‘Commercial films are no longer the mainstay’

5 young directors talk about the hottest emerging trends in Indian films...

Raj Kumar Gupta
“The landscape of Indian cinema is changing in a big way through the new creative forces. There are a lot of  new and young talents coming in and a new kind of cinema is emerging. The young talents are very genuine which is very critical for the process. More importantly, people are recognising the change which is good for all of us.”

Tarun Mansukhani
“The new trend signifies that content is king. Small films like Tere Bin Laden or Udaan are working because their script is strong. The typical commercial films are no longer the mainstay of this industry. With different kind of films by forward thinking directors, paths are breaking and taking us to an all-new direction.”

E Niwas
“I think big actors will not mind playing a small character in a film which has a strong story and interesting characters. Hollywood actors have been doing this for long, India is catching up now. We have had a few instances in the past few years, but it’s going to increase now.

Actors are slowly realising that hero-oriented roles come with a lot of baggage. Now everybody wants to tell a story and become a part of it.’’

Puneet Malhotra
“The absence of lip sync songs is going to be the next big trend in Bollywood. In the context of making our films global, more and more filmmakers are not giving their actors an option to lip sync songs on screen. Even in my film, I tried to avoid lip syncing. We all have to keep up with the international market. Now music albums will be true to the films.”

Vikramaditya Motwane
“I think films made by Indians and for Indians will be the next big thing. The NRI-centric films are no longer exciting. More and more filmmakers are coming back to their roots. If you look at films by Dibakar Banerjee, Raj Kumar Hirani, Vishal Bhardwaj, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and many others, you will notice that films with local flavour are the most electrifying, unlike NRI sorts which just come and go.”

Deepika Padukone on the current trend.. 
“I think we are getting modern by the day but we are not letting go of the Indian spirit. That is going  to define our cinema now. The West is looking at the East for inspiration. That’s the biggest development.”