New Hindi Directors Are Struggling: Anurag Kashyap, Kiran Rao, Vikramaditya Motwane Decode Why

Following the game-changing 1998 gangster drama Satya, which gave rise to several unique voices in acting and filmmaking, the subsequent decade saw a domino effect in the Hindi film industry. Existing alongside—and sometimes within—mainstream commercial cinema were new-age filmmakers like Vishal Bhardwaj, Sriram Raghavan, Anurag Kashyap, Imtiaz Ali, Hansal Mehta, and Vikramaditya Motwane, who disrupted the ecosystem.

"But if you look at the last five years, where are the recent young, interesting Hindi filmmakers? You can count them on your fingers," Motwane wonders.

The Jubilee director has come on board as executive producer, along with filmmakers Kashyap, Kiran Rao, and Nikkhil Advani, to put his might behind debutant Karan Tejpal's social-thriller Stolen. The film is written and produced by Gaurav Dhingra.

It is that rare coming together of industry bigwigs to back an original voice, and Kashyap is aware of what the moment signifies.

"It has become tougher for young filmmakers with a unique voice to break through in times like these. A new filmmaker sticking to the formula has more chances of breaking in than having a distinctive voice. It was easier for us between 2007 and 2016, post films like Maqbool, Omkara, Haasil. But now there is a formula that has set in and a new filmmaker has to cater to that," Kashyap tells THR India.

Motwane, who has been a long-time friend and collaborator of the Gangs of Wasseypur director, says the peak time for a new filmmaker in Bollywood was when people like him, Kashyap, Rao, Amit Masurkar, Neeraj Ghaywan, Vasan Bala, Shlok Sharma, and others were making films.

"They had to make movies only for the cinema halls, there was no other option. Multiplexes had come in and one could get a fairly robust distribution; even a setup of 250 good screens is not a bad deal for a movie. Which is why we had films like Chaitanya Tamhane's Court, Anand Gandhi's Ship of Theseus, and Shankar Raman's Gurgaon playing in cinema halls. People had to go to the theatres to watch it, and that's where new voices were being seen," Motwane says.

Right now, the director feels that young filmmakers find themselves in the middle of nowhere.

"Theatrical is not really robust enough for them, and streaming is not really geared up for them. So, where do the new voices go? Part of the reason all of us are getting behind Stolen is because it has to be pushed out to be seen," he adds.

Rao, who just last year delivered the crackling Laapataa Ladies, says the situation for young voices is
"far more complex now" as opposed to when she made her debut in 2011 with Dhobi Ghat.

"There was not just a set pattern for distribution, but also certain producers who could back your film, certain people, through whom you could get your film out. That has been pretty muddied now. Today, the audience could be in just one part of the city and not the entire city, so to get the right distribution could be harder. But on many other levels, the tools are cheaper, and there is an audience for all kinds of films. We had a clearer way in which we could make our films and get them out," she says.

Advani, who tries to balance his mainstream sensibilities and the heart of urgent storytelling, feels it was easier in the 2000s to try and convince the industry to be different.

"Right now, it has become so difficult to make films and distribute them. Everyone wants to play it safe. But the good part today is, the younger lot have access and they know the problems most filmmakers are going through," Advani says.