Suneel Darshan: Director's voice often controlled by star power, corporates

Veteran filmmaker Suneel Darshan best known for films like Jaanwar Ek Rishtaa and Mere Jeevan Saathi in the nineties and 2000s feels the concept of family entertainment does not exist in Hindi cinema anymore and adds that many stars have often tried overpowering the vision of their directorsThe whole genre of family entertainment that holds moral values conflicts and differences of ideology has changed and we do not get to watch family entertainment in Hindi cinema anymore In fact those who used to make outanout family drama entertainers are probably not as respected in our film industry as those who would make an action film or a thriller Darshan tells IANSHe points at another problem On one hand there are stars who tend to overpower the vision of a film director and on the other there are corporates and production houses who are financially supporting the film who get in the way of creativity We have to understand there is a difference between content creation and filmmaking Sure we need to get the returns of the invested money within three days of theatrical release but what about the archival value of a filmDarshan addsRecently his 2001 family drama Ek Rishtaa starring Amitabh Bachchan Akshay Kumar and Karisma Kapoor was shown on television The director say in small towns where TV is still a part of home entertainment such films are still watchedDespite working with stars as Big B Akshay and Karisma Darshan could not sustain in the changing times He has his theory while explaining whyIt is a complicated matter You see when an actor becomes a star the corporate house will bank on the star Therefore they go by what the star wants A director these days is hired by production houses to serve them But cinema used to be a directors medium It used to be a collaboration between writers and directors Many times I feel the very Indianness is missing from Hindi cinema though that is not the case with Tamil Telugu Malayalam films Corporatisation has happened there as well but there the vision of the director is respected and not interferedhe saysHe adds These days in most films all we get to see is highly Americanised stories with morbidity and negativity Stories that are negative are served as real Initially corporate culture in our cinema brought a lot of money production value and introduced new technology But there are corporate agendas that interferes in storytelling and since they invest money and according to them stars pull the audience many a time the original vision of the director is compromised because as I said a director can be hired In the end when a film is releasing and if it flops it comes on the director though the world outside does not get to know who or how the vision of the director has been interfered with and controlled by others The command has shifted from director to producer and stars That is why film directors like Rajkumar Santoshi including other makers of family entertainment are not directing films anymoreDarshans last release was the romantic drama Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha in 2017 The film meant to launch his son Shiv Darshan fared below expectations at the box officeIs he planning a new project any time soon I am writing scripts and working on few subjects and once normalcy surfaces I will look for a way to turn them into films If no one is opening the door I will even then find a way There was a time I made film that redefined the career of actors As a film director I will again come back and tell storieshe signed offAlso Read Suneel Darshan Shravan always had the urge to make musicThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever