By Anant Mathur (April 16, 2010)
Filmmakers and people associated with films are often asked: “Who has the toughest task in making a feature film?”
Well, depending on whom you ask you will receive different answers. A director will say his is the toughest task, a writer will say that without his creative vision there is no film, and an actor will say that without him the story can’t communicate with the audience so his is the toughest part because they have to act out the correct emotions and get into the skin of a character.
But none of these are actually true. The toughest task in filmmaking is, in fact, the producer’s role. The producer is the one who finds the story or comes up with an idea for one; he hires the writer, the director, the crew and the actors. The toughest part of making a film is arranging the financing, and guess what, that’s also the producer’s headache. And if he selects the wrong writer or director, the film doesn’t work (this is a problem with many Bollywood films) and flops big time.
Most directors will tell you that they have the toughest task, but directing is arguably the easiest part of filmmaking. Unless you’re making something like Star Wars, Terminator or The Matrix, a director’s job is simple: get the actors to do what the script says. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge was written and directed by Aditya Chopra. He also wrote Veer-Zaara, but his father (Yash Chopra) directed it, now the stories of both these films are quite similar to an extent and their genre is the same. So it makes no difference if Yash Chopra directs it, if Aditya Chopra does or if you give it to a newcomer. It’s a very easy story to direct anyone could have done it. In Hollywood, most TV shows (eg. M.A.S.H., Baywatch, Friends, 24) and several movies series (eg. Original Star Wars Trilogy, Superman, X-Men and Alien series, etc.) have had different directors directing each episode or film, but you can't tell it's a different director because the screenplay is done well and the director knows exactly what to do.
Let’s take another example, Karan Johar wrote and directed Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. He also wrote Kal Ho Naa Ho which was directed by Nikhil Advani (a newcomer). Watching the film, you can see that it’s a Karan Johar film in terms of the plot, style and how everything unfolds, but it’s not directed by him, and you don’t really notice that it’s not directed by him. So here we can see that it’s the writer’s work we see on screen not the director's. Karan recently directed My Name is Khan which was not written by him (probably because he’s not comfortable writing something like that) but he received praises for directing a different genre successfully, well of course he did it successfully - all the work was done for him by the writer. Even if someone else directed it, there wouldn’t have been much difference in the way the story was told, because if a writer has done what they’re suppose to it makes the director’s task very easy, especially if you’re working with well established actors like Karan Johar and the Chopras do.
Most Indian directors can’t handle directing newcomers - that’s why the likes of Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra stay away from them, they have no idea about film direction they’re only in this business because of their fathers. Do you really think Aditya or Karan would have had the same success if they were struggling artists and not their father’s sons?
On the other hand, directors like Rakesh Roshan, Raj Kanwar and Subhash Ghai have no qualms about directing newcomers because they know how to extract a performance from an actor. Rakesh Roshan and Subhash Ghai also have another advantage on directors, they themselves were actors so they know how actors are and how to get them motivated.
Actors who have done more than 1 film are very easy to direct, they know what’s expected of them and they don’t need to be told how to deliver a line as compared to a newcomer who has no clue about filmmaking. With newcomers, a director’s task is a little harder, but at the end of the day, that’s what their job is: to direct actors and shoot the best possible scene. When a newcomer doesn’t deliver it’s the director’s fault for not being able to get the right performance out of them and settling for what they’ve got.
Directors are given too much credit when it comes to filmmaking and that’s wrong in most cases. It should be the producer who receives the credit for getting a film made. Remember, it’s the producer who receives the best picture award not the director. The only time a director is more important is when he’s making a complicated sci-fi or action film, in that case, yes he’s the most important part of a film because he’s the only one who knows how to shoot these complex scenes.
A director has many people helping him: the writer, cinematographer, art director, editor, costume designer, assistant director, etc., so he’s not even responsible for most of the visual ideas on screen. It’s a fact that a badly directed film can be saved with good editing, but a badly produced film can’t be saved.
After the producer, the writer is probably the next most important person associated with a film. He can make or break your film. Without a good screenplay the director won’t be effective, no matter how good he is and the same goes for actors and the rest of the crew. If a story is not spellbinding it doesn’t matter who’s associated with the film, it won’t be successful.
We can argue till the end of time what part of filmmaking is the toughest, but in my experience of watching films and making them (producing, writing, directing, editing, etc.) I find the producer’s task to be toughest.
Filmmakers and people associated with films are often asked: “Who has the toughest task in making a feature film?”
Well, depending on whom you ask you will receive different answers. A director will say his is the toughest task, a writer will say that without his creative vision there is no film, and an actor will say that without him the story can’t communicate with the audience so his is the toughest part because they have to act out the correct emotions and get into the skin of a character.
But none of these are actually true. The toughest task in filmmaking is, in fact, the producer’s role. The producer is the one who finds the story or comes up with an idea for one; he hires the writer, the director, the crew and the actors. The toughest part of making a film is arranging the financing, and guess what, that’s also the producer’s headache. And if he selects the wrong writer or director, the film doesn’t work (this is a problem with many Bollywood films) and flops big time.
Most directors will tell you that they have the toughest task, but directing is arguably the easiest part of filmmaking. Unless you’re making something like Star Wars, Terminator or The Matrix, a director’s job is simple: get the actors to do what the script says. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge was written and directed by Aditya Chopra. He also wrote Veer-Zaara, but his father (Yash Chopra) directed it, now the stories of both these films are quite similar to an extent and their genre is the same. So it makes no difference if Yash Chopra directs it, if Aditya Chopra does or if you give it to a newcomer. It’s a very easy story to direct anyone could have done it. In Hollywood, most TV shows (eg. M.A.S.H., Baywatch, Friends, 24) and several movies series (eg. Original Star Wars Trilogy, Superman, X-Men and Alien series, etc.) have had different directors directing each episode or film, but you can't tell it's a different director because the screenplay is done well and the director knows exactly what to do.
Let’s take another example, Karan Johar wrote and directed Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. He also wrote Kal Ho Naa Ho which was directed by Nikhil Advani (a newcomer). Watching the film, you can see that it’s a Karan Johar film in terms of the plot, style and how everything unfolds, but it’s not directed by him, and you don’t really notice that it’s not directed by him. So here we can see that it’s the writer’s work we see on screen not the director's. Karan recently directed My Name is Khan which was not written by him (probably because he’s not comfortable writing something like that) but he received praises for directing a different genre successfully, well of course he did it successfully - all the work was done for him by the writer. Even if someone else directed it, there wouldn’t have been much difference in the way the story was told, because if a writer has done what they’re suppose to it makes the director’s task very easy, especially if you’re working with well established actors like Karan Johar and the Chopras do.
Most Indian directors can’t handle directing newcomers - that’s why the likes of Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra stay away from them, they have no idea about film direction they’re only in this business because of their fathers. Do you really think Aditya or Karan would have had the same success if they were struggling artists and not their father’s sons?
On the other hand, directors like Rakesh Roshan, Raj Kanwar and Subhash Ghai have no qualms about directing newcomers because they know how to extract a performance from an actor. Rakesh Roshan and Subhash Ghai also have another advantage on directors, they themselves were actors so they know how actors are and how to get them motivated.
Actors who have done more than 1 film are very easy to direct, they know what’s expected of them and they don’t need to be told how to deliver a line as compared to a newcomer who has no clue about filmmaking. With newcomers, a director’s task is a little harder, but at the end of the day, that’s what their job is: to direct actors and shoot the best possible scene. When a newcomer doesn’t deliver it’s the director’s fault for not being able to get the right performance out of them and settling for what they’ve got.
Directors are given too much credit when it comes to filmmaking and that’s wrong in most cases. It should be the producer who receives the credit for getting a film made. Remember, it’s the producer who receives the best picture award not the director. The only time a director is more important is when he’s making a complicated sci-fi or action film, in that case, yes he’s the most important part of a film because he’s the only one who knows how to shoot these complex scenes.
A director has many people helping him: the writer, cinematographer, art director, editor, costume designer, assistant director, etc., so he’s not even responsible for most of the visual ideas on screen. It’s a fact that a badly directed film can be saved with good editing, but a badly produced film can’t be saved.
After the producer, the writer is probably the next most important person associated with a film. He can make or break your film. Without a good screenplay the director won’t be effective, no matter how good he is and the same goes for actors and the rest of the crew. If a story is not spellbinding it doesn’t matter who’s associated with the film, it won’t be successful.
We can argue till the end of time what part of filmmaking is the toughest, but in my experience of watching films and making them (producing, writing, directing, editing, etc.) I find the producer’s task to be toughest.
© Anant Mathur. All Rights Reserved.
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