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Publication: The Business Times, p 10 & I 1 Date: 8 May 201 1 Headline: The celluloid storyteller

Shekhar Kapur Filmmaker

r / Despite brimming with stories, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur says he may never make another movie again; or he might just find another way to tell them. By Dylan Tan I

R ARE for someone his age, Indian film- maker Shekhar Ka- pur embraces tech- nology. The 65- year-old tweets reg- ularly and boasts almost 80,000 fol- lowers on his Twit- ter account which he uses to share

his thoughts, ideas, and even his wherea- bouts with his fans, like he did when he was in town last month to speak at SMU's Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneur- ship Distinguished Speaker Series.

Almost immediately, he had responses From people asking where was it going to be held and others posting online Links to articles which they thought he would he. interested to read up on before his talk.

"I love it that I'm able to talk to a thou- sand people at the same time," declares Mr Kapur, confessing his love for social networking and new media. "I may never need to make a lilm again because I may never need to tell a story in a static form like a feature fdm; there are hundreds of ways to tell stories in a much more interac- tive way."

But as with manv things we can't Live

"There's a whole argument on the oth- er side that if you want something to spread, you cannot have (mtellectual prop- erty rights) on it but there's an argument for both sides and I think one of the rea- sons technology is not further ahead is be- cause there is a resistance to allow it to be marketed or spread without people trying to protect it. I get over it by saying the tech- nology's not good enough," he says.

Creating online communities Regardless, he's been aggressively tapping into various forms of social media to get the word out about his latest project, Paa- ni, a futuristic science-fiction love story set against the backdrop of the water wars between the rich and poor.

It's a cause close to his heart; Mr Kapur is also an environmental activist and sits on the board of the Global Water Chal- lenge, the world's premier body for water- related issues. He is also a regular speaker at the Wodd Economic Forum on the top- ic.

mWater is a very important issue and when I'm making this film, I asked myself why must it be just a single event? Why can't it be spread over if the issue 1s very important and become a continuing com-

chuckles. "But it's also a definitive at- tempt to 6nd a new way to interact (with people)."

Which is why, unlike the current prac- tice of studios keeping details of their blockbusters under wraps, Mr Kapur makes no secret about Paani and gladly puts everything out there for anyone who's interested.

"Actors I know tell me that for some big studio movies they send the script in an armoured van.'And when they're read- ing the script, there's somebody sitting next to them. And then when they're done, they take it back," he says in amuse- ment.

"(But) I'm planning to serialise my script on the Internet and I'm creating a graphic novel at the same time," he re- veals. "I'm also going to put out my de- signs and ask people what they think about it and get them to talk about it."

The comments his fans leave him is al- so something he takes seriously. "You have a choice - you can take the feedback after they've spent or don't spend (their money) at the box office or you can take their feedback earlier," he says. "It's better to take it earlier, isn't it, otherwise the only feedback you'll get is 'I hate your film'." . -

without, the ex-chartered accountant and management consultant has struck up a love-hate relationship with technology.

"I get restless with it because I think technology should be further ahead than where it is now. I don't know why we need to carry a laptop around; why can't I go to the hotel laptop, put my thumbprint on it and get access to my hard disk which lives in a cloud? This was available 20 years ago but they're only talking about cloud now," he laments.

"A lot of technology doesn't come out because people spend years trying to pro- tect it and market it. I can understand

munityl" he says. 'What I've started to do is create a com-

munity, so by the time the film comes out, there will 20 to 25 million people world- wide who are tuned in to the community created by this film. Then the film just be- comes a part of an exercise to provoke peo- ple into a community event or act."

Already, Mr Kapur has managed to cre- ate a fair amount of buzz around Paani both online and offline. "If I walk around the streets of London, people know what film I'm ma!&&" he says.

Not bad for a film which hasn't even been shot or cast but which the press fre-

Artistic integrity But how far would a filmmaker like Mr Ka- pur, who's known for his fiercely inde- pendent style of movie-making, sacrifice artistic integrity for the sake of the studios and their commercial gains?

"I think to make a film, you have to be practical at one point," he reasons. "Crea- tivity is infinite, thought is infinite, the uni- verse is infinite - so we explore the uni- verse all the time. But money is finite, budgets are finite, schedules are finite so ultimately you take that and adapt it to a finite world."

b Born Dec 4 1 W in Lahore to a doctor father and journalist/stage actress mother

Nephew of actors Vijay Anand and Dev Anand

lifetime. We'll never finish because a crea- tive piece of work is never finished. It only finishes because you have to finish it," he adds.

Mr Kapur also notes a distinction he- tween different types of filmmakers. "You have to decide at one point if you are an entrepreneurial creative person or a for- hire creative person. If you're a for-hire creative person, then you're not really tell- ing your own stories. You are, as efficient- ly as possible, telling stories other people want you to tell; and that's what some di- rectors are hired to do and they do it suc-

that. But on the other hand, what if Ein- quently fall overthemselves repo&ng-in- "Most of us film directors, if we didn't cessfully. It's quite a skill. stein decided to patent his equations? accurately, according to him. "That's just have schedules or budgets, we'll be mak- '%idley Scott, prime example. Eahtastic What if the Bible was patented? me manipulating new media," Mr Kapur ing the same film again and again for one director, but very rarely will he develop his

Y j u s t m n , communicatead tell stcries. And I want

st0 es. Ihauganrotbc - to my idea dsft,riesbecause stories are impomt; we survive on stories, we tell stories, and stories b e o o m e t h e m w e ~ oM3elva' + Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur

Educated at The Modem School, New Delhi

.

Studied Economics at St Stephen's College, Delhi

Moved to London in 1970 to become a chartered accountant and management consultant

Member of the National Innovation Council, lndia

- -

Awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest cMlian award in lndia in ZOO0 for his contribution to the field of arts

I Awarded Bollywood Mantra in 2005 -- .- -

J numerous awards including a handful for Blanchett's performance as Queen Eliza-

From contradiction to story u1 may have been (successful in working

1 round the studio system) but it doesn't mean there wasn't conflict," Mr Kapur ad- mits of the episode.

"But then conflict is creative and I have a problem because all creativity for me emerges from a sense of rebelliousness; it's verv orovocative but in the studio svs-

own story. But give him a script and he will take it and give it a profile and visual quality that will take it beyond the roof. Then there's Michael Bay who's one of Hollywood's most successful directors hut he's constantly making studio films."

And then there's Shekhar Kapur who prefers to do things his own way, much to the chagrin of the Tinseltown suits. Like the time when he decided to cast the then-little-known Australian actress Cate Blanchett in the 1998 biographical film Elizabeth, which won him international recognition.

tem, it's hot appreciated. That's why soke people are not inherently, in their own per- sonality, directors-for-hire. You have to build a wall around it; you have to say, 'I can he rebellious but 1 can't tell them I'm rebellious'," he laughs.

That sort of contradiction also gives rise to stories, according to Mr Kapur. "You face in yourself a moral contradic- tion; you see one and you hy to solve it yourself and often it leads you to a schizo- phrenic area which puts a bridge between that contradiction and then that becomes your creative piece of work," he explains.

"And you drive yourself to an almost schizophrenic point of view; that's why so many poets go mad. It's because they feel a moral contradiction and they start ex- ploring it.

"But the more they explore it, the more they drive themselves to it if they cannot find a harmony - you're not finding an- swers; you're not asked in a story to solve a contradiction but you're asked to 6nd a sort of harmony between the two points and if you can find the harmony between the two points, then you have a creative piece of work"

MI Kapur is no stranger to finding a sto- ry in his own moral contradictions and un- surprisingly, Paani itself comes from one. -1 was on the Urd floor of a hotel in Mum- hai and below me was a slum. The way the hotel is constructed, if I sit in mv bath.

His first Hindi film that went on to win Rve Filmfare awards, the biggest movie awards in Indla. 1987 Mr India One of the iconic films of the 80s in Indian cinema, this was Kapur's breakthrough film. 1994 Bandit Queen A critically acclaimed film based on the life of outlaw-turned-politician Phoonlan Devi, which toured major film festivals around the world. 1998 Elizabeth Kapur's award-winning biopic of Queen Elizabeth I. Nominated for numerous awards including seven m a r s and won one for Best Make-Up. 2002 The Four Feathem Movie based on the novel of the same name by A E W Mason. Starred the late Heath Ledger. 2007 Elhbeth: The Golden Age Sequel to the 1998 original. Nominated for two Oscars and won one for Best Costume Design. 2009 New York, I Love You (segment) Kapur was one of 12 internationally acclaimed directors who directed a short film in this omnibus movie.

Pasyge Short film commiuioned by Swarovski and shot in Buenos Aires.

two to three times a week. And they only get half a bucket so they fight for it. I can see those people and that's a moral contra- diction; should I stop taking a shower? Should I only live on half a bucket?

"Then comes a point when I was a young boy and I never thought water would run out. Was 1 one of the ones amongst the millions who are responsible for destroying the ground sources of wa- ter? Should I stop drinking bottled water? Those moral contradictions led to my lat- est film."

Crossing over Thanks to the Internet and social media, MI Kapur has also started diversifying his art and crossing over to other mediums by working with other like-minded artists from all around the world on anything from poems to short films, music, and short stories.

The results can be found on his blog (shekharkapur.com) which he updates reg- ularly and posts musings on just about everything under the sun.

The Indian Fusion music group Midival Punditz has just incorporated one of MI Kapur's poems into their work and re- leased the track online earlier this week. The collaboration is not just a one-off. An entire album that mixes both art forms has been planned.

The World Wide Web has become one big canvas for the self-professed stolytell- er to flex his creative muscles and tell the world al l the stories he's been dying to tell.

"As a filmmaker, you're a communica- tor but nobody gets up one day and says the only way I can communicate is on the big screen," he says.

"1 just want to communicate and tell stories. And I want people to react to my stories. I hang on to the idea of stories he- cause stories are important; we survive on stories, we tell stories. and stories become the way we see ourselves," he adds. "The stories we tell others are the way we see

He was warned the studios would say 1 can see the slum. Now I can I& that ourselves and the way we ~erceive the no and he risked being fired. But Mr Ka- shower for 24 hours a day but I know that world is through stolyteu'mg." pur stood firm. The film went on to scoop down there in that slum, they get water dylantan@sph.com.sg

Source: The Business Times O Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction.