I don’t let a theatre release decide the fate of my film: Brahman Naman director

Tasher Desh, which is only my second film to release in theatres, was supposed to be an experiment. Making films for exhibition in theatres goes against the very grain of my filmmaking. If I were to make films with that purpose, I will have to make a series of compromises, which is not acceptable to me. I will have to keep the producers happy, give in to the distributor’s demand, keep in mind the whims and fancies of the censor board.

Today, there are so many avenues open for filmmakers. Gandu has been seen by half of India without a theatre release. So, to answer your question, I don’t let a theatre release decide the fate of my film.

Is that why you chose a digital platform like Netflix?

If you visit the homepage of Netflix, you will find Brahman Naman listed next to Narcos and House of Cards. That’s amazing for me. When I started off, I wanted to show my films in indie film festivals. I never wanted to make Avatar-like blockbusters. We will release it in the US next month and that’s a tricky market. The thing is: this is like a dream come true for me.

Let’s talk about Brahman Naman. How did it happen?

I walked into the picture later. It was actually the baby of producer Steve Barron (director of the 1990s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and Naman Ramachandran (an Indian author and journalist, who also runs the London Indian Film Festival).

It is about Naman growing up in Bangalore in the 1980s. He wrote the script and it was brilliant. When I was asked to direct the film, I related to the era, but was unfamiliar with the place. I looked at it as a challenge.

Brahman Naman is a sex comedy about a geek wanting to get laid. That’s what most sex comedies are about. Isn’t that too conventional a film for someone who made Gandu?

I have always wanted to play with genres. Yes, it’s a sex comedy, but I think I have managed to make it more than that. Look at the female characters in the film. They are not passive objects of lust and desire. I have tried to empower them with agency. The boys are terrible. They make mistakes, they are insensitive. They are like boys at that age. But you don’t really hate them, do you?

Naman, actually, is a complete jerk. Yes, he is. But he is also confused and a kid. He doesn’t know what he wants. Many may find him fundamentally unlikeable. But he is likeable because of that.

Will you say Brahman Naman is your most conventional film to date? It has a linear storyline unlike most of your earlier films.

I don’t think so. I don’t think you will find a film like Brahman Naman running in your next-door multiplex. Yes, it follows a linear story structure, but that’s because that’s the demand of the genre. I don’t think there is anything conventional about the way the characters are interpreted in the film. I don’t see anything mainstream about the way the story is told.
Tell us about the female characters in your films. Starting from the mother in Gandu, who has an affair with a local ruffian but refuses to be judged for it, to the groupie in Brahman Naman, who doesn’t shy away from offering her body to Naman without any moral misgivings, they always have an interesting arc.

It’s always difficult to write interesting female parts in a primarily boys’ film. But we were sure that we didn’t want cardboard cutouts as female presence. Even the girls who are objectified by the boys are acutely aware of that and play into it. The girl in college knows that the boys are discussing the colour of her panties and she intentionally sits on the bench to flash them. The girl, who Naman calls anonymously every day, plays along because she wants to.

At that age, there are fluid sexual interactions and I didn’t want to commit violence by denying these characters that space. Yes, the boys unapologetically objectify these girls but we have to realise that they are their friends too.

Most of your films are about boys on the cusp of becoming men. The boy in Gandu, the prince in Tasher Desh, and now, Naman…

Yes, you are right. I have probably told the same story over and over again. Maybe I will tell this story 50 times more. I don’t think I will tire of this. I will reinvent it each time. I empathise with this story.

As boys, how do we see the world around us? How do we engage with it? The boy in Gandu came from a troubled family and then went on his own journey of self-discovery. Similarly, the prince in Tasher Desh had to go through that. They are all utterly confused and make for great canvases.

Do you identify with them? Were you a geek like Naman or a rebel like Gandu?

I was not a geek for sure. I was into music, which meant I was cool, which means I got a lot of action. But I had many boys in my school who were like Naman. They weren’t cool but they knew what cool-dom meant. While we were busy just living, they seemed to have a strange awareness of everything.

I had this one guy in my class, who had a tattered old blazer. He was the only guy with a blazer in our class and he was convinced that he looked great in it, no matter how ridiculous he actually looked. I wanted to incorporate that confidence in Naman.

Another striking feature about Brahman Naman is the attention to detail. From those Waterman fountain pens to the pedal-pushers, everything has a lived-in look. Even the body language of the characters are distinctly different. How did you achieve that? You are not from Bangalore, after all.

I shifted to Bangalore for about eight months before shooting the film. I tried to pick up the language, spent time in hole-in-the-wall bars. We had a very strong research team.

We didn’t let the actors just wear those 1980s style costumes. We made them wear uncomfortable chaddis too. Most boys that age used to wear them. That’s why they have an awkward gait. They constantly needed to adjust their underwear. One last question. What do you have to say about the brouhaha surrounding Udta Punjab and the Bengali film Cosmic Sex, which was barred from screening at the state-owned Nandan film complex in Kolkata because it contains some graphic sex scenes?

It’s really frustrating for a filmmaker when these things happen. Which is why I never want to screen my film at Nandan or any other theatre where it will require to be made in accordance to other people. A film like Cosmic Sex deserves an online release and I am glad the filmmakers have opted for it already.