Experimental films are finally being accepted: Anubhav Sinha

Producer-director Anubhav Sinha is happy to see content finally making a comeback in Bollywood films after a gap of almost 20 years.
"After 20 years, content is again being accepted. The last time we saw that happen was when directors like Ketan Mehta, Govind Nihalani, Shyam Benegal made films. Their movies were successful.
"It is good to see that experimental films that were not so successful five years ago, are being made again," Sinha said today on the sidelines of Cine Bahas Talab 2013.
The 48-year-old, who last directed 2011 Shah Rukh Khan starrer "Ra One", took part in a discussion on the 'Conflict between content and collection in Bollywood'.

He feels that Bollywood is being run by A-list stars and big production houses.
"We are a society that worships our heroes. It is not a new phenomena, it has been happening since the very beginning. The five or six stars of Bollywood are brands and they want to maintain it and hence it has given rise to the 100 crore club.

"The stars and the studios run the film business. You will never find the director putting an advertisement that his film has collected so much at the box-office," said Sinha, who is making his debut as a producer with upcoming 3D film "Warning".

Director Anand L Rai, who tasted back-to-back-success with films like "Tanu Weds Manu" and the latest Sonam Kapoor-Dhanush starrer "Raanjhnaa", said that once a filmmaker finds a way to satisfy the audience, the collection will automatically be taken care of.
"I have been honest with myself creatively. In my two outings, I have found my balance. But I feel it is a conflict between content and audience.
"As a director you have to have a connect with the audience and understand their needs to achieve the balance between content and collections," Rai said.
Poet-writer Uday Prakash, who was honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award for his collection of short stories, 'Mohan Das' in 2011, resented that films today are not rooted.

"There are films like 'Pather Panchali' that reflected the culture of that time and Iranian director Jafar Panahi's movies that has Iran's essence in it. But we hardly find that in our films. Our culture is missing from our films. I think we should try and bring that out," said Prakash.