N Chandra makes ‘Breaking News’

Here’s a first for Indian cinema. Director N Chandra   has shot his new film ‘Breaking News’ on panavision camera. 
“So far only big Hollywood films have been shot in this format. I’ve got Matthew Boyd, a Hollywood cameraman, to shoot Mumbai like never before,” says Chandra.

Long in hibernation, N Chandra who made socially relevant  films like ‘Ankush’  and ‘Pratighaat’ in the early 1980s,  is back in  the  news with his latest film ‘Breaking News’. He admits being inspired by last year’s Oscar-winner ‘Crash’ and says, “I feel ‘Crash’ had a great concept. It looked at the malaise in American society through various episodes. I’ve adapted   the same format. There are seven stories, all inter-linked.”

Incidentally, the film’s cast includes Anupam Kher,  Seema Biswas, Atul Kulkarni and Perizaad Zorabian. Chandra confesses, “No big stars wanted to work with me or hear my narration. They feel that I’m too senior to be contemporary. ‘Breaking News’ is my way of proving them wrong.” He explains further saying, “I had to come to terms with the reality that my market value was low. But ‘Breaking News’ takes me back to my roots. I’ve touched on burning issues like the Hindu-Muslim divide, anti-reservation, the migration problems in the cities and the rich-poor divide.” 

In between Chandra made some low-brow comedies like ‘Style’ and the sequel ‘Excuse Me’. “I had to make those comedies, just like after ‘Mera Naam  Joker’, Raj Kapoor made ‘Bobby’. Sometimes one needs   to do things for practical reasons,” he ends.