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Saturday, 26th July 2014, 06:57 PM IST After his film ‘Humshakals’ received flak from audiences andcritics alike, actor Saif Ali Khan was going about calling it a mistake. Thequestion was thrown about whether it is right for an actor to disown his filmafter it flops. Several filmmakers from the Hindi film industry gave theiropinion.
Producer-director David Dhawan said, “A film is likea baby sired by both the director and the actor. And no one abandons the babyjust because it fails in life. At no stage should the actor abandon a film orhave regrets about doing it.”
Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar too thinks it wrong for any actorto do so. He said, “Where is the team spirit if an actor disowns a film? Everyfilm is a result of the entire team's hard work, director and actor included.”
Filmmaker Aanand L Rai opined, "An actor should doubthis own understanding and choice of scripts rather than blame anyone else. Anyactor or for that matter any director can go wrong with the script. But thenone should be man enough to blame oneself and not others."
Rahul Dholakia gave a rather diplomatic answer, "Suchinstances of an actor disowning a film are rare. But it does happen. Box-officefailure should not be the reason for disowning or condemning. It’sfine to analyze the reasons why a film didn't work but being vocal about yourdislike for a how a film shapes up is another matter. That should depend on somany things. One can't take a generalized view."
Even Umesh Shukla diplomatically said,"It depends on the individual to individual instance. If a film projectdoesn't match up to an actor's expectations or if the actor is unhappy with theway a film is executed the actor might choose to react. A film is a team workwhere a producer, director and actor are equally responsible for the final outcome.And if everyone is happy while doing a film, the actor should not turn aroundto crib just because a film doesn't work.”
Filmmaker Satish Kaushik feels the actors must in fact blamethemselves: "An actor can surely blame himself and repent for selectingthe wrong film. But at no point can he put the blame on others and that toopublicly, and wriggle out of all responsibility about the way a film shapes up.A film is a team effort. Its final outcome is the star's and the director'sresponsibility equally. Neither can wriggle out by pointing accusing fingers atthe others.”
Other filmmakers also termed it as an unprofessionalbehaviour. Bejoy Nambiar: "Everyone involved with a film shouldstand by it irrespective of its fate."
Reema Kagti: "I don't believe it's possible to disownyour own work. Criticism, if it comes out of giving an honest opinion, is okay by me."
Shailendra Singh: "It's rather unprofessional. I agreefilmmaking and acting are a creative endeavour. But once you are paid for it, youturn it into a profession. You therefore need to be accountable for your ownwork. You can't take home the pay cheque and say, 'Oops, that shit ain't mine!’"
Ananth Mahadevan: "Actors sometimes tend togive the mandatory script and narration the miss especially when big names areinvolved. Not too many actors disown their works. Some speak openly about theirmistakes. But the flip side to this is that they often overlook these faultswhen a close friend or a big corporate house is attached while they tend to gothrough the more genuine but smaller filmmaker with a toothcomb."
Onir: "I think it's absolutely unprofessional andabsolutely not done."
Ajay Bahl: "After being a part of a project it isunethical to cause any damage to it by speaking against it in the media or anyother social or public platform."
Hansal Mehta: "All of us, including me, are on thedefence when faced with a backlash. Nobody signs a film to disown or criticizeit. People have various reasons to do films, including job satisfaction,respect, gratification and money. If they are clear about what they desire froma project before they sign they won't have a reason to feel betrayed later.Failure and success are milestones in the larger journey. We should beconcerned about the journey."
All in all, we know one thing for sure, that if the filmfails the blame game is inevitable. We wonder what is Saif’sreaction to all these comments now! |