Unlike their Bollywood counterparts, a few Kannada directors feel strongly against turning the horrific incidents of 26/11 into a movie. AMR Ramesh is one such name, which has been associated with films that have explored the different layers of terrorism.
Movies like Cyanide, Police Quarters, Vana Yuddham in Tamil and Attahasa in Kannada have placed him in a league of comparison with directors who focus on realistic issues. “26/11 is a subject that should not be touched by any director mainly because it was shown live for nearly 78 hours on various TV channels. We can’t come out with different or more versions of it.”
Currently the director is garnering attention with his latest film on Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. Ask Ramesh about the ethics of making a film on terrorism and he says, “We can’t do films for the sake of it or because some particular incident happened. As a filmmaker, it is my moral responsibility to retell the story, but it has to be accurate and true.” No judgement, only facts is his mantra.
Ramesh puts investigative journalism and films based on true terrorist attacks on the same plate.
“I don’t make films based on the facts provided by television channels or media. I personally visit places and meet real people and then take on the subject,” explains Ramesh.
Handle with care
Even though scripts based on real life stories have proved to be a sure shot formula for a blockbuster hit, cinegoers in Bangalore feel directors take the liberty of over exaggerating incidents just to increase viewership. A good example is Ram Gopal Varma’s, aptly titled The Attacks of 26/11 which was not perceived well by the public.
Many derided the movie for its insensitivity and the use of excessive gore to create drama. “An event that could have been best shown with a tighter storyline or just as a straight documentary, was over-exaggerated, and turned into a horror story, rather than something that’s based on true facts. It was a terrible movie, and it’s quite a shame, since the movie was meant to commemorate a horrific event of Indian history,” says Krishna Ravi. Another movie buff, Veena Rao says, “I don’t see why there was the need to over-dramatise such a tragic story. Making an already horrible event into something straight out of a horror novel, is only going to upset people even more.”
Other languages
There have been many flicks pertaining to the issue of terrorism in the past decade but only a few have caught the attention of movie buffs.
Popular movies like Bombay, Dil Se, Sarfarosh, Mission Kashmir, Fiza, Black Friday, Dus, A Wednesday, New York, Kurbaan, Aamir and Viswaroopam proved to be hard-hitting accounts of real incidents.
The Southern industry is not been far behind with films like Roja, Velayudham, Thuppakki.
Even Mollywood has scored with Anwar, Nair Saab, Sagar Alias Jackie, Kandahar, Sobharaj to name a few. On the other hand, Telugu industry has explored global terrorism in some of their movies.