Prominent film stars, Rana Daggubati and Tabu, who have worked with regional and Indian cinema, took the Goafest 2023 platform to discuss about the Future of Indian Cinema: Exploring Artistic Freedom and Challenging Conventions.
This discussion comes at a time when the advent of digital and technological advancements, including Artificial Intelligence, are posing a big challenge to the Indian Cinema.
The two were in conversation with film critic, Rajeev Masand, sharing their viewpoints.
Daggubati opined that digital is here to empower the character. “When things that a character (actor) is unable to do or is complex for him/her, say an action or a stunt, technology comes into picture. We've already been using digital doubles in films and it has proved to be an advantage," he said.
Tabu who has worked in films like Haider, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Life of Pi and Drishyam felt that no matter how advanced the technology gets, it would always require human beings to perform certain tasks.
She cited that people were taken aback when cinema was introduced, they weren't sure what was next. "There was uncertainty, but the creativity in films has moved forward with time. It's creativity that has made people experience what they have never seen before," she said.
Rana cited the time when the camera was introduced to shoot films. "Many thought they would lose their businesses, but who lost out were portrait artists. The others adapted to the camera and went on to discover its creative side," he averred.
The two film personalities also spoke about how one can take Indian cinema on par with Hollywood or the Korean film industry. Rana said that in countries like Korea, there was only one spoken language, but in India one can see diversity.
He went on to add, "People in India speak many languages and the audience here is what matters to us the most and to give them that kind of satisfaction is what filmmakers focus on. Also, our films are viewed by a very strong Indian diaspora around the world, Daggubati said.
He, however, lamented that vernacular language films are not welcomed the way they need to be.
Both Daggubati and Tabu said they were looking forward to embrace the challenges posed by technological advancements in the Indian cinema and continue to bring out their creativity in every possible manner.