Ronnie Screwvala talks about patriotism in movies, calls it ‘soft power’ of India: ‘It connects with the youth’
The upcoming slate of Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP movies includes many patriotic movies – Vicky Kaushal starrer Sam Bahadur, Kangana Ranaut starrer Tejas, Ishan Khatter starrer Pippa and Kartik Aaryan starrer Captain India.
In the last few years, there has been a distinct change in the kind of films that work with the masses and while the masala entertainers are making their way back into the mainstream movies, films with a hint of patriotism are considered surefire bets at the box office. Talking about the same, film producer Ronnie Screwvala, shared that a medium as impactful as films can become the ‘soft power’ of the nation, and how the US has been doing the same for decades.
“The whole of Hollywood became the soft power of America because they made war movies on their victory in World War 2. The number of war movies that America made is really where their soft power came from. It almost sounded like if it wasn’t for them, Europe, England, and Russia would have lost the war and we’d all be ruled by the Germans, which is actually not true,” he said. Drawing a comparison to Indian films, Ronnie added, “When you have such an impactful medium, and you have to tell stories, I think patriotism plays a big role.”
The upcoming slate of RSVP movies includes many such movies – Vicky Kaushal starrer Sam Bahadur, Kangana Ranaut starrer Tejas, Ishan Khatter starrer Pippa and Kartik Aaryan starrer Captain India. Ronnie shared that films that bring out patriotism in the audience connect well with them. “Whether we are doing the Sam Maneckshaw (biopic) or the last one that I did called Uri, it really connected very well because it brought out patriotism,” he said.
“I did Swades a long time back, or Lakshya, or Rang De Basanti, they had a common theme. It connects with the youth, has a sense of ‘me patriotism’, how I can make a difference and I think those stories are the ones I like to tell. That does not mean that what we would call song and dance, fragile entertainment of the Johars and the Chopras, are not good, they are commercial, they pack in all the stars, they pack in all the songs, and people want that kind of entertainment too. But I am an outsider so i don’t relate to that so I’d rather tell the stories I want to tell,” he said.
Ronnie shared that going to the movies today is a demanding exercise as the audience has multiple choices. “I think everyone needs to realise that you need to catch people’s attention. And movie going experience has become a 3-3.5 hour experience so the youth does not have the attention span for 3-3.5 hours,’ he said
He also added that the theatrical window of just 4 weeks is also killing the theatrical experience. “I think everyone shot themselves in the foot by making these windows shorter for 4 weeks. In 4 weeks, if you are going to go on an OTT platform, it kills the entire theatrical experience so it has been very short-sighted but mostly it takes two-three years for the creative community to understand where the audiences have moved on to,’ he said.
The Dhamaka producer said that hence, they are moving on with the “less is more” approach, which he explained as “do 3 big movies rather than 9 okay movies.” And one such big movie that they are working on presently is Aditya Dhar’s The Immortal Ashwatthama, starring Vicky Kaushal. He said, “The Immortal Ashwatthama is a big leap of faith right now. I have to still work on it from the script point of view.”
Ronnie Screwvala was speaking on the sidelines of his upcoming audiobook Skill It, Kill It: Up Your Game, which will be available on Audible. The book talks about his experiences as a first generation entrepreneur, which is why he has narrated the book as well. “The real differentiation for leadership today is soft skills,” he said. The book talks about enhancing the soft skills of an individual to enhance their professional journey.
News Source:- The Indian EXPRESS
