Amole Gupte who was billed the ’writer & creative director’ of the stupendously influential Taare Zameen Par (TZP) can’t help noticing that a film which fought tooth and nail against the competitive spirit, has gone to a glamorous global competitive platform.
Speaking from the sets of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kaminey in Hyderabad in which Amole plays the arch -villain Amole said. "TZP which was about how cut -throat competition smothers the creative spirit is going from one competition to another, now to the Oscars."
Amole has seen some of the other films that were considered as Indian entries for the Oscars.
"And the two Marathi films Tingya and Valu and the Hindi Mumbai Meri Jaan were fabulous. Any of these could’ve comfortably gone to the Oscars.
So again like my TZP where I questioned the practice of pitching one child’s talent against another I wonder how all these films can be pitched against one another. They’re so different. And so deserving. But for the sake of a wider reach I want TZP to win the Oscar."
A good laugh over celluloid’s abiding ironies and them Amole sobers down. "I’d be a fool to not be happy for the route that the film has taken.
For me Taare Zameen Par was never an end. It was a means to taking my ideas on child welfare to a wider audience. Today if the film is going to the Oscars I’m happy because the film gets more eyeballs. The Oscars are a platform for world cinema.
So my ideas in the film will go wider. The film has affected attitude to parenting in India. And that’s all I’m concerned with, " says this socially-evolved citizen making movies since 1982.
"I made a late entry to movie making and not because the glamour attracted me. Today I am more concerned about the conferences and seminars on parenting that my film has started than Oscars. TZP is a child that has gone much beyond me."
The film’s producer and credited director Aamir Khan has not been in touch with Amole since release.
"That’s a closed chapter. But, " asserts Amole. "if I’m called to help in any capacity for TZP to get into the Oscars, I’d be foolish to turn down the offer. Any attention the film gets will further my fight for children’s rights.
In my own way I’ve participated with the success of TZP, though not in the way that’s obvious. Like I said I’ve moved on to other concerns regarding children. My next film India Item goes into more children’s concerns.
The last one year has been spent relentlessly in making this a worthy project. But I still need a star component to make India Item commercially viable. But all the children are ready to face the camera."
Amole hasn’t used even one child actor from TZP after having coached all of them in the film. Apparently none of the TZP kids including Darsheel Safary have bothered to keep in touch.
"They know which way their interests are served, " Amole chuckles. "I’m glad the TZP kids have become so successful. Today I’m working with a different set of children. And they’re teaching me more about life than I ever could. My calling is children’s welfare. Cinema is a part of my main calling."
At the moment Amole is having ball tormenting Priyanka Chopra in Kaminey.
"It’s nice to be on another director’s set. I’m a trained stage actor. I play a villain in Kaminey and this gives me a chance to test my skills in unexpected ways. I’ve a very dramatic role. What fabulous actors Shahid and Priyanka are! And I’m enjoying every bit of it."
Not too many people know Amole played the lead in Dayal Nihalani’s Guru Dakshina in the 1980s.
"I don’t know what made Vishal Bhardwaj made him think of me. I’ve been a part of the FTII campus-films for eight years, and I’ve participated in a 110 diploma films as actor writer and director. I was an actor in Ketan Mehta’s Holi.
That’s when I had met Aamir Khan first. For me writing a script also entails doing the dialogues so I know what kind of performance to get from the actor.
To me every artistic tradition from popular to folk to classical are part of the same scheme. In Maharashra theatre and folk culture are very strong.
They’re very strong influences on me. I even did the costumes in Ketan Mehta’s Mirch Masala. I’m as fascinated by world cinema as Indian cinema. That’s why I’m happy when TZP goes to the Oscars."
Amole finishes his schedule for Kaminey on 3 October in Hyderabad and returns to Mumbai to renew work on his recently- started production house.
