The young and dynamic filmmaker Amit V Masurkar delved on the importance of ideology in the world of cinema. He started his life to become a scriptwriter. He explained the difference between sketch writing and scriptwriting. He said that there are two types of scriptwriting. Sketch writing is for two to three minutes and is based on a newspaper report. Scriptwriting is one on the basis of which a film or a short film or a television serial is made.
For two years, he worked as a sketch writer and after that, he was inspired to become a scriptwriter. Prior to that, he was attached with Kailash Kher and Mahesh Bhatt. In the year 2012, his first film ‘Sulemani Keeda’ was released, where he worked as a scriptwriter and director. It became popular. Prior to that, he had also done some short films.
The film ‘Sulemani Keeda’ taught him a big lesson. As it was a big-budget film, so it was very difficult for him to search for a producer and a distributor. Lastly, the producer Manish Mundra helped him.
But as per his experience from the film ‘Sulemani Keeda’, budget is a very important factor. If it is high, then the director has a low voice and other people, who are associated with the film, have a bigger say, which the director has to respect. According to him, the filmmaker and the screenwriter should have the final say in a film.
His next film is ‘Sherni’, which is under process and 30 per cent of the work has been completed. Shooting will commence from October 2020 after the withdrawal of lockdown. He said that Vidya Balan is one of the actors in the movie.
Commenting on the development of the film ‘Newton’, Masurkar explained that he had to conduct a lot of research from multiple sources to make it convincing.
While talking about the importance of research in filmmaking, Masurkar said, “Researching for a book is different from researching for a film.” Emphasizing on the importance of personal ideologies, Masurkar mentioned that a movie is eventually the product of what the filmmaker believes in. He added that a movie also stems from the realization that a created status quo is benefitting some people and there is a crafted notion that everything is ‘hunky-dory’.
Talking about ‘Newton’, Masurkar mentioned that like other filmmakers, he also wanted his movie to be watched by everybody and be palatable. Speaking about whether the Indian viewers have evolved, Masurkar said that people’s accessibility to different kinds of movies has increased significantly. In what seemed like a reference to the evolution of the industry, he said that filmmakers now are not just competing with other domestic filmmakers but with filmmakers from across the world. Consequently, there is an opportunity for people to experiment with offbeat content.
Masurkar stressed the importance of having a fixed curriculum for film students. He added that a filmmaker needs to be extremely honest when he is working. According to him, making short movies these days isn’t really difficult, if one has the right intent. He advised students and youngsters to understand themselves as any creative pursuit ultimately is about self-realization.
Talking about OTT platforms, Masurkar said that these platforms are not very different from television channels and if the right content is given, these platforms would lap the same up. Masurkar concluded by urging everyone to question anything and anyone to have a better and more comprehensive view of the world.
The author, Shelly Sen is associated with Adamas University Media School
