VIEW FROM THE TOP: Bollywood grows up

At 21, I was a starry-eyed Delhi boy, with dreams of becoming a movie star. I applied for a course at Pune's Film Institute and was foolish enough to choose acting. Alas, I had no mentor to guide me then.
The first time I went to a production house and was thrown out for not knowing anyone, I cried. Looking back now, I understand how difficult it was to get into the industry without guidance.
Today, after spending 27 years as a director, I am happy to see the changes. Yet, there is plenty of room for more professionalism. When I joined the industry, I found 90% of the people were misplaced.
There were directors who should have been actors and actors who should have been directors. That's because the industry lacks a structured form of education for newcomers. There is no school or library here. You have to learn the ropes yourself.
In the last 45 years, 450 directors have graduated from Pune. Yet, only 30 of them are still around. Where have the others gone? The trend is to juggle roles. That is, if a person is an assistant director, he's there because someone has recommended his name and not because of his skills.
In fact, I too ended up being a director, producer, costume designer, even a technician by default. Only in India do you see a film director doing both ��� writing and directing.
He should be only directing unless of course, he is extremely skilled and can dabble in other disciplines with ease. You can ask a novelist to write a story but can't ask him to direct a movie. The two are different mediums.
Unfortunately, the industry has not segregated the two roles. You see everyone doing everything here. Actors expecting directors to write scripts; directors wanting to write; and actors wanting to be producers. But slowly, a clear demarcation of roles is happening.
As for cinema, I feel the quality has deteriorated after 1965. Classics like Mughal-e-Azam (1960) and Sujata (1959), were made by literary men who were knowledgeable about movies.
After 1965, came a new era of people who did not understand anything beyond love, sex and violence. It was also the period where the angry young man was born. Action movies that used to be called stunt movies became C-class movies.
In the 1970s and '80s, one saw a new kind of audience ��� the uneducated class. The middle and the upper classes disappeared.
The film industry also lacks a good library. There isn't a single library on films in Mumbai. New entrants and aspirants should have a place where they can learn the grammar of cinema.
However, things are slowly changing. The industry is coming of age. In production, there is a lot of new technology. Sync sound for instance, is a big switch from the previous mode of recording. Similarly, in the past actors would sign 15 to 20 movies in a year.
Not anymore. Aamir Khan, for example, restricts himself to a single film in a year. This ensures quality. Earlier actors would do 20 flop films to emerge as a star. A lot of money would be wasted while he honed his skills.
Most monetary transactions were done in cash, which meant there was nothing in black and white. Now, there are rules and 95% of films are done through cheques. This is a hallmark of professionalism.
Moreover, Hindi movies had too many elements then ��� it was like serving many dishes in one platter. But now they produce movies of different genres just like Hollywood. Little by little, Hindi films will have their own slots and be categorised.
The author is a filmmaker