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Bad working conditions? Let’s do something about it

As Indians, we have a tendency to escape from every situation. When we are blamed for being backward, we say that we are a developing country. Whenever living conditions in India and Europe-America are compared, we escape saying that ours is a poor country. Whenever a multinational lays down conditions for bringing their factory to India, we refuse because we want to show how socialist and democratic we are.

Similarly, in the field of cinema and television, we keep on finding excuses like - we make films in a country which doesn’t have as many resources as Hollywood etc. etc. Ever since I was mature enough to analyse things, I have been wondering - How long can we survive with this defeatist attitude?

Why can’t the overall conditions around us change drastically?

Perhaps people will call me a kafir after reading this article, but anyone who spares a moment to think about what I want to say, may find my views relevant. Right now we are talking about TV and cinema, so I will try not to deviate, though it bounces back again and again as we are all a part of the same system and TV and cinema also have to survive in the said system.

It is not an exaggeration to say film and TV programme makers in India (which makes the maximum number of films or TV programmes in the world) operate in unimaginably adverse conditions. While the cost of production is increasing everywhere in the world, we are going backwards by cutting budgets, then by cutting them down, and then cutting them down yet again.

If we look at the scenario abroad, most of the programmes are made in English, distributed world wide, and they earn good profits. In our country, even the Hindi language has a limited reach. Hence the budget for Hindi language programmes is low.
We also have a plethora of regional languages and so there are regional programmes, which are simply not viable unless the cost of production goes further down. And here begins a chain reaction of slashing the remuneration of artists and technicians and turning a blind eye to quality.

The creative people who started making films and TV serials on the strength of their talent in the last decade or so have converted their companies into so-called production houses which are nothing but factories turning out programmes from the same mould. Where is individual creativity?

Where is the cultivation of talent? Where is the personal touch? Everything has become professional, which is a good sign, but does professionalism mean sayonara to creativity which is the heart of filmmaking?

Why doesn’t someone work towards producing some programmes with greater production values and superior appearance?

Take Cleopatra for example. This was a two-part film made for television alone, yet the amount spent on production was more than that spent on two James Bond films. And the results are astounding. The only programme that I can think of which was made on comparable lines is Dr. Chandra Prakash’s Chanakya, which was one of the greatest efforts in this direction.

Without wanting to hurt the sentiments of viewers, I wish to state that their attitude towards cinematic quality is lackadaisical. Viewers are not able to differentiate between a good story and a well-made programme. When I say well-made, I mean a programme which has a good story, a good script; a programme which is technically correct and whose actors give a convincing performance. Many a times people rush to watch a programme whose story appeals to them. The maker then does not bother to provide the viewer the right proportion of script and cinematic quality.

The overall machinery/society is not bothered about the state of our industry. The government has created facilities like Film City. Have we ever peeped inside the film city?

What makes it a film city? On ordinary road, one artificially created Mandir, a garden and some pieces of land to erect your sets? Does this alone qualify for something to be called a Film City?

How many times have we heard that government officials have been sent abroad to study the situation in developed countries so that they can come back and apply their experiences to creating similar conditions here?

I wonder if any effort has been made to study the facilities in the studios of Hollywood and implement those ideas here?

Yes, private institutions like the Ramoji Rao Studios and Padmalaya studios have succeeded in doing so. Then why cannot the government do something similar in Mumbai, which is the hub of Indian cinema?

The conditions are worse if you have to shoot outside the studios. In this case, everyone in the society is your enemy. Almost every boy dreams of becoming a hero and every girl a heroine, yet the same person treats film people in a humiliating manner. In outdoor shootings, the crowd doesn’t let you work.

The actors are heckled, the director is mimicked (they take great pleasure in shouting “action” and “cut” without understanding that they can cause untold damage when the actors and technicians misunderstand their mimicry and stop their work mid-way, then the whole shot has to be started again, from the very beginning).

Shooting on roads, near the sea or any public place no longer needs only a broad vision and imagination but also courage to face the rowdiness of people. Sometimes the situation is so bad that you start cursing yourself for being a film/TV maker. Let me mention here, I can get permission for shooting at London airport while sitting at home (thanks to e-mail) but to get permission to shoot at Sahar or Delhi airport, I will have to move heave and earth with no guarantee of getting the permission.

The authorities of such government organisations coolly hide their indifference to our requirements by blaming every thing on security measures. Doesn’t this confirm one thing - our government officials are so inefficient that they cannot distinguish between genuine filmmakers and hijackers?

That is not the only hurdle. Even a small watchman barks at you when you go to enquire in a school if they would permit to shoot in their premises. I am sure lot of people may flare up and think of teaching me or my fellow film/TV programme makers a lesson, but my intentions are only to create awakening among the people.

Many a times some friends criticise our industry (you film wallas make fool of us by showing a gymkhana as the airport or a school as a Railway stn.) I wish they could understand our situation. The saddest thing in this process is that we, the the film/TV makers (except a few) also do not think of our industry as an institution, after achieving our initial goals.

I know for sure that there was never a Satyug or Ramrajya, these were always the imaginations of our great thinkers. However I wish some Ramrajya comes up and changes the working conditions for the film and TV programme makers.

Ajai Sinha