Madhur Bhandarkar justifiably describes himself as an experimental filmmaker. His films from Chandni Bar to Traffic Signal have exposed the less pretty and often, buried pockets of urban reality. Verve gets up close and personal with the gutsy director.

Your movies frontline unusual slices of urban life – what attracts you to such themes?
I make films that have a human story and some aspect of reality I can explore. My movies span many fields. For instance, Satta was about politics, Page 3 gave viewers the real picture behind the party culture, Corporate dealt with the business world and Traffic Signal projected the lives of people residing near traffic signals. My interactions with people sometimes lead to ideas for scripts. I am attracted to these issues because I feel there is a lot in this country that can be made into a film.

How difficult has it been to stand by your convictions and not compromise your vision?
It has been very difficult, reason being that the kind of cinema I make is based in realism. It has to have some sort of logical progression. In my films, I cannot have a hero randomly appearing on a mountain and singing a song. This has nothing to do with a realistic continuum that exists within the narrative. Escapist cinema need not adhere to a logical structure. I make what I call rational cinema. So there is no room for escapism.

Has it been difficult to produce and distribute your films?
I always make a film within a stipulated budget because I am making experimental movies and there is no guarantee of returns. I don’t have a huge star cast in my films because for me, the script is the hero. Stars sell a film. So without one, I have to keep my film’s budget under control so that my distributors and producers feel safe. Till now I have broken even on every film at the very least. Even though Satta did not do well at the box office, it still recovered its cost.

How do people react to your films?
People laugh at me sometimes calling me a socially relevant filmmaker who makes depressing cinema. I’m accused of moral policing. Fortunately, I have lots of fans who enjoy my work and keep urging me to make my kind of cinema.

Do you accept that the appeal of your films is limited to multiplexes?
I refuse to buy that. Sure, the multiplex is a definite market. A film like Corporate was made for that market, but Traffic Signal has done phenomenal business in the interiors of Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttarakhand as well. The measure of a film’s box-office success in first three days is at the multiplex turnstiles. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad are the big figures. No one gets into the figures in the interior parts of India. With Traffic Signal, I had a billing of Rs 2.5 crores in Mumbai itself in the first week.

Would you agree that the Bollywood mainstream itself is widening to accommodate newer themes?
There is a phenomenal amount of change today, with directors trying to make new cinema simply because the audience is ready for it now. I think this trend can be largely attributed to the arrival of cable TV. Today, the audience has constant access to 40–50 channels and when someone actually leaves the comfort of their homes to come to the theatre, they want to see something different.

What makes the multiplex audiences tick?
Multiplex audiences are driven by an entirely new philosophy of film watching. Now that a movie plays in a cinema within a mall, it has to be even better than before. If people are bored, they will leave and get something to eat or go shopping or watch another film. Viewers never had this option in single-screen theatres. With wider options and more disposable income in India today than ever before, there is no deterrent to walking out of a bad film.

Tell us about your forthcoming releases.
I am currently working on Fashion, which takes a behind-the-scenes look at the fashion world in India. I attended Fashion Weeks, interacted with people and conducted extensive research to learn about the functioning of the industry.