Contemporary filmmakers are lucky to be reaping benefits of the streaming era, something actor-singer Ila Arun believes wasn't the case when directors like Govind Nihalani and Shyam Benegal were churning out "different kinds of content" in the 1970s and 1980s.
Arun, known for singing chartbusters like "Morni Baaga Ma Bole" and "Choli Ke Peeche", made her Hindi film debut as an actor with Benegal's acclaimed "Mandi" and Nihalani's "Ardh Satya", both released in 1983.
Before starting out in cinema, she did a six-month acting course at Delhi's National School of Drama in the 1970s, when theatre doyen Ebrahim Alkazi was its director.
Recalling working with Nihalani and Benegal, the singer-actor said the two directors were full of ideas to do something for society.
"What they have done in their times was a challenge. Today's filmmakers are lucky that they have different platforms available to show content. Society has also changed, as they want to see different kinds of content.
"When these people made films like 'Ardh Satya', 'Aakrosh', 'Nishant', 'Bhumika', it was all labelled as parallel cinema and these films did not see a long life in cinema halls. If OTT was there then, then their films would have done well on OTT," the 69-year-old told PTI in an interview.
Arun later worked with Benegal on five other films including "Welcome to Sajjanpur" and "Well Done Abba" and TV shows "Bharat Ek Khoj" and "Yatra". She reunited with Nihalani for the 1994 film "Droh Kaal". "I miss (working with) them, (but) we should not forget their age," she said about the filmmakers who are now in their 80s.
The actor said she recently watched "Mandi", a satirical comedy on politics and prostitution, and felt the film "should have been released now". The movie starred Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil and Naseeruddin Shah in prominent roles.
"We all felt it is a beautiful film, and that they (makers) should release it now. They should have more retrospectives of Shyam Benegal's films. The credit should go to these filmmakers for bringing me into this kind of cinema, and putting in their soul and blood in it," she added.
Referring to Benegal, Nihalani, and Rajkumar Santoshi, as “responsible” filmmakers, Arun said the trio influenced her views on society as well as her approach to acting. She worked with Santoshi in films such as "Ghatak" (1996) and "China Gate" (1998).
"They are very intelligent to pick up people (actors) who are learned and have done enough theatre, then they give freedom (to actors). Rajkumar ji was first assistant to Govind ji and Govind ji was attached to Shyam ji. They all feel their responsibility towards society as filmmakers. The kind of subjects that they all handled like prostitution, law...
"Rajkumar ji made commercial films 'Ghayal', 'Ghatak', with the same belief that you cannot undermine people, besides these films talk about caste disputes or discrimination. I'm lucky to be part of films these directors made. They are the ones who made me what I'm today, they contributed to my thinking," she said.
Her latest release is director Akshat Ajay Sharma's debut movie "Haddi", which sheds light on the life and challenges faced by transgender community. It is currently streaming on ZEE5.
In the film, headlined by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Arun plays a transgender named Revathy Amma. This is her fourth film with Siddiqui after "Raat Akeli Hai", "Ghoomketu", and "Manto".
Acting is what she likes doing the most, she added.
"There were so many layers to this character. Amma is not just a mother. She is a leader, protecting her community, fighting for their rights, etc. I like acting more because I get the chance to live many characters... It is good to be in the shoes of someone else or another's soul."
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