In the past one year they seem to be the flavour of the month or can we say the past one year. Web series and feature films are being made on various online platforms that focus on personalities both controversial and inspiring have caught the attention of subscribers around the country. This is an interesting development considering that movies made on political leaders in the recent past have not met with as much success as desired. Why is it popular with production houses?
Darshan Loleinkar who has made movies in Konkani felt not many biopics had been made. He said people would only be interested if a great deal of research was done and importantly if the subject chosen had done great work for society. He said if the idea behind the series was interesting then people would watch it in large numbers. If it was entertaining too that would help he said. Otherwise he felt it would look like a documentary. Darshan said it was important to provide details of the characters work, the personality and make it interesting for the paying public. He felt it was also important to not do something for the sake of making a Biopic because the absence of deep research would be obvious. He said such work always required a great deal of investment which may not be forthcoming for such projects.
Rajesh Pednekar felt people loved the series on Harshad Mehta and a large number of them watched it. People he said also like watching biopic on incidents. People he said liked humor and masala. Rajesh said “People don’t like anything normal now. Young people are watching such content with great interest. Sony made Rs 1000 crore I was told due to subscriptions”. This series, he said, made people talk about various such subjects around the country. It was the lockdown, he reasoned and people watched various such shows with great interest making the company a great deal of money. Rajesh said “The common people don’t understand the economic realities behind all this. It is a very big thing. If there is some kind of police action and drugs are involved then a story can be woven around it and sold to a channel”. He went on to say that more than movies, online was very big. Everyone involved was making money by bringing in a star and it was time to go to the floor. Biopics he said were working and with a bit of masala it would make everyone happy.
Rajendra Talak, a very prolific director in the state, did not believe biopics were really successful. He felt it was all about marketing. He said” Just because a series was made on Harshad Patel and caught everyone’s fancy, it does not mean that it will always be successful. A film was made on Dawood, was it successful. Some producer wants to make a film on a character he is fascinated with and that’s it. I don’t think it works. The film was made by Narendra Modi, Sanjay Dutt. They did not do very good business. This was done not with making money in mind. A film on Netaji did not make money. Look at similar work done in Hollywood. A film on Elisabeth involved such study and it was done brilliantly. But to achieve such results it involves investing a great deal of money. There should be no limit on the budget. Work on the script, the costumes all cost money. How many Bollywood movies have generated business to the tune of Rs 400-500 crore. A film on Kapil Dev was made and it did not do well
