The Hindu Business Line : English talkies

For the past three weeks everyone has been talking about Being Cyrus, which made Rs 2 crore-plus in its opening weekend. In these days, when tent-pole (big budget, big star) movies fail to garner 100 per cent collections on the first day, the performance of first-time director Homi Adajania's film, based on a short story, has made the industry sit up and take notice.

The film is entirely in English, barring the odd Gujarati-isms. It stars not one of the ruling triumvirate, but the fourth Khan, Saif Ali. It is styled as a psychological thriller. It has no songs. So what is it about the movie, that's made it a multiplex darling?

Several factors have come together to make the film a success. March was a spectacularly bad month for Bollywood (according to industry watchers, the worst in many years: except for Malamaal Weekly, nothing ran), so viewers fell upon Being Cyrus with heartfelt gratitude. Purely by default, it has been the only movie to go to in March.

The blitz of marketing and promotions also helped build awareness of the movie and its director before and after its release. The fact that it was released after the heavily-publicised success in festivals abroad aroused curiosity among Net-savvy multiplex-goers, enough to get the weekend crowd in.

But what's really gone in the film's favour, according to a straw poll this writer undertook in these weeks, is that it really and truly speaks a language that the global urban Indian has grown up with.

Hinglish is all fine and good for Aamir and his Rang De Basanti gang, and other movies, which try and please everyone. Being Cyrus caters to those of us who think and speak in English, and are very comfortable in our Indian skins. Its sheer `nicheness' appeals to `People Like Us'.

It helps hugely that Saif (his star presence is itself a big draw, and instantly provides a sheen to the movie) speaks English as his first language. The moment he opens his mouth, you know that he's not putting it on, not doing accents, not sending it up. It is of little consequence that he doesn't sound like a Parsi much, which he purports to play.

In fact, except for Boman Irani, who is pitch perfect, neither Naseerudin Shah nor Dimple Kapdia sounds very Parsi. Surprising in Naseer's case because he did such a great job of being one in Pestonjee, not so in Dimple's who comes off loud and obvious.

For those starved of quality cinema coming out of Mumbai, and who are racing off to see Being Cyrus, the small matter of authenticity matters little. So does the minority opinion, which this writer shares, that it isn't a particularly good movie. Sure, it is good looking, has quirky characters, and a superb premise, but it doesn't much go anywhere because the movie is all surface, no depth.

But carping critics like me have been told off by the figures, which are being bandied by buoyant exhibition chains (PVR claimed that out of the record-breaking first weekend Rs 2 crore-plus figure, the theatre chain contributed Rs 50 lakh, which amounts to 25 per cent of the all India share). And what that has done for the trade is major. From now on, movies made in English will be looked upon not as automatic risks, but as potential money-spinners, which translates, happily, into easier funding.

Funding for Indian-English films

It's not as if Being Cyrus is the first Indian-English film which has got people talking. Right from Aparna Sen's 36 Chowringhee Lane, to Mr and Mrs Iyer and 15 Park Avenue, Nagesh Kukunoor's Hyderabad Blues 1 and 2, Dev Benegal's English August and Split Wide Open, Rahul Bose's Everybody Says I'm Fine, and a few others, there has been a steady advance in filmmakers' desire to make movies in languages they think and dream in. But funds have always been a problem, even for those who leaven the English with Hindi (Jhankaar Beats, Raghu Romeo), Kannada (Freaky Chakra), Tamil (Morning Raaga) etc.

Kukunoor's first cinematic attempts were self-financed; only his latest, Iqbal had Subhash Ghai's backing, and what a killing that movie made on the box office last year, as well as becoming 2005's most beloved movie. Sujoy Ghosh found Pritish Nandy Communications to produce his delightful Jhankaar Beats at a fortuitous juncture. The multiplex boom was beginning in 2003, and the movie got a wider release than any other Hinglish venture till then, and consequently earned more, too.

Aparna Sen's Mr and Mrs Iyer not only got itself a national award, but made money as well. The level of interest in the director's propositions increased dramatically, and she was in talks with major league Bollywood stars like Ajay Devgan and Saif. The fact that the movie they were supposed to make got stalled half way is another story; the important thing is that she got up close enough to outline a proposal and for it to get a tentative nod. Before Mr and Mrs Iyer, to contemplate someone like Sen and Devgan on the same platform would have been an impossibility.

And it is part of movie lore how director Rajat Kapoor opened up a begging bowl on the Net, and financial support came in dribs and drabs from around the world for Raghu Romeo. It may not have made the money, but it got the right people talking, and Kapoor got easier backing for his recent foray into `sex and the life of the urban stressed-out couple', Mixed Doubles, layered with very contemporary, very funny situations and dialogue.

It also got a much bigger, better-planned release than Raghu Romeo. The latter's dismal performance had a lot to do with its no-publicity-no-promotion-zero- visibility release, something that Kapoor has everlasting regrets about. It is a wonderful, witty film, and the director is completely within his rights to feel the way he does.

The space has been cleared for more projects in English. For English mixed with other languages. For smaller movies, which will not just revel in their smallness, but will deliver edge. We fervently wish that the nascent period of experimentation, where just the fact of being different was meant to spell success, will settle down into a phase where we will get genuinely good, provocative cinema.

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