"I feel that we should definitely do world cinema, but they should be Indian stories. It’s nice to be exposed to the world," says Rakeysh.
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's last film
Rang De Basanti created a revolution that woke up many of the nation’s youth from their
sab chalta hai slumber to take issues into their own hands.
The man, however, looks anything but rebellious at the outset. If you scratch the surface, you get a peek of the revolutionary… Rakeysh says, “When Rahman (AR Rahman) heard about the nominations for the Oscars, he was with me giving final touches to the music of
Delhi 6. I am so proud of him. We spoke till the early hours of the morning after that if there should be a bridge between Hollywood and Indian cinema.
I feel that we should definitely do world cinema, but they should be Indian stories. It’s nice to be exposed to the world, but there should be certain moral issues, ethical issues and business considerations before we expose ourselves. I think what Bachchan (Amitabh) said in his blog is absolutely true.
Poverty sells, and westerners seem pretty keen to watch a film like Water which talks about the archaic miseries of widows in India. That’s not what we should be aiming to sell. I don’t sell escapism. We need not bend backwards to please the Hollywood producers. As a national conscience, we should be a nation which wants to go out and spread its thought process all over the world, but that doesn’t mean we should sell ourselves.”
His next movie,
Delhi 6 (starring Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam) talks about an American citizen of Indian origin, coming to the country and realising certain truths about himself. Said to be largely autobiographical, it has an underlying patriotism like RDB did.
“Today, the bane of our country, the population, has become a boon. India works because of the people involved. The film is about a journey of a man within after he visits the country he originated from. It is contemporary. Look at what is happening around us. We are living in troubled times.
When an act of hatred like terrorism happens, the reaction is hatred and that is very scary. The Indian government is not helping by hitting back at Pakistan. We should be more open to understanding than being busy with accusing one another. I know it might be easier said than done, but this is no solution. Why can’t we opt for love instead of hatred?”
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