There is a better universe for small films now: Kiran Rao

Mumbai: Kiran Rao says if her 2011 debut directorial venture “Dhobi Ghat” would have released today it could have done better business primarily due to the changing taste and preferences of the audience.

Kiran received critical acclaim for “Dhobi Ghat”, which had her superstar husband Aamir Khan in the lead, besides Prateik Babbar and Monica Dogra.

“The world has changed in the last five to seven years hugely. My film released in the beginning of January in 2011 and it was beginning of multiplexes. Today, opportunities are endless and people are accustomed to watching different kind of cinema thanks to the internet and OTT platform.

“There is a better universe for small films. I think ‘Dhobi Ghat’ would have certainly got different reception if it would have been released seven years later,” Kiran told PTI.

As a director, Kiran thinks, with the emergence of new avenues for filmmakers to show their work, things have changed for the positive.

“Today one can make a feature film, documentary, short film, something for the OTT platform and there will be someone who will watch it. There is whole new world for us and I am happy.” 

But her approach to cinema has not changed much, as she believes every creative person is drawn to a certain kind of subjects.

“…There is something that we are more interested in. I find it a bit odd. I have tried to bend myself by trying a different genre but I am interested in same sort of things and then you make peace with it and you realise ‘I am an excavator of this kind’.” 

“I am interested in marginalised… in women. They will find reoccurrence in my work.” 

Kiran says she is not someone who would get lured by the commercial trappings of cinema.
“I don’t watch that kind of films myself. I suspect one tends to make a film that one likes to watch. I am not into big potboilers.” 

Kiran, who is currently busy with Jio MAMI film festival’s ‘Word to Screen’ initiative, is also close to finish writing her next directorial venture.

“I am writing something. I will have a script well before the end of the year. I am hoping to have something new. I will have human drama in my film. At the moment no actors are in my mind as I have not finished writing,” she says.