instruction were still popular, and in many cities – elite schools (for example Bal Mohan Vidya Mandir and Parle Tilak Vidyalaya were both not just elite Marathi schools in Mumbai but elite schools).

Bollywood reflected society, which may have been comfortable using English for business or transactional purposes – but by and large used the mother tongue at home or for conversation amongst friends. But, the post liberalization years saw a sea change in the rate at which English was absorbed. Parents, who saw their economic status rise with the new liberalized economy also wanted social mobility, and they saw English as a way to achieve it. English medium schools bloomed and blossomed across the length and breadth of India. And continue to do so. Schools that have the mother tongue as the medium of instruction have seen declining enrollments. Elite schools that taught in the mother tongue are no longer the top choice for parents, to survive many have started an English medium wing. Today’s Bollywood, as well are regional film industries are very happy using English in dialogues, and in songs. They are sure it is not just the elite who will understand it, but a large chunk of the masses. Just go back and hear the Tamil song Kolaveri to see how Tamlish (Tamil + English) works.

The focus on English has led to dividends of a different nature. Social mobility of a different sort. Where ever you go on the outskirts of the big cities – with giant buildings that house the outsourcing industry – you will see young men and women hanging out, speaking to each other in foreign accented English. In food courts in malls, you will see middle aged women having involved conversations in English with a smattering of Hindi or their mother tongue. As India – especially Indian cities become more multi lingual, English is becoming the link language across social classes.

The language spoken in India has little to do with the Queen or the Empire, rather English has become a uniquely Indian language with our own nuances and quirks built into it. We very happily prepone meetings, slam opponents, get rapped on our knuckles (like school kids) by the judiciary, go to our native place, respectfully beseech someone for an appointment, and remain their ever obliging servant. We also hangout with bros, find our peer group of both sexes to be dudes, and are very comfortable high fiving when we are happy. We touch base, sckedule our meetings (as opposed to schedule), negotiate in the ball park of a few crores, and try to become a part of the big league. The language is a mixture of Victorian, American street talk, and baseball terms – with a smattering of Hindi.

To think of English as a foreign language is living with your head buried deep in the sand. English, is now officially Indian – more Inglish than English. They came, they conquered, they left – and we have taken their language as compensation – and made it our own. Macauly will probably roll in his grave, if he saw what we did to his language. And, there can be no better revenge than that.

The thing to do, to make English more popular is do what the British have done. Burn Wren and Martin. Free up the language from those dreadful rules of construction that makes it humorless, starched alien tongue from a different era. Let the high level entropy of India flow through the language. After all, there will be no purists, who have political ambitions, who can beat you up for making the language more popular, more fun and more relevant.

With almost 255 million Indians speaking English (Just under a quarter of the population), about 6.5 crore people speak it as their primary (or first language), we do so not because of linguistic pride or force – but because of the belief (of those who educated us) that it will bring a better tomorrow. It is a language that is spawning its own unique pop culture within India – in terms of books, music, movies, expressions and more. It is no longer a big city, elite family phenomenon. Everyone wants to learn English.

It is no longer politically expedient to be anti English in campaigns or threaten to shut down English schools. Voters react badly when they see their ‘better’ future being threatened, and English is seen as a part of the better future. It is a language that has no basis in India, not a part of caste and class. Everyone learns to speak it in the same way, and in many ways it is an equalizer.

So, let us not wail about Macauly and the cry that we are colonized because we are communicating in English, rather let us celebrate our assimilation of one more culture and making it uniquely our own.

Tehelka Blog – the Secular States of India

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Feb 082013
 

My blog for Tehelka

Photo: facebook.com/kamalhaasan.theofficialpage

Photo: facebook.com/kamalhaasan.theofficialpage

When stars collide, there is a tremendous amount of destruction, energy release and new beginnings. It is the law of nature.

When maverick superstar – actor, director, producer, dancer, iconoclast – Kamal Haasan, got on the wrong side of the Tamil Nadu State Chief Minister, Puratchi Thalaivi Dr Jayalalitha Jayaraman – it had implications beyond a normal spat. At stake, is the future of the 100 crore film Vishwaroopam, and release in the key market of Tamil Nadu. Some Muslim organisations in Tamil Nadu, have been protesting against the release of the film, which they claim offends them. The State of Tamil Nadu, instead of backing Kamal Haasan and his right to free expression, has been throwing its might behind preventing the film from releasing.

Kamal Haasan feels targeted and lashed back.

“When MF Hussain can do it, Kamal Haasan will do it…

I am fed up. I am an artiste. After that, I will have to seek a secular state for my stay… Secular state from Kashmir to Kerala, excluding Tamil Nadu… Tamil Nadu wants me out”

Presumably he meant a state where an artist could exhibit his/her artistry without any threats of violence – either to the artist, or the art or the venue. So here is a glance at the 27 other states where he could live – and their record on upholding artistic freedom

  1. Jammu and Kashmir – Between the Government blocking mobile phones and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) – that can severely curtail civil liberties there isn’t much scope for freedom. Furthermore, it is a State where local writers who call for a ban on literature festivals and opposition leaders, like Geelani, question the need for cinema theaters and declare it being against Muslim culture
  2. Himachal Pradesh – Banned the film Traffic Signal, because the word kinnar was used to describe eunuchs. People from Kinnaur took objection to that. HP had banned the film Kohram, a decade earlier, because the villain shared a name with the Chief Minister
  3. Uttarakhand – Banned the film Jodhaa Akbar, following protests by Rajput Groups, and it took an order from an apex court to reverse that.
  4. Punjab – Sikh groups in Punjab agitated over Son of Sardar, threatening to prevent its release. In 2011, the Prakash Jha film Aarakshan was banned by the State Government because they thought it would lead to trouble. The Mahila Congress protested against OMG saying it was against Hindu Gods.
  5. Haryana – Home to the khap panchayats. Enough said.
  6. Delhi/NCR – They may not ban films here, but the Central Government sits here. Do you really, as an unapologetic creative person want to be so close to the seat of power ? This is the place from which Emergency was imposed.
  7. Rajasthan – There are khaps in Rajasthan too, who believe that the world can be sorted out by banning girls from using mobile phones, set women – they believe to be witches, on fire. Jodhaa Akbar faced a ban here, Zubeida was banned in just one city – Jodhpur – because it offended the erstwhile Royal family.
  8. Uttar Pradesh – UP is an equal opportunities protest state – every group protests here, effectively. If they spent the time that they spent protesting on fruitful things, the State GDP would go up. Films in trouble – Jodhaa Akbar – for offending Rajputs, , Aarakshan & Aaja Nachle - for offending Dalits, Hindu groups had an issue with the film Shudra the Rising, and now Vishwaroopam is in trouble for offending Muslims.
  9. Bihar -The Bihar and Jharkhand Motion Pictures Association (BJMPA), in a dispute with the Mumbai based film Federation banned movies starring Bhojpuri Actor Ravi Kishan. Additionally movies such as Aarakshan have run afoul of groups, and some panchayats have just banned ‘obscene songs and film’.
  10. Jharkhand -An under the radar state, but Aarakshan faced a ban here. Like Bihar, it too banned films starring Ravi Kishan.
  11. Sikkim – Doesn’t seem to be any ban on any film in the state. Though a film called Sikkim (a documentary) made by Satyajit Raj was banned for many decades.
  12. West Bengal – Kamal Haasan ji, do you really want to run away from a state run by Jaya Amma to a state run by Mamata didi ? Seriously ? Oh, yes they ban films and free speech here too.
  13. Assam – Apart from ULFA wanting a ban on Hindi films, there have been sporadic demands to ban specific films. For example, the Bodos wanted the film Tango Charlie banned because they objected to the depiction of their community; there were calls to ban Jism because it starred a porn star.
  14. Manipur – Bollywood films are banned in the state to maintain cultural integrity.
  15. Meghalaya – Seems slightly more open, though the The DaVinci Code was banned here.
  16. Tripura – Doesn’t seem to have banned a film yet. At least none that shows up on Google.
  17. Mizoram – Generally chilled out, but moved the center to ban The Da Vinci Code.
  18. Nagaland – Generally chilled out, but banned The Da Vinci Code.
  19. Arunachal Pradesh – Doesn’t seem to be any ban on any film.
  20. Odisha – The last time a film got taken off here was when the ABVP had issues with the Isha Koppikar and Amrita Arora starrer Girlfriend. They were worried about the impact of the film on ‘morality’.
  21. Chhattisgarh – There don’t seem to be any films banned, but the State of Chattisgarh had some serious issues with citizens exhibiting freedoms. Case in point being Binayak Sen.
  22. Madhya Pradesh – Despite being the largest state in India, it manages to just be under the radar. Yes, they do ban films here – but rather more quietly. It was one of the states that saw a flurry of activity against artist MF Hussain, including a bounty of 20,000 Euros for chopping off his hands.
  23. Gujarat – Parzania, Fanaa, Chand Bujh Gaya have had serious issues in the state from various organisations. At various points of time, to maintain law and order, bans on films, and plays have been imposed. Plus, it is a dry state.
  24. Maharashtra – The home of the Shiv Sena and the MNS. The state is soft on groups that want to prohibit freedom of expression. have vandalised libraries, dug up pitches, attacks icons, threatens to prevent movies from being released. Movies like Deshdrohi have been banned because they may cause trouble. The film Bombay could not be released, after censor certification, until Shiv Sena demanded cuts were made. Most of it may be posturing, but the losses made are real.
  25. Karnataka – Kannadiga sentiments were hurt with Singham, and release in the state was held up until an offending dialogue was removed. Plus, every time there are issues with Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery water issue, Tamil films get banned.
  26. Andhra Pradesh – Films such as Aarakshan and The Da Vinci Code have been banned to prevent ‘sentiments from being hurt’. But, the bigger fight is not on Hindi or Hollywood films but Telugu films. Cameraman Gangatho Rambabu invited the ire of Telangana activists, another film A Woman in Brahminism was the focal point of protests calling for its ban.
  27. Kerala – The Da Vinci Code was banned in the state. But, in the four southern states and Maharashtra, the link between political parties, film stars, film and TV unions is so strong that censorship works differently. Actor Nithya Menon faced a ban from the Kerala Film Producers Association after refusing to meet producers who went to meet her on a shoot floor. Also accusations of blasphemy, by rising power of extreme right wing Muslim parties, have devastating consequences on not just Freedom of Speech but Freedom.
  28. Goa – Land of the beaches, and beach parties – not so free when it comes to films. The Da Vinci Code was banned in the state, and the local Congress party wanted a ban on Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum.

In short, Kamal Haasan could live in Tripura or Arunachal Pradesh – the question to be asked is if Tamil films have a market there. Or if the market in these States is big enough to support a Kamal Haasan film. The better thing to do is to stay and fight. Despotism has to be challenged, and the challenge cannot be outsourced.

Opinion (Tehelka) – The stop-gap fix on women safety

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Feb 072013
 

And, it comes to pass. The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, signed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2013, after it was cleared by the Cabinet on Friday. The aim is to punish those who commit sexual violence against women. The Ordinance was based primarily on the recommendations of the Justice Verma Committee.

Most women’s groups are up in arms at the Ordinance, which they believe has blunted the teeth of the Verma Committee recommendations. As Kavitha Krishnan, Secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) states, the problems with the ordinance are:

1) Gender neutrality retained, which means that a man can accuse a woman of rape

2) Criminalisation of consensual sexual activity between 16-18 years retained

3) Marital rape not exemption retained – they actually shamelessly admit that ‘marital non-consensual sexual intercourse’ was criminalised by Verma but they will not! So ‘non-consensual’ is not rape as long as it’s within marriage – and by extension the lower punishment for rape of separated wife is retained.

4) Command responsibility rejected

5) Verma’s rejection of requirement of sanction in case of judge/magistrate/public servant and army officer (the latter thru amendment in AFSPA) has not been accepted

UPA 2 has faced two major public protests in the last four years. The first was the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare that became a lightning rod for disenchanted citizens. There was a demand for a Jan Lok Pal Bill that, the protesters believed, would solve all issues of corruption. The Government promised a Jan Lok Pal, but could not deliver. The second major protest was after the brutal Delhi Gang rape case. The UPA’s first reaction to the protesters was to water canon them, but then, seeing the unabated fury of people, it did promise stronger legislation aimed at curtailing violence against women, and stronger punishment for those who commit these acts of violence. With the budget session of Parliament likely to be stormy, if parliamentarians turn up to work, and elections around the corner – the Government decided to follow what was called the Politician’s Logic by one of the most famous civil servants, albeit fictional, in history, Sir Humphrey Appleby ( Yes Prime Minister)

“We must do something.

This is something.

Therefore we must do it.”

While women’s organizations are up in arms, the general message that is going out is that Government has heard the people’s anger and responded to it. First by setting up the committee, and the second by not waiting for Parliament to reconvene, passing an ordinance that will lead to better safety and security for women.

The ordinance has been passed in record time – less than 10 days after the Justice Verma Committee presented its recommendations. It seems to be the Government’s way of telling some very angry women, across the country and across the political spectrum – look we have done something. But, this something seems to be more out of short term electoral compulsions than long term systemic change. Sir Humphrey Appleby has the apt description once again “”To watch a Cabinet Minister in action is to watch the endless subordination of important long-term issues to the demands of urgent trivia.” In this case, replace the Cabinet Minister with the Cabinet – and the ordinance will make sense. Laws cannot be made to assuage public opinion. They have to be passed to make a tangible difference to society.

As per the Constitution, the President can promulgate an ordinance when the Parliament is in recess, but the ordinance itself has to be laid before the houses of Parliament and debated and passed, or it will lapse. But, come before Parliament it must. There is no point outraging on the Ordinance – it is in any case a stopgap measure. The thing to do is to ensure that the agenda is not diverted. That Members of Parliament are lobbied to do the right thing. That rape of any form, within the house or outside it; by a stranger or by a family member; by a friend or a lover; by a husband or a boyfriend; by a man in uniform or a politician is taken to be what it is – a crime. A crime that is punished severely.

But, this needs to be more than the debate on just what constitutes a crime and what is the quantum of punishment. While we may all want more severe punishments for the guilty, what would also help is a road map that puts into place the collection and collation of evidence, the use of science in crimes like this, training personnel to deal with these, and the building of system that deal with rape, sexual assault and the aftermath. Furthermore, there needs to be debate on systemic reform. On the police and judicial reforms that have been called for by Justice Verma committee. On the curtailing of powers of social groups like the khaps, of dealing with issues like sex education, and the issues posed by political parties choosing men accused of sexual assault or rape to fight elections on their behalf. These may not all happen at the same time, but there needs to be a plan that ensures that this comes to pass.

The ordinance is short term. The fight for laws that ensure better safety and security for women, a better system of policing for communities, and a better criminal justice system for all – is the big one. There is still time to get the law that is more effective.

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