Bollywood gets real

The scenic locations canvassed in our films on the big screen have always been a huge draw for the Bollywood junta, for whom it has been a form of escapism from the daily mundane lives. But it now seems to be a thing of the past.

The new breed is unapologetic about giving the audiences a slice of real life, quite on the lines of director Ram Gopal Varma. Not surprisingly, with cinema getting more realistic, so are the locations where these films are being shot. And it’s not surprising to see even our neighbouring local areas make a guest appearance on screen. In fact, in their bid for realism, some filmmakers are not just shooting on real-locations, but are taking it a step further by shooting amidst crowds and without them knowing they are actually on camera.

Actress Vidya Balan, who recently shot amidst the Delhi crowd for her upcoming film, recalls that though fun, it was scary. “Luckily, by the time people started noticing the camera and the crew, we had already shot our scenes,” recalls the actor.

According to reports, even film-maker Kiran Rao shot a sequence of Aamir Khan riding through the busy Mohammed Ali Road in her directorial debut Dhobhi Ghaat. Says a source, “In the time people took to recover from the shock of seeing Aamir there, he was ushered back to the waiting cars.”

Film-maker Anurag Kashyap too is planning to shoot his next with Manoj Bajpayee in Bihar at real locales and so is Atul Pandey for his film Pinjra. Director Farukh Kabir who also shot his forthcoming film starring Naseeruddin Shah on real locations says, “We shot at the Cheetah camp in and around the city. We resorted to guerrilla warfare type of film-making for this.”

Trade analyst Komal Nahta feels that it’s an encouraging sign. “The new breed of filmmakers like Anurag, Nishikanth Kamat are thinking out of the box and are not afraid to take risks. They are also proving that lavish sets or Switzerland are not the keys to a hit film.” And our audiences would agree.