Pan Nalin’s Chhello Last Show is an Oscar-worthy swing at immortality that deserves all the praise and support it can get. In a conversation with Firstpost, the director of Valley Of Flowers and Angry Indian Goddesses, opens up on the Oscar and other aspirations.
Your film is a veritable masterpiece, and I feel if this one doesn’t get us the Oscar, nothing will. What is your reaction to all the naysayers who have crawled out of the woodwork with their baseless accusations?
Thank you. The initial reaction and backlash me and my team received were indeed sad. Every nation celebrates and supports their selection to the Oscars meanwhile we end up wasting our time dealing with such malice and baseless allegations. But since last few days, we are happy that as more and more people watch Last Film Show, they are rising in our support.
They say Chhello Show is copied from Cinema Paradiso. I say, baloney. What do you say?
I will say to them, please go and watch Last Film Show and decide for yourself.
A related question: why do you think all our recent attempts to get an Oscar nomination have failed? Have the recent entries been too Indian or not Indian enough?
Honestly, I do not have answers to such a complex question. We should not forget that Oscars are American awards given away by The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The movies must touch and win hearts of those 9 to 10,000 Academy members, it does not matter if it’s a popular film or not. I guess what the Academy looks for is whether the film or filmmaker has successfully managed to push cinematic boundaries.
Have you seen Rajamouli’s RRR? What is your reaction to attempts to get that film into the Oscars through the backdoor?
I have not yet seen it. However, as we all know every film after its qualifying run in the US is considered eligible to submit it to the Academy. I wish all the best to all submitted fiction and non-fiction movies from India.
Coming to the film, Chhello to me marks a new beginning to storytelling in Indian cinema. The narration combines neo-realism with a kind of dreamlike esotericism. How did you get to this synthesis?
Each time I want to tell a story, I look for its cinematic treatment within the core nature of that story, a kind of DNA-like structure. Last Film Show is purest and honest form of storytelling purely driven by human emotions and power of dreams. Its central theme of Films, Food, Friends and Family is a kind of neo-realism I like in the cinema. But it is also a story of celebration of light, and light is what dreams are made of. Young Samay lives in two parallel universes, one is realistic, another dreamlike esoteric universe made up of movies.
The story I believe comes from your own childhood. How much of Samay is you?
A lot. Last Film Show is inspired from my own childhood. While growing up in a remote Kathiawad village, my life turned upside down when I saw my first movie at age of about 8 or 9. Many years later, around 2010/11 I discovered that my childhood mentor who was a projectionist at a cinema hall in Amreli was jobless as Cinema Halls across India were going digital, or many single screens were shutting down. So I realized soon in 2022 it will be almost a decade of disappearance of celluloid and our world has gone insanely digital, so it was right time to return to innocence and organic stories. Like Samay, I was mesmerized by the power of cinema. It filled me with heartwarming emotions.
I am very fascinated by the fusion of food and cinema in your film. The love that you display for food in the Mother’s cooking sequences equals the love that Samay displays for the motion picture. Do you love food as much as cinema?
Absolutely. I love food and everything connected to food like soil, seeds, agriculture and so on. Maybe that comes from my mother and father, both excellent cooks who truly loved food. When I end up falling in love with any art or culture of a country, coincidentally that country often has great food and culinary traditions; Italy, Japan, France… I believe food and films have strong bond in my life. And great movies always make me hungry by the time it rolls end credits!
The actress playing the mother Richa Meena is quite a revelation. She is a very attractive mother, in the way she cooks and looks. Was that the way you visualised her?
I was looking for certain qualities of my mother in the character of Baa; silence, grace and gorgeousness. But a strong power from within, a force to reckon with. So after a very long search when Richa Meena arrived, we started working on her role and building her persona. And finally arriving at the way I had visualized her.
How difficult was it shooting the film on location? Tell me some of your most memorable shooting experiences.
Shooting on real locations is fun but also has its challenges. We were mainly filming in Kathiawad region where infrastructure to put up a crew of 150 people is a big logistics nightmare. Also to coordinate the shoot with the Western Railway train schedule came with many issues. We had most of our outdoor locations near Sasan Gir forest and wildlife was all around us. At least on two occasions lions strolled onto our main set of Chalala station!
The death of Rahul Koli has shocked everyone. Is there any plan to support the family?
We have been helping Rahul and Rahul’s family. Since the last three to four months we took care of Rahul’s medical expenses and treatment. We also rescued his father’s auto-rickshaw from moneylenders. We are now in process of setting up a fund for Rahul’s younger brothers and sister. Rahul will always be our Manu from Chhello Show and we will always support his family.
Your film lists several filmmaking greats at the end. How did you pick the names? I mean, Satyajit Ray is mentioned but Adoor Gopalakrishnan is not, and so on?
All names are picked randomly. There are so many great masters in India and abroad. So the names were picked just to express the main thought behind the process of homages.
Tell me about your next project?
Too many things in development and writing but it’s all halted. I need to dedicate the coming months to Last Film Show and its campaign for the Oscars.
Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.