Size still matters in the marketplace, but a section of Bollywood is steadily veering round to the view that small, too, can be beautiful – especially when it is packaged and positioned right. Young filmmakers with artistic gumption and a new breed of ‘creative’ producers determined to take Hindi cinema to the next level – and beyond the confines of sheer entertainment – are rewriting the script, slowly but surely.

“Directors who have striking new stories to tell are today finding their voices because the creative climate in the Mumbai industry is changing. The audience is clamouring for fresh ideas and alternative treatments,” says veteran Assamese filmmaker Jahnu Barua, who garnered accolades and a more-than-decent commercial run for the offbeat Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara in 2005. Adds Barua: “When somebody like Anupam Kher backs a film and the film goes on to make an impact, even though only on a small section of the audience, it sets other producers thinking. It inspires them to try something different.”

Incidentally, Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara nearly never got made. Barua had the script with him for years – it was originally written many years ago for Doordarshan. When the national broadcaster bailed out, Barua toyed with the idea of shelving the project because there weren’t any takers for it until Kher chanced upon the screenplay. The industry has clearly undergone a sea change since then. The likes of Barua, Rituparno Ghosh, Nagesh Kukunoor, Anurag Kashyap and Rahul Dholakia, among others, can go wherever their creative spirit propels them.

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