OTT gives immense freedom to work on novel ideas & duration: Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali

KASAULI: “They give you the freedom to be yourself and go the extra mile without the pressure of the box office and duration. Yes, OTT has definitely been a boom for filmmakers like me,” director Imtiaz Ali told IANS.

Someone who pleasantly surprised everyone with ‘She’ that was aired on a popular OTT platform, he remembers that the story was his constant companion for several years. “The moment I got a chance to make it for a channel, there was no stopping me. I think the best part about these digital platforms is the fact that you can tell the story you want to, in a novel way. And this is something any writer/director dreams of,” he said.

Several young directors also criticise OTTs for following an algorithm where thrillers are encouraged and big stars are preferred. “There have been trends in movies, even now, but people break them, no? I feel the same for OTTs. There will always be those who will reverse trends and bring about fresher approaches,” said Ali at the ongoing Kasauli Literary Festival (KLF) in Himachal Pradesh.

Currently finalising a few scripts and developing a series for an OTT channel for which the production will start soon, Ali, who never went to a film school but immersed himself in theatre early on, stated: “Frankly, I do not miss learning filmmaking formally. Theatre has been awesome for me. It has really been the building block which has given birth to my ideas about performance and how to tell stories through people -- which is my job as a director. At that time, I felt it was important for me to actually absorb on-the-ground training from theatre rather than sitting in a classroom. Also, during my time, film schools had a very theoretical approach. Of course, things have changed now.”

For someone who has delivered major hits like ‘Rockstar’, ‘Jab We Met’, ‘Highway’, and ‘Tamasha’ it is now time to make cinema that refuses to be slotted. “What I am now constantly looking for are stories that do not try to belong to a certain genre. They must be pure without a hint of any per-conceived structure,” he smiled.

All for smaller film festivals that have cropped up across the country, even in less-populated towns, this director feels that it is important that they are not restricted only to metro cities.

“I am in big favour of film festivals as they really encourage the culture of watching films. There are grounds that facilitate conversations around cinema. Even if some movies being screened there are criticised, it is extremely healthy. I still remember the time of single-screen theatres when people like us would spend hours talking about the movies we saw. Film festivals are bringing back those conversations. Such festivals become an excellent place for people to rally around and talk about films.

A fan of world cinema and admirer of directors like the Serbian Emir Kusturica, Wong Kar-wai, and David Lean, he added: “Among the new crop, I have a deep appreciation for directors like Anurag Basu, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Raju Hirani and Ayan Mukherjee. All of them are extremely talented people. And yes, Bimal Roy from yesteryears,” he concluded.