New Delhi: (Will Chillar Party's National Award inspire a more chilled mood towards children's films? Monojit Lahiri attempts a freeze frame of a genre consistently ignored in star-obsessed and movie-mad India.)
As a nation, we are passionately committed and engaged in the manufacture of children. Presently, rolling out one billion plus population, we are riding high and hot on the global record register. This automatically means that we have a gigantic 'kiddies club' across all social strata. We are also the proud manufactures of the 'largest volume' of movies on planet earth and of course everyone is fully aware of our craze for movie stars. This disease is infectious in a democratic way because it embraces masses cutting across all religion, language, caste, creed, colour and social barrier.
Superimposed on this very scenario is the strange, sad and shockingly shameful plight of a genre that should have got at least a fraction of the spectacular hi-five so generously given to the commercial cinema. On one end lies a world buried amidst an embarrassment of riches, while on the other lies a world living in the shadows, rejected, neglected, overlooked, ignored, unattended and frequently dismissed by the merchants of muck as sideshow. A disfranchised (in popular imagination) territory with all the formal and official trappings required for fulfilling the 'politically correct' quotient, children films continues to garner precious little respect it deserves.
In India, mass-entertainment is Bollywood, which basically means stars. Where do the children feature in this system? Also (like art cinema) there has never been any conscious attempt to promote children's films as a separate and special category that can entertain, enrich and empower in one fell swoop. It is an area that is popularly perceived as residing in the 'education' slot or 'fairy tales/fantasy' space and hence dumped wholesale in the tray marked 'bachhalog'. Way back in the fifties, Satyen Bose did make the inspirational 'Jagriti' and Raj Kapoor 'Boot Polish', splendid films blending children's issues with social comment but the follow up wasn't really encouraging.
Sure there were the absolutely adorable 'Irani sisters' (Daisy and Honey) as very popular child stars of their time and later the wonderful Raju Shrestha the Mehmood-aper, Junior Mehmood and Baby Guddu, all with a fan base of their own but children based films were few and far between. Critics point out to a mixture of fear and nervousness to tread that area on the part of filmmakers convinced that there is no real market for serious children's films. That apprehension continues despite Hollywood classics such as 'King Kong', 'Wizard of Oz', 'Sound of Music', 'Mary Poppins', 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', 'E.T', 'Children of Heaven' enchanting us with their charming narratives. In recent times, the global hit 'Home Alone' series was an amazing example of children's movie.
The first serious breakthrough in this genre amidst the hi-decibel, star studded Bollywood fare came from the person who truly defines creative courage and continues to put his money where his mouth is Aamir Khan. Totally zapped by Amole Gupte's fantastic script of 'Taare Zameen Par', he bankrolled the film with Rs 12 crore budget. Mesmerising audiences wherever it played and transforming its bucktooth lead Darsheel Safary into a Rs 80 lakh per film and 50 lakh per endorsement celeb, 'Taare Zameen Par' pulled in a cool Rs 140 crore and showed the clueless B-town gang what passion, conviction and ability can achieve. Gupte again proved his creative worth in 'Stanley Ka Dabba'. Gupte is now planning 'Sapno Ko Ginte Ginte'.
Meanwhile, the other two Khans flung their hats into the ring with their respective children driven projects. King Khan's Rs 50 crore 'Ra.One' zoomed out last year delighting kids to fetch mixed responses. Salman Khan's much more modest and focused 'Chillar Party' hit the target bang-on to pick up the National Award. "Unlike earlier times, new categories, engagingly made, can now exist across genres. The multiplexes have created an audience pool that is forever ready and waiting for new, interesting content covering every type including children's cinema", says Vikas Bahl. Further, tax exemption, lack of expensive stars and a budget of a little over Rs 5 crore ensured that 'Chillar Party' is the new template to follow for directors to power this exciting and lucrative movement.
However, post 'TZP' there have been flops as well. 'Aladin', 'Paathshaala' and 'Bum Bum Bole' had to be peeled off the ceiling, "kids as core audiences will not be taken in by anything you chuck their way. Scripts not genres need to be re-scrutinised and reviewed. Story telling is critical but without being preachy, consciously childish or talking down to them," says Ravi Chopra, whose 'Bhootnath' was a hit. Bahl puts it down to the "delicate balance between entertainment and message with a sense of fun. Most importantly, there needs to be that critical element of innocence, difficult to explain but easy to identify."
So will Chillar Party's award and success mark a new beginning for children of a lesser god? Film makers doubt it. Although corporatization has brought in funds for the industry, this category has seldom been lucky because the mega weekend openings don't feature these films. Even for a successful film like 'I am Kalam', the maker lamented the lack of support from the Children Film Society towards releasing the film. For a film that has scooped up 9 awards across film festivals around the world, "I was forced to take a loan against my house to release Kalam", rues director Nila Madhab Panda.
How long will children's films remain in this orphaned state? When will a 'Chillar Party' and 'Kalam' be celebrated, not with lip service but flush funds to power this movement? When will respect and recognition come to this genre?
Your guess is as good as mine…
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