Hollywood producers don’t add any value to Indian films: Aamir Khan

Aamir Khan is on the jury of the Berlin International Film Festival here. And he is in tears. Not because of jury duties, but because he is battling the cold and wind while being mobbed by fans on Potsdamer Platz, the festival hub.

‘Ganz schnell!’ (quickly), the fans scream to friends who are clicking their pictures with Aamir Khan.

Khan spoke to DNA in Berlin. Excerpts from the interview:

What is the experience of being on the prestigious international jury of the Berlin Film Festival like?

Berlin Film Festival director Dieter Kosslick had invited me on the international jury two years ago. I had heard so much about the festival, so I’m glad I could finally be here.

Berlin had shown my Peepli Live last year. I am very impressed by the jury. They say what they mean when discussing films and often have a very different viewpoint on the same film, that is a revelation to me.

Have you seen any artistic, international films as a jury member that you wish you had produced, even if they would not necessarily get a big box office in India?

I have been making such films already. Before Taare Zameen Par released, we had a tough time trying to figure out if it would work with Indian audiences. We didn’t know if Peepli Live would work in India, nor Dhobi Ghat. I’ve been making the films I believe in, in any case. Even when I was on the Locarno film festival jury, we saw 22 films — of the best the world has to offer — and only about 10% really blew my mind, no more. So Indian cinema is really doing all right.

Will Hollywood producers of Bollywood films help us reach global markets?

Hollywood producers don’t add any value to Indian films. They are producing hardcore mainstream Indian films aimed at Indian audiences. I haven’t seen Udaan or Love, Sex and Dhoka, but there may be films whose natural sensibility and audience is international. Otherwise, Indian directors are fooling themselves if they think dubbing their films into English is going to help them expand markets. If the film has no legs, it won’t work with audiences — it makes no difference if the producer is from Bollywood or Hollywood.

For that matter, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Inception were very successful in India even though they were not aimed at India. The films worked because they were good; their success did not pre-suppose knowledge about Indian audiences.

So what direction do you see Indian and Bollywood films taking in future, as we aim for global markets?

World cinema is dying! Indian filmmakers are very happy with the large Indian audience at home, we don’t need to look at a world audience.

A foreign-language film, if released in the US, makes an average business of $400,000. $1million business is considered very good. By contrast, most of our Indian films released in the US make $2-3 million, the bigger films make $3 million, and 3 Idiots made $7million. So the audience for Indian cinema in the US is bigger than the audience for world cinema [in the US].

Even Peepli Live, a very offbeat film, earned over Rs30 crore in India and $800,000 [Rs4 crore] in the US. That’s double the business of a foreign-language film in the US. Even Dhobi Ghat is a world-cinema film that got great reviews in the Hollywood Reporter, Variety and LA Times, has been invited to festivals worldwide, and made money.

Though Reema Kagti’s Honeymoon Travels didn’t do fantastic business, you trust her talent enough to do her next film, and you are doing Dhoom 3. What guides you when choosing films?

Reema’s film is a suspense thriller, which I’ve not done before and which we don’t do often in India. It has a great script co-written by Zoya Akhtar and Reema. I go by my instinct when choosing films, and narration is an important part of it. About Dhoom 3, initially I wasn’t sure the Dhoom franchise was something I’d fit into, but after Adi [producer Adtiya Chopra] told me the script, I have to say I do. I’d love to do it. I’d enjoyed Dhoom 1, the music, the cops-and-robbers story. Victor’s written an exciting script with lots of twists, that moves fast.

Taare Zameen Par was over three years ago. When will you direct your next film?

I don’t plan ahead, it depends on when I get a great script.

The opening night audience in the Berlinale Palast gave a 10-minute standing ovation to Iranian director Jafar Panahi — your fellow jury member in absentia, as he has been sentenced to six years in prison and a 20-year ban from filmmaking by the Iranian government — in support of his freedom. Could you imagine an Indian audience standing up for a film director from another country?

Yes, I could. It was very gratifying to be part of a group of people who stood up for Jafar Panahi’s freedom. I had been with Panahi on the Locarno film festival jury in 2002 and found him to be a very intelligent, soft-spoken person who is very proud of his country and culture. I hope the Iranian authorities recognise what a great ambassador he is for their country and release him.

But no culture is free of such repression, which has occurred at different times in different nations. Even the US had its McCarthy era [when filmmakers suspected of having Communist sympathies were victimised].

Of course we support Panahi’s freedom. But in film history, repression has sometimes led to artistic creativity…

There is a theory that repression leads to a creative spirit. During India’s freedom struggle there were a lot of great artists — poets like Kaifi [Azmi] saab, Majrooh Sultanpuri and intelligent directors like Mehboob Khan and Guru Dutt.