Pankaj Tripathi recalls B’town’s disconnect with cinegoers
Pankaj Tripathi recalls B’town’s disconnect with cinegoers
Pankaj Tripathi recently opened up on Bollywood’s disconnect with the cinegoers saying that there is no magic in cinema anymore.
At the Fifth Edition of Expresso, the National Award-winning actor on Thursday, spoke on varied topics, including his childhood, the journey to the ‘Mecca” of Hindi films- Bollywood from a small town in Bihar. He felt the reason for Hindi cinema’s seemingly growing disconnect with the audience.
Continuing he asked why will the people connect to our films if we are not giving rooted stories.
In the 90s and before there was a sense of magic to films and we characters were seen walking and talk on screen. We laughed with them. We cried. But now it’s no longer there.
As of today,, the audience are looking for relatability, and they need a sense of connectivity with the character. They are in a quest for rootedness, which they are not quite getting anymore. He also pointed out how his film Ashwini Iyer’s directorial “Bareilly Ki Barfi” returned to the big screen recently, and won hearts all over again. “Rooted stories are of utmost importance. If Hindi cinema cuts off from its roots, then it is always going to be a problem.”
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When asked about what he thought of his Gangs of Wasseypur director Anurag Kashyap’s recent comments on Bollywood, especially the issue of not encouraging originality, and going behind profit margins and tried-and-tested templates, Pankaj asserted his complete acceptance of this assessment. “After Stree, look at the number of horror comedies that got made. A time is not far away when people will neither get scared nor will they laugh. The actor went on to compare it with the spate of item songs that ruled the roost in Hindi cinema. When he asked why there were so many of them, the filmmakers said that they were adhering to the public demand. But… which public sits and writes letters to them demanding the inclusion of such songs? It is all the makers’ decision to go behind what they think is the formula for success. If there is no space for experimentation, people will get bored very easily,” added the actor.
In fact, taking the example of his own career, Pankaj argued, “At least once every week, he gets a character like Mirzapur’s Kaleen Bhaiyya. But why would he want to do similar characters when he was already in the fourth season of the series. It is like makers want to milk a cow till it doesn’t turn back and kick them away.”
The six-part Indian Express series Expresso, which features insightful conversations with experts from the world of entertainment, luxury, art and culture, has witnessed guests like Vidya Balan, Pratik Gandhi, Taapsee Pannu, Imtiaz Ali, Javed Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar, Kajol and Kriti Sanon.
News Edit KV Raman
