Amole Gupte has given life to children's films

His latest release Hawaa Hawaai has opened poorly but has been generating interest after positive reviews

One evening more than 40 years ago, a boy of nine or 10 was home watching Zameen Ke Taare on a black-and-white TV. The 1960 Hindi film starring Daisy and Honey Irani tells the story of two friends who leave their houses and try to survive on their own. Even in the presence of neighbours, (at the time, few families had TV sets, so people would gather in households that did), the boy was moved to tears. “I remember that day clearly. I wept and wept,” says Amole Gupte. What he did not know then was that years later, he would create films capable of having the same effect.

Gupte has been a part of the entertainment industry for many years but shot to fame in 2007 after scripting Taare Zameen Par, a film about a young boy suffering from dyslexia. His next, Stanley Ka Dabba, about a child who does not carry a tiffin box, firmed up his identity as one of India’s top makers of children-centric cinema. A year later, he was named chairman of the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI). His latest release, Hawaa Hawaai, opened poorly but has been generating interest after positive reviews.

He began as an actor in theatre productions and films made by students of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune (FTII). These jobs sharpened Gupte’s skills as a writer and he worked on scripts for Kundan Shah and Saeed Mirza, among others. He took a decade-long break to paint before returning to TV in the mid-1990s as the host of Bol Bindaas, an hour-long talk show on Sony TV. Here, he was exposed to the struggles and problems of children and teenagers, compelling him to bring these issues to the big screen.

“Children have always been at the receiving end of little or no support because of no voting rights. They are talked down to, commanded over,” says Gupte. “My attempt is to represent them in the mainstream.”

Gupte’s films are not perfect. The latest, for example, was questioned by critic Anupama Chopra for its heavy-handedness while taking on a range of social issues. What consistently lifts his films, however, is the ace performances he is able to record. The key to this lies in some ground rules, says Gupte. “We do not ‘work’, we share cinema. And I do not ‘extract’ performances. Extraction is for teeth.” Gupte’s wild hair and beard give him an intimidating look, but he is “chilled out”, says Saqib Saleem, who plays a skating coach in Hawaa Hawaai. There are no scripts on set and actors are allowed to improvise.

Perhaps Gupte’s most significant achievement is his re-imagination of the way child artists should be treated. The atmosphere on the floor is stress-free, much like in a hobby class. He shoots only on weekends and holidays for three to four hours, with breaks. He says, “People should adjust to the child artist’s needs and convenience and not the other way around.”

Shravan Kumar, CEO of CFSI, says Gupte’s work has brought more visibility to children’s cinema in India. “His last two films were distributed by Fox, so he has the right platform. We want similar outreach for all our films.” Gupte has been instrumental in testing a new distribution model, where the CFSI will screen films like Goopy Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya, an animated remake of Satyajit Ray’s Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, and Kaphal in certain schools.

“We crib so much about lack of good content but even when it is available, people go for Spiderman instead,” says Gupte.