Pawan Kumar: The Kannada audience too will have to come forward and create a demand for good content

Kannada director Pawan Kumar’s films have always stood out in terms of their making styles as well as the concepts they dealt with. These are probably why his movies such as Lucia (2013) and U-Turn (2016) are still being discussed by film buffs and are among the top Kannada films being streamed on OTT. Pawan, however, isn’t content with just that.

Over the years, he has been spearheading multiple efforts to increase the reach of Kannada cinema while also ensuring that the quality is not compromised. In a candid chat with OTTplay, the director talks about his career so far, the abstract references in his movies and his upcoming film with Puneeth Rajkumar. Just like his films, he starts off with his most pressing concern. 

Your films such as Lucia and U-Turn were among the first few Kannada films to release on OTTs. So, why do you think Kannada movies have not been able to use the reach that digital platforms provide?

There are a lot of connected factors. One, we don’t have producers who value content. But the reason for this is that no content-based film is able to generate the business to interest investors. Even when you talk about my films, they are high-concept movies that were made on shoe-string budgets. Why they are still being discussed is because they were strong on content. But when a producer looks at the box office figures of these and compares them with a huge ‘mass’ film, the difference is big. Also, if you cast a big star and do a ‘mass’ film, there is a fan following and you have a certain business guaranteed through the rights etc.

Even in the case of OTTs, it’s not like they are buying only content-based films. These days they are looking at the cast and offer much higher value when you have a big star attached to the project. So, for an investor that is what makes sense.

Another aspect is that there is a stark difference between the kinds of audience in Kannada. You have a section that only likes high-concept, well-made films and they don’t mind watching these in any language. Then there is a segment that only watches films of popular genres. So, as an investor, when you reach out to the former segment, the distribution is not set. For a decade now, I have been trying to resolve the distribution issues for the concept-demanding audience but it hasn’t been easy to bridge that gap.

Since you mention producers, Lucia was a crowd-funded film. With OTTs, you would now imagine that it has become easier for such films to be made. But is the struggle still the same?

It is. The multiplexes have an issue where they don’t allocate screens for films that don’t have audiences coming in. We assume that this doesn’t exist in the digital space. But the fact is that every OTT will say that if they are investing in licensing your content then that film should get them that many subscriptions also. Only then it makes business sense to them. If they see that a film with a star gets them more subscriptions, then they would opt for that.

There are these content-driven films that were made and were screened in a lot of film festivals but weren’t picked by any OTTs. Eventually, the makers went for a pay-per-view model and as soon as they did that, it was just lying there like how it was on YouTube.

Is this also the reason why the young crop of Kannada filmmakers, like Rakshit Shetty who began their careers with rooted-to-reality stories made on small budgets, are forced to transition to movies catering to a larger audience?

It goes without saying that every filmmaker will want to grow and have a bigger vision and canvas. They did try a few films in the beginning but they faced huge losses, and then went with the tested formula and that has worked. 

Before you made your directorial debut with Lifeu Ishtene in 2011, you had written plays and scripts for Manasaare and Pancharangi. So, was direction a natural progression or did you want to ensure that your story was made well?

It was probably a mix of both. Initially, I never knew I could direct. It was actually while I was assisting that I understood that there was a disconnect between what I was writing and what the director was making. That’s when I started feeling that maybe I could direct it the way I want. It happened very organically – one step leading to another.

Both Lucia and U-Turn have spawned a lot of remakes and you have helmed the Tamil and Telugu remakes. As a filmmaker, what is the motivation of doing the same film again with a different cast?

I have only done that once with U-Turn and that was because Samantha (Akkineni) had really taken a lot of interest to give Kannada films a push. When she was so keen on doing it, I felt I should try it out. Also, I wanted to experiment how it felt to have done the film once, and then get a completely new budget and cast.

We made a few changes when I did the remake though. The Kannada version of U-Turn was made for the indie-genre audience. But as soon as we got into the Samanth-starrer, we knew we were reaching out to a wider audience. So, the treatment was a little larger-than-life than the Kannada version. When people ask me which one I liked better, I tell them when I was making the Kannada film, that felt right and while doing the remake, that felt right with that cast.

In terms of casting, do you write keeping a certain actor in mind, especially because your first few films had Diganth in the lead?

You share a comfort zone with the actors you have worked with. So, that stays in the mind while you are writing too. It’s not that you are writing for the actor per se, but when you are imagining the visuals, you have the known faces pop up. Later, the business dynamics and investments dictate who you eventually cast.

Lucia has lots of these meta references from other films. For instance, the tent scene with the dream-reality sequence felt like a call back to Requiem For a Dream and Lifeu Ishtene is shown running in the theatre in Lucia alluding to the fact that the protagonists life is also like that. Do these seep in unconsciously while writing?

I have learnt by watching films. I haven’t gone to a film school. I worked as an assistant director, but I wasn’t trained. So, there are these films of directors that you keep watching and they stay with you.

In the case of Lucia, it wasn’t like I wanted to make a dream-related film because at that time Inception had already released. The origin of Lucia was about identity, about a famous guy not being able to live a normal life. That’s how it started and then dreams became a tool and later pills. I didn’t even know what lucid dreams were even though I had watched films like Vanilla Sky. It was only when I started searching online about dreams, to know whether it can be controlled, that I found about lucid dreams and then remembered that I had heard about in this particular film. It was a very organic process.

Now, I have understood that there is nothing called an original or unique thought. You could be thinking of something and some film would already be in the process of being made on this thought. I was watching a series recently and 20%-30% of a scene that I had written two weeks ago was in it. So, these ideas and thoughts go around.

But do you pay homage to your favourite filmmakers in your movies?

Not consciously. I would probably be fascinated by how a filmmaker or a DOP has done something great in a film and I try to say that we should do something that gives a similar feel. That would probably be my homage. Even in the scene that you had mentioned in Lucia, there are just two shots that come on the television. There’s a bit of Requiem For a Dream and Following. It was sort of my way of saying that these were the films that taught me. It was a very abstract way but I think a film buff would catch that.

Your films were selected to stream by OTTs and you have also directed two episodes of the Netflix web series, Leila. So, in terms of content, have you figured out what the OTTs are looking for?

It’s not that I went and pitched any of my movies. U-Turn and Ondu Motteya Katha that I co-produced, we made these films and then Netflix picked them up. U-Turn’s Tamil and Telugu versions were bought by Amazon Prime Video. I was basically hired for directing Leila because those who were writing and producing the web series had seen my work. Similarly, for aha’s Kudi Yedamaithe, they had a script ready and they wanted me to direct it. So, it’s my other films that made all this happen. I think what the OTTs want as content, they might have seen it in my work or believe I have the potential to create it.

Do you think a regional OTT platform such as aha in Telugu or Neestream in Malayalam will help Kannada filmmakers to come with more experimental content?

Absolutely, it’s something we are also starting. Before Netflix came to India, I had begun Home Talkies. That’s where Lucia started from. I didn’t know what Netflix was back then; but we knew what services we needed and that’s why we created it. It was way ahead of its time because digital payments were still new and it could only last for a while.

Last year, we started something called FUC, Filmmakers United Club, where we tried offering digital and more independent platforms. But again, it has to either be heavily backed by investors who will put in a lot of money and give it 10-15 years to develop, or it has to be community driven. Since we didn’t have investors, we were depending on the community but this was not strong enough to sustain it. Telugu’s aha is a great start; a lot of filmmakers now look at it as a good place to pitch their stories. If they get support, they will stand strong.

What do you think, say a regional industry like Malayalam has done right to cash in on the OTT trend that Kannada cinema can emulate?

I wouldn’t rest blame or credit the industry and the creative teams. Sure, they are partly responsible but the other 50% is the audience. In almost three weeks, four lakh people have watched a good film like Ondu Motteya Katha when it was available for free but you don’t see that response in theatres. When the business doesn’t show, it hinders more such films from being made. So, the audience will also have to come forward and create a demand for good content.

In Malayalam, somewhere that happened. We have always known that Malayalis speak their language and they are more connected with each other. Even if they are staying in other countries, they connect back to their people and content. That would have given a push to all the makers to do more. We are seeing the best 20 films in Malayalam but within the industry there might be another 15 that are also being made. In Kannada, there might be four but the other 15 are not being produced because those four itself aren’t getting the attention.

A film like Thithi or Ondu Motteya Katha, despite being content driven, catered to all types of viewers. But how much of a role does coming up with stories that appeal only to the urban audience have a say in determining the reach of Kannada films?

I distributed and marketed Ondu Motteya Katha and it did reach out worldwide. But since we began streaming it for free on YouTube, a lot of people are discovering it now. Based on the engagement and the comments, you can see how much people have liked it. So, I think as long as it’s a good story, people don’t care about anything else. Thithi was a proper Mandya-rooted tale that again connected with people globally.

The issue in Kannada has been that not many writers and directors come from these places. This is because the hub is Bengaluru. So, only those who have that education and some comfort of waiting it out and trying for a longer time, end up becoming directors. People from the little towns have much more authentic stories to tell but it’s just that they haven’t been trained or given a proper platform to come and do it.

Your next film has a big star such as Puneeth Rajkumar in it. A lot of indie film directors have found it tough to balance their ideology of filmmaking and the expectations of stars and their fans. Do you feel the same pressure or have you cracked that elusive formula?

I haven’t cracked anything as such, but both the production and the actor want to try out something different from what they have been doing so far. We have all now agreed that if the content is engaging, every section of the audience will be pleased. That’s how we can reach out to both kinds of audience without compromising much.

What else are you busy with?

I finished directing the aha series Kudi Yedamaithe and we are now in the final stages of its post-production.

(With additional inputs and questions by Avinash Mudaliar and Dileep V)