Farhan Akhtar said while talking about the nuans of the industry | Talking about the nuances of the industry, Farhan Akhtar said: Business plays an important role in the creative field, the choice of audience is also very important

As a producer, you are also an investor, and sometimes I am sure your heart says yes but your brain says that no, it will not work, it will not get money.

This happens. But again, in these things you have to find a balance. I think you should be able to do this. You cannot reject any good idea just because you feel that it does not have audiences.

What you have to do is that you have to find a way to create that idea, share the idea and tell it in a way that is effective. This is what you have to do. And a good producer is the one who is able to do so.

I mean if your definition of a producer is that someone brought a script to you, you gave him money, and he went and he did that work ‘, to tell the truth, you will find many such producers. But a person who can recognize something that is good, perhaps dangerous, but you are really successful only when you take a threat. This is the golden world. If you are not taking a threat, then it is as if you are just designing or just manufacturing. I think this is something similar.

I think Excel Entertainment was one of the first production houses that took risks on the OTT platform. You were one of the first working workers in that field and you made a great content like ‘Inside Edge’ and ‘Mirzapur’. How do you stay ahead of the rest? How do you identify the next big chi in entertainment? And has there been any major change in the industry after OTT?

There has been a change, but to answer the first part of your question, there is no formula. I think if someone says that he knows how to do it, he is lying. And if anyone knows how to do it, then that person would always be successful. This has never happened. It has never happened in the history of cinema around the world that a person has only been successful in his entire career. There are ups and downs in your career. But you have to remind yourself, why am I in this work? Why did I make ‘Dil Chahta Hai’? Why did Karan Johar make ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’? Why did these people make their first film? Because he had a story that he wanted to tell.

They wanted to share something that was necessary for them. And if you can identify this in a person who comes to you, such as the author of ‘Mirzapur’, when we brought his script to us, he was very … like the way he used to talk about it and that world, and what he wanted to do was contagious. And when you talk to people, they will say, are you crazy? What is this? It is violent and has a lot of abuses. But he was confident, and his faith gave us Bhadora. So this is also necessary.

How has the industry changed after the arrival of OTT? Are people going to the theater at least now because it remains in their mind that I will watch this movie on OTT after a few weeks?

I think the best thing with the arrival of OTT is that it has made filmmakers more responsible for its work. There was a time, when an average film also used to earn something well, because people had nothing else to do.

Earlier people wanted to go out. There are very few entertainment opportunities in this country. There are not many ways that you can entertain. If cricket is going on, you can probably go to watch a match or watch TV. But mostly when you go out with your family, you go to watch the film with your family. There are not really too much things to exclude. And especially in cities where open space is not much. You would like to stay indoors. You would like to live in a cold environment. It is more secure. Hence films are a very large part. And there was a time where an average film and bad film also used to earn somewhat. But now you have the option to sit at home and see content around the world. This is no longer just Indian content.

I think this is a very big lesson for filmmakers. You have to give us such things that make us excited. Raise us from our chairs. Take us out of our homes. And force us to go to the theater and watch the film.

But do you think Bollywood is doing the same? Do you think… are you happy with the current Bollywood? Because recently, the things you get to hear, then…

Look, I am very inside the industry, so perhaps it would be better to answer this question. Because there is some reason that you saw the trailer of a film or heard something about it and a voice came from inside you that I have to see it in the theater itself. After all, what was the film that forced you to see it on the big screen.

When this happens, it is understood as a filmmaker that the audience is ready to come. Because the business we have seen post-Pandemic, it has been much more than pre-Pandemic.

The first was the biggest hit riot which earned around 300 crores. But after the pandemic, Pathan, Jawan and a third big film came in just one year, and all three collected about 500 crores in the same year. So it is not the case that people do not have money to spend. The thing is that you have to excite them so that they come the theater.

Let me tell you what is interesting. It is important to be a good trailer, but nowadays one more thing is heard, these big budget films. Meaning 300 crores, 500 crores, films up to 800 crores. And then when you go to the theater and watch that film, then it comes to mind that man, it is not even looking as expensive as it is being spoken. Then what is the story behind? Actually where is the money feeling? Or why does this happen?

Perhaps there is something behind the curtain that we do not know.

This is what we are asking you because you are behind the screen?

No, but I have not yet made that 300, 500 or 800 crores films. So I don’t even know exactly. Yes, sometimes it happens that the budget is exaggerated so that people feel that this is a big film. It is possible. Or money is spent on things that do not look directly on the screen. Now look, VFX – Good VFX is very expensive. Because this is a very specialized and labor-interest work, and it really takes a lot of money. Most VFX-heavy films are more budget than the rest of the films. But to be honest, I do not even know where and why people spend their money. My guess is also the same as your estimates.

And do you think, being an insider, that public opinion is often not right towards Bollywood?

I mean, some things are definitely unfair, but some criticism is really earned. People are very investing in films. People really love movies. When you do well, you also get the benefit of it. Your film is a hit, people praise you, so you think wow, I did something amazing. But in the same way, when you are unable to do anything good, you should keep the same humility that you can bear criticism and accept it quietly.

When people criticize you, whether to give them a bad film, or to take them lightly, or just to serve an incomplete product, I think this thing should be accepted politely and should say that it is okay, I will do better next time.

At some level, Bollywood becomes a kind of Bali goat. We can be easily targeted for many things, because everything happens in public. Whatever happens, mostly occurs in front of public. People want to know what is going on in our life. And I think that as an industry, we have not yet set these rules or limits as to what is right and what not.

These boundaries are clearly visible to you in sports. For example, you cannot ask a cricketer a very personal question, or you can not write about them arbitrarily by interfering in their personal life. There is a fixed limit, and that limit has been made by the players themselves so that people can not enter their lives too much. He wants his game to speak for him. I think the film people should do the same, our films should be our real identity, not our personal life.

Meaning you should be identified with your work. Just to increase followers on Instagram, show what I eat, what I drink, where I buy shoes, or what my bed switch looks like, it has no real meaning. Because these tickets do not translate at all in sales. In such a situation, you just become a social media influencer, which has no effect on your career. Therefore, these boundaries, I think they are very important, but regrets have not been decided yet.

So this happened for the public, but what would you want yourself? Meaning what changes will you like to see in Bollywood? Not just about settings or images, but what other real changes do you want in the industry?

I would love watching more and more multi-starrer movies. Because this is the same thing with which we have grown up. Then the talent used to work with each other continuously. I myself grew up seeing Amitabh Bachchan. At that time, hardly three to four films will be such that they are based on them only. He was mostly working with other actors and other actors with him. We later saw the same thing with Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff and Sunny Deol.

But now it has suddenly happened that actors do not work together. Talent shies away from coming together. And this is really a little sad, because it is a great experience for the audience that the artists they like, whom they admire, to see them together on screen. So yes, I want to return to multi-starrer films in some way or the other.

AI has now become a really big topic and the entire films are also being made from AI. So the question is, how will it change our industry?

Right now all this is in the early stages, so it is difficult to say what its real effect will be. But yes, this is a powerful tool and every filmmaker will use it somehow. But I feel that AAI cannot finally replace the real human emotion. And I am not talking about the superficial emotion here, rather that depth, the tightness, the bitterness or personal feeling that we do not share often, but they are reflected in our work, when we write or create. AI is still based on what you tell what you share. But there are many things that we do not bring on the tongue, yet they get into our writing.

The corner, where a writer or director goes within himself, will never share such things and realization, which he will never publicly share if someone asks him directly questions. I think it is very far away for AI to reach those emotions. Now it has to be understood how and where to fit AI. It will be fantastic for VFX etc., there is no doubt in it. But real creativity, the creativity of writing means that according to me, it is still very, far away from AI.