ABP Ideas Of India: Filmmaker, screenwriter and cinematographer Kabir Khan had an interesting conversation with ABP as he talked about various aspects of filmmaking, what drives a director to make a film that connects with the audience, his take on film reviews and many such interesting topics at ABP Network’s Ideas Of India Summit held in Mumbai on Saturday.
The topic of the discussion was 'The Cultural Revival | Digging Deeper: Telling India's Stories'.
The discussion began with the filmmaker's take on how does a director make a film that connects with the audience. Replying to the question, Kabir Khan, who has several films like 'Ek Tha Tiger', 'Chak De India' and '83' among others to his credit, said, "The art of telling the story is what grabs the audience's attention. If we go on to compare the Hollywood industry with Bollywood, we should bear in mind that it's not a gap that is there between the two industries, rather, it is a platform where two different ideas co-exist."
He further added, "There is no doubt in this. As filmmakers we pick our stories from the society. Bollywood is not a club, its a part of the society. As in society there are various individuals with differrent perspectives and ideologies, so are the filmmakers with their own individual perspective. So, whenever someone question what is the perspective of bollywood on this issue? I feel its wrong, as bollywood doesn't have one view, there are various."
The conversation moved further with a take on patriotism reflected in Kabir Khan's films. The director replied to the question by saying, "My films are a reflection of my personality. Every filmmaker should have thir own reflections in the films they make. So, as you said we sometime show our tricolour flags in the films. But, in contemporary times, there is a difference between patriotism and nationalism. In '83' I tried to show that for nationalism sometimes we need a counter point or a villian. However, for patriotism you don't need such thing, because it is pure love for your country,"
'I Am Here To Make Films, Mujhe Kuch Dhwast Nahi Karna Hai'
While the conversation inevitably steered on to the recently released ‘The Kashmir Files’, Kabir Khan had an interesting comment to make. He said, "Humein picture banani hai...humein kuch dhwast nahi karna. We are just storytellers wanting to entertain the audience. We don't make any film with an agenda. I get passionately involved with a film, that is what a dtrector does. It is not about breaking institutions."
On Film Critics And Social Media
The director also talked about how much importance a film review holds for him. He said, "I don't read all the reviews. But yes, the ones that I do take seriously, I make sure to read them as well as take the reviewer's feedback by calling them up."
Kabir Khan also talked about the impact of social media and the freedom that it has given to the masses. He laid emphasis on the fact that social media has given people the right to speak about anything without taking any responsibility for the same.
He also iterated the fact that the negative impact of social media has outnumbered its positive impact.
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