Storytelling in a New India

The time to exploit our stories is here for the film-makers. Be it our epics, folklore or history, we already have the landscape to build our own story

- BY S.S. RAJAMOULI

IN GENERAL, I do not really look into the future. To be very honest, I rarely go beyond my next film. That said let me attempt to put together a few thoughts on what India@100 could be.

From a film-making perspective, I see an ocean of opportunities. Just look at what we have in India. There is a treasure trove of stories filled with innumerable nuances. Without a doubt, no other country has this kind of wealth. It is remarkably unique to India and our culture. However, we have barely touched the tip of this huge iceberg and in that sense, I must say justice has not been done.

Let us look at the West for a moment, where storytelling is not really in their culture but what they have achieved is mind-boggling. The positive for us is that the situation has changed in the recent past. Hollywood is looking at the rest of the world, especially India. With the pandemic, people have been significantly exposed to the cultures of other countries and the size of the opportunity is hitting us. The time to exploit our stories is here for the filmmakers. Unfortunately, we lack belief in ourselves but once that takes place, the world is our oyster.