TV new torchbearer in India: Mahesh Bhatt

Apr 6, 2013 IANS

Kolkata, April 6 (IANS) Supporting the government's decision to filter TV content, leading filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt feels that "television is promising to be the new torchbearer".

"Television in India is promising to be the new torchbearer. I interacted recently with the creative head of a TV network and in that discussion, I discovered that ideas that we were throwing up, the depths that we were exploring were so refreshing. And cinema was not giving me the space because huge amounts of money are invested in a movie," Bhatt said at an interaction organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here Friday.

"Because of that, mediocrity has kind of tip-toed into Bollywood way back in time, and as they say, fear and mediocrity are kissing cousins. The more frightened you are, the more mediocre your content is. But TV has given you more elbow room and we have not forayed into TV now, but we hope to," said Bhatt, who co-owns popular film banner Vishesh Films.

The filmmaker is known for making critically acclaimed movies like "Saaraansh", "Arth" and "Zakhm", besides writing the story and screenplay for popular erotic noir films like "Jism" and "Jism 2".

According to Bhatt, television allows the "idea" and "writer" to take centrestage.

"The writer is the king the idea is the king. The mainstream industry has to get its narrative right. The narrative has to be relevant to the times we live in," said Bhatt.

Highlighting the importance of "self-correction" and the need to sieve through contents, the director said: "Self-correction is needed when you make entertainment products which are consumed by young people through people. TV is now going to reign.

"TV is something which the authorities are insisting needs to be filtered because that comes uninvited into our homes and rightly so. I support the government in that and support your concerns."

His next venture as a producer, "Aashiqui 2", is slated to release May 10.

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