The second edition of the Oasis Film Festival started with the inauguration ceremony at the Central Auditorium on the 20th of October. Even though the event was delayed by an hour, the talk given by Imtiaz Ali, the Chief Guest, ensured that the audience was not left dissatisfied.
The event began with a celebration of the twelfth anniversary of Jab We Met, which was marked by a cake-cutting ceremony. This was followed by the Lighting of the Lamp, after which the second edition of the Film Festival was declared open. The talk given by Imtiaz Ali saw a clumsy start, with the mic failing to turn on, but Ali managed to brush it off by saying, ‘I guess it wasn’t meant to be.’ He further proceeded to break the ice by taking a hit at the current gender ratio at Oasis, and sarcastically noted how it was finally ‘enough to work with’ for the boys.
Ali categorised his talk into four broad, loosely-related parts which he hoped would provide a glimpse into his life as a director, theatre artist and a small-town guy. He started off by narrating his experience of bagging his first movie—Socha Na Tha. It was when he was directing TV serials that he got pitched the concept of a telefilm consisting of three separate parts, by Star TV. However, due to unfortunate circumstances, Star revoked the offer. He eventually got a chance to pitch the idea to Sunny Deol who was enthusiastic about producing the film. But, the production of the film took over five years to complete, due to constant budget constraints they were faced with. It was during these five years that he came up with the storyline for some of his most acclaimed works —Jab We Met, Cocktail, and Highway.
He then went on to talk about the time he visited Pilani twenty-five years ago when he was called to judge street plays. He reminisced about the ‘Bohemian-lifestyle’ prevalent in Oasis back then and—much to the amusement of the entire audience—added, “Whatever you guys are up to, I’ve done far worse things.” He expressed how at-home he felt when being with a bunch of ‘strange’ people who were in the ‘same state as him’. This kind of freedom, he insisted, is the true spirit of Oasis. He then urged everyone to lead their lives with a similar spirit of freedom and do all kinds of things, except the ‘illegal ones’.
The third topic Ali spoke on is Tamasha—one movie he believed the audience could relate to the most. He talked about how the movie was essentially conceptualised when he was just a small boy, staring out the window while travelling by train. While he was doing so, he could visualise his alternate self—someone who was silent, free and wild—running across the train in the opposite direction. This person, though unlike himself in real life, represented his true, raw self. Through this, he came up with the concept Tamasha is based on— Don’t allow yourself to get chained, let your true self run wild.
He then proceeded to talk about The Great Indian Railways, and why his movies have been heavily influenced by them. The kind of interactions one has with such a broad spectrum of people is something that can never be achieved by travelling by aeroplane, neither can one explore the diversity in geography that exists in our country. He then went on to expose the flaw in peoples’ concept of productivity and how at times it is essential to halt every so often. Ali then went on a different train of thought and stressed how important it is to read newspapers even though ‘one can’t change anything in this country at this point’. He then went on to say that we live in a capitalistic society, one that’s feeding on the ‘click and share’ culture. The society we live in is obsessed with the mainstream and this makes it imperative for people to make an effort to identify subjects with depth.
The final topic Ali explored is the impact that peoples’ opinions on his movies have on him. He first started off with Rockstar—a move which was very well received by the audience. The movie brought about extreme emotions in people, so much so that a girl once came up to him and told him, “Don’t listen to these bastards, make more movies like Rockstar.” Tamasha was another movie which opened to polarising reactions. A notable reaction to it was of an elderly woman’s, who walked up to Ali and said, “ You should have made Tamasha years ago, it’s too late now.” This is one comment that really struck a chord in him and made him realise the kind of impact his work can have on people.
He concluded with a story from when Tamasha had come out. Someone had commented on his Facebook page that Tamasha wasn’t good because that person had a tough time understanding it. Others replied saying that the person just wasn’t smart enough to understand it. This episode was an eye-opener for him. He realised that his movies had begun to cater only a small fraction while he strongly believes that cinema should be for everyone.
The talk was followed by the question hour which, due to the time constraints, was limited to just a single question. On being asked about the evolution of Indian cinema, Ali said that the greatest form of evolution took place when TV came to India. In recent times, one can see that the audience is progressing faster than the film-makers, a trend which was earlier absent.
Lastly, the winner of the BITS Embryo Contest, Abhishek, got the opportunity to present his letter to Ali, who highlighted its key elements— Kareena Kapoor, Jab We Met, Sadda Haq, and something about him being a great director.