Tigmanshu Dhulia: OTT Is Very Welcoming For Directors Like Us Who Usually Don’t Make Films With Big Stars

Talking to Prateek Sur, Tigmanshu Dhulia opens up about how ‘Garmi’ as a student politics film is different from his debut directorial ‘Haasil’, which was also on student politics. He also talks about how OTT is changing the game for filmmakers like him who don’t always work with the biggest of stars. Also, he reveals some of the biggest misconceptions that common people have about the film industry. All this and lots more. Excerpts from the candid chat:

Is the story of ‘Garmi’ inspired by real-life incidents? Or is it a fictional tale?

It’s a fictional piece and not inspired by true stories but these kinds of stories you see them happening around you.

As it is about college politics, how much were you into politics during your time in college? Did you take instances from your college life and put them into ‘Garmi’?

It was mostly observations of what was happening around me when I was in college. In our time the graduation was of two years. So, in those two years, what can a person do? So, I observed.

Your debut directorial ‘Haasil’ was also about student and college politics. How different is ‘Garmi’ from ‘Haasil’?

The story is different. ‘Haasil’ was a feature film and this is a web series. There is a lot of difference as far as the structure is concerned. I wanted to explore the youth from the northern belt as to what they are feeling and what they are going through and how their morality has changed over the past 22 years. ‘Haasil’ was made in 2000 and released in 2003. Also, in OTT you get the chance to explore the world rather than the story. I have explored it further.

You’ve cast a newbie as the lead actor for ‘Garmi’. You have been in the industry for so many years, and you could have got a big star also for playing the lead role. Did you approach any known name to be the lead or did you always want a newcomer to lead the story?

It’s a 22-23-year-old’s story. The hero is a student of MA. So where would I get a star who is 21-22 years old?

In a time when big theatricals are generally not working in Hindi cinema, are producers and directors like you more inclined towards OTT?

OTT is very welcoming in the sense for?directors like us?who usually don’t make films with big stars. I have made films with big stars but that’s an exception. OTT doesn’t give you the burden of marketing, print and publicity. Otherwise, when you make a small budget 3-4 crore film, print and publicity will be another 3-4 crore. So, your film becomes 8 crores and that is not the problem with OTT. It’s an economics facility. OTT gives you a lot of freedom.

Are there any downsides to this OTT boom? Probably some things which we, from the outside, aren’t able to see, but you being in the midst of it all, can see and predict?

People who are handling these platforms are still trying to figure out how to really monetise this structure. I don’t have the answers to this though.

Are digital platforms changing the way cinema is made?

It has affected, as that’s what the people have consumed for the past three years. Even filmmakers when they watch something, it’s like a study and that’s what filmmakers like me have been studying for the past 2-3 years. Consuming web content in a large way does affect you but I think that feature films,?the films that release in the theatres, are structurally different from a web show.

In the last couple of years, with Hindi films not working that well at the box-office, where do you think we are going wrong?

There are many reasons that films are not working. One is that they have some faults in the storyline and earlier during the 70s and the 80s even till recently we did not have so many entertainment options so even mediocre stuff people used to go and watch. Now since you have so many options you will only go and watch a tested content. Otherwise, the ticket rates are very high and in a small town, it’s difficult for a family of 4 to go and watch a movie. Also, what people really don’t talk about is traffic and there is so much traffic even in small cities and towns that where it used to take 10 minutes to reach a certain destination, now it takes more than half an hour. I am not talking about Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore but even Lucknow, Allahabad, Jabalpur, or Kanpur.

Nowadays films come on OTT after, say 7-8 weeks of their theatrical release. Is that pushing the audiences away from coming to theatres and sitting for a few more weeks to watch the same film in the same HD quality from the comforts of their home?

Yes, I agree with that. Until and unless it’s a film that needs to be watched like ‘Pathaan’, ‘Baahubali’ which is more than a film and is a tamasha, you will not go to watch. But not all movies can be like those ones.

OTT platforms have content from all over the globe and numerous languages. Do you think with this, the culture of remaking an already released film in a different language would stop in India? Like, would Bollywood filmmakers stop making a remake of a hit Telugu or a Malayalam movie?

It will happen eventually, but films like ‘Drishyam’ really worked. More and more when we get exposed to northern Hindi films it will happen sooner. When we get exposed to outside Hindi cinema content, like from south or outside India as well, the remakes would not work.

As you’ve been in the industry for so long, I’ve to ask you this. What are the most common misconceptions about the film industry that people from the outside have?

They think that the film industry is all about glamour. It is glamorous but for a select few. It’s not that the glamour is flowing out of every studio. It's too much hard work and struggle.

What next can we see coming from you?

There are more stories in the pipeline. I have just finished shooting a feature film. It’s called ‘Ghamasan’.