Actor. Writer. Director. Poet. Ananth Mahadevan wears multiple hats with elan. His latest film, The Storyteller, is garnering commendatory reviews, two more films directed by him are complete and his book of poems has just been published. But Ananth isn’t resting on his laurels, he is all gung ho as he talks about powering alternate cinema into prominence.
Here, he talks about the making of the movie and more.
Excerpts from the interview:
Your latest directorial venture, The Storyteller, is adapted from a short story by Satyajit Ray, so one assumes that you hold the renowned writer-director in great esteem.
Absolutely. When Ray’s birth centenary came by in 2021, I thought that it was the perfect time to do a holistic tribute to one of the masters who inspired me to look at cinema in a very different, global manner. In fact, when Majid Majidi came to India, he told me, ‘I was inspired by Ray to make cinema.’ From Majidi to Martin Scorsese to Kurosawa, Ray impacted the world.
I’m going to ask you a difficult question. Choose one film by Ray.
Everyone will probably go for Pather Panchali but I would choose Charulata. I just re-watched Nayak. Uttam Kumar’s performance is a master class. That film hasn’t dated at all. Ray’s cinema has stood the test of time. Question is: Are you making cinema for the weekend or are you making cinema for eternity?
I did not want to adapt any of Ray’s films as a tribute. I came by an anthology of his stories where I stumbled on Golpo Boliye Tarini Khoro which i made as The Storyteller.
What appealed to you about this particular story?
I thought it was a very cleverly written and metaphorically stated story about complexes and how the world exploits you if you leave the door open to thieves.
Since The Storyteller explores creative ownership, is it a reflection on what is happening around?
Today, right from scientific research papers being lifted to stories, there’s plagiarism all around … so I think the story couldn’t be more relevant. Ray, of course, wrote this with his tongue strictly in cheek because of what happened to his story, The Alien. He was very eager to make his mark in Hollywood after the worldwide acclaim his films got. But when he shared the script of The Alien with a lot of filmmakers in the studios in Hollywood, they sent it back. When he found films like ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind being made, he realised how much of inspiration they drew from The Alien. Of course, he found it futile to fight the powers in Hollywood. So the only way he could vent his so-called revenge was to write The Storyteller, in which, in fact, he blames himself for having left his cards open to being picked by the other player.
You cast Paresh Rawal, a Gujarati, against type as a Bengali. Was that by design?
I always cast against type. I cast Suneil Shetty as an Andhra farmer in Red Alert. Mr Paresh Rawal always wanted to reinvent himself. When an actor like Paresh Rawal says ‘I will take Bengali lessons and I will keep a Bengali expert’ and you see his passion, you know he will do it.
And we have Adil Hussain, who is from Assam, playing the Gujarati. Adil would help Paresh with some Bengali words and Paresh used to give him a few tips on speaking Gujarati. I have repeated both in my next film, Past Tense, which I have just completed.
Was Amitabh Bachchan considered for The Storyteller?
I did approach him initially for the role eventually played by Adil Hussain. I thought he would make a very interesting Gujarati business tycoon. And people wouldn’t imagine that he could cheat. He read the script, but thereafter there was a certain silence and so I didn’t push it further.
You started your directorial journey making mainstream films, but have now decidedly switched to new wave cinema.
The brook has to pass through very marshy land before he opens up into the sea, and the hugeness that he’s looking for. Similarly, I too started with the marshy land of mainstream cinema. Even after directing so many TV episodes, I wasn’t getting the funding to make a film. I realised that I had to direct mainstream cinema to make my name known. So it was a trick I played on myself and the industry by making those films – they were not as bad as I thought it would be. Dil Vil Pyar Vyar was probably the first retro musical film and Dil Maange More was an irreverent comedy.
Finally, I could make Staying Alive at a ridiculous budget of Rs. 27 lakhs. It became a chamber piece and Shemaroo actually distributed it, giving me a lot of courage. That’s when I made Red Alert, Gour Hari Daastaan, Mee Sindhutai Sapkal, Bittersweet, The Storyteller.
Has it now become easier for different filmmakers?
There’s no ambition to go beyond. Take any of the Oscar films – would anyone here support a film like The Conclave? They wouldn’t comprehend it, they would say, Why are you attempting this? So you are dissuaded, rejected and demoralized from the beginning. Even my films are only 60-70% of the standards I want to achieve. We are not allowed to reach the heights of excellence that the world has reached.
You have just released a book on poetry with an intriguing title: A Filament Of Time.
It’s so titled because time is fragile like a filament — it can blow or it can light up your life.
You are now ready with your next – Phule. How did you select Pratik Gandhi for this biography?
It’s releasing on April 11, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Phule. I worked with Pratik on Scam 92 and he reminded me of Sanjeev Kumar — there was something very natural about him. And he’s so versatile. If you Google Phule’s sketches, Pratik looks like he has morphed into the sketch. And when I see his performance, I feel Phule would have been like this.
Would you consider making something spectacular like a musical some day?
You’re reading my mind because right now I’m working on two musicals. And I intend using the traditional music composed by the subjects of these films.
