Story is king in today’s times

 They should travel and spread. With the rise of new media such as Netflix and social media, young filmmakers are emerging across India, and they are telling bold new stories. The panel discussion at Maquinez Palace on the topic ‘Young Filmmakers of India' highlighted this journey of the young generation of filmmakers. The panel consisted of director of ‘Shubha Mangal Sawadhan' film RS Prasanna, Assamese filmmaker Bhaskar Hajarika, Tamil filmmaker Kartik Subbaraj, and ‘Airlift' director Raja Krishna Menon. The debate was moderated by director Ashwini Iyer Tiwari.
The discussion began with the question: how do new filmmakers gain access to good producers? Addressing the issue, RS Prasanna said that the process is not as difficult as it is portrayed to be. "I began making short films first, and the struggle to join the mainstream made us tell new and different stories," noted the director, upon which moderator Ashwini Iyer Tiwari added that making short films is the right place to start. And the most important aspect of filmmaking is getting the story across to your audience.
Tiwari then observed that some films only get labeled as "festival films" i.e. films that are good in quality but might fail at the box office. "How one breaks that myth, is a major question," Tiwari said. In reply, RK Menon held the view that filmmakers need to convince the producers to give them new and different opportunities. On the other hand, the medium for broadcasting films is changing, and this gives the youth many opportunities, Menon said. "Films are now released on Youtube and Netflix. You just need to do something," said the director implying that filmmakers today only need to start making films and there are a host of platforms available to broadcast the same.
The discussion then moved towards the issue of how important the language of a film is, and the general consensus was that the story should get across to the audience regardless of the language. Putting forth his views, Assamese filmmaker Bhaskar Hazarika observed that Assamese films with subtitles are finding good audience abroad. "Films set in a different culture rather than one's own are gaining audience; only, we have to tell stories with universal themes so that they are understandable for global audience," he said.
Adding to the point, Tiwari brought forth a major difference between Hindi films and films in other languages. "Hindi films have a baggage. It comes with questions like, who is starring, what is the budget of the film etc while in films with local languages, the story is the hero," said Iyer. Expanding on this point, Kartik Subbaraj quipped that he had made a silent thriller just so he could show his film to anyone anywhere. "What matters is communicating the story," he added.
The panel finally deliberated on a question posed by the audience as to what makes a good film adaptation. RK Menon believes that adaptation does not mean you have to make the same film again. Adding to this, RS Prasanna stated, "A lot of remakes come from interest in box office. But you cannot "remake" the box office of a film. You have to decide what aspect of the film you wish to remake- the plot, the story, you have to remake the soul and the spirit of the film," said Prasanna.