So Lagaan did not win the Oscar after all. Aamir Khan?s epic film about a cricket match in the backdrop of the Raj created unprecedented hype on its run-up to Oscar night, but failed to breast the tape. And the Lagaan fever was as much because of Aamir Khan?s marketing acumen as it was about Ashutosh Gowarikar?s direction. But while the media will now go into every detail about why Lagaan did not make it, and local trains will be abuzz with animated discussions about how it was not selected because of old western biases against the Third World, the Lagaan phenomenon has achieved something very significant despite the failure at the Oscars.
Though personally I preferred Farhan Akhtar?s pathbreaking film about three friends, Dil Chahta Hai, the fact that Lagaan made it to the nominations stage at the Oscars has succeeded in reviving a mothballed debate ? one on the future of Indian cinema. Perhaps this time taking it to its logical conclusion. In particular, it has brought back to centrestage the debate on professionalising the Mumbai film industry, called Bollywood with much hope despite its modest impact on the rest of the world. And there?s now renewed effort to ensure Aamir Khan?s film is not a one-off event, but the first step to a much greater awareness about Indian and Hindi cinema in the rest of the world.
It?s, however, clearly not as if Indian cinema was never known to international audiences before Lagaan. Much before this film, Indian ?parallel? film makers, led by Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G Aravindan, Utpalendu Chakraborty, Goutam Ghose and many others have tasted varying degrees of success before foreign audiences. Sir Richard Attenborough?s presence in Ray?s Shatranj Ke Khiladi (The Chess Players) also marked a major milestone in that one of Britain?s finest actors had decided to work under an Indian film maker. And more recently, you had India?s Shekhar Kapur directing the epic Elizabeth, another Oscar nominee. However, what did not take place until this year?s Oscars was the acceptance of mainstream Indian cinema as a force to contend with internationally. And that?s where the Indian film industry (which will touch Rs 6,600 crore by 2005), and particularly the Hindi film industry, can draw consolation from.
Alongside the film?s huge success in India and its presence at the Oscars, there?s another major development taking shape. The biggest and the best of Hollywood?s studios are now beginning to take a keen interest in Indian cinema. Whether it?s 20th Century Fox or others, the fact that there?s a huge market to be tapped thanks to the first signs of ?crossover? cinema beginning to happen is a fact increasingly being articulated by the mega studios of the west.
And that?s why the Indian film industry should thank Aamir Khan?s film. Ever since the days of Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Gopalakrishnan, Indian cinema has been crying out for wider international acclaim, not just at film festivals around the globe which many of the Indian masters had been felicitated at anyway. What was needed was the right dose of finance and professional backing for the huge body of talented Indian film makers waiting in the wings and with capability of striking a chord with a much wider set of international audiences, not just the non-resident Indian variety which Karan Johar?s mundane Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham aims at. Today, Indian cinema can boast of film makers like Mani Ratnam, Ram Gopal Varma, John Mathew Matthan and Gulzar, not to mention Farhan Akhtar and Ashutosh Gowarikar, who need just the right dose of professional, financial and marketing support to make a lasting impact on international audiences. And this is only Bollywood I am talking of. Regionally, there are scores of talented, young film makers ? Bengal?s Rituparno Ghosh is just one example ? who still dare to dream but do not have the wherewithal to go for widespread international recognition. And until that happens, ?crossover? cinema will not be a reality.
It is against this background that the move by the government to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment in cinema, and the steps being taken by the banks and financial institutions like Industrial Development Bank of India, to consider funding the film industry seriously, come as real good news. Film financing by banks and institutions will go a long way in professionalising the film industry and ensuring better levels of scripting and implementation on the ground. Hollywood?s best practices need to rub off on Bollywood too, and that can happen if the FIs and banks insist on higher standards even as they commit their funds. Already, IDBI has set aside Rs 100 crore for film funding, and Bank of India is also getting into the act. Importantly, IDBI has laid down some preconditions for such financing. Among them is the fact that the entity to be funded has to be corporatised and the script would have to be decided in advance. So the days of actors rushing into the sets and the dialogues being written there will go. IDBI would only fund half the project cost, while the rest would be arranged by the entity being funded.
Once the film financing initiatives really gain momentum and international majors also begin placing their bets on Indian cinema, hopefully there will come a stage when talented film makers won?t have to run from pillar to post to make a film and to market them globally. That day, Indian cinema would truly have crossed over.