Viacom 18’s Ajit Andhare: “‘Padmaavat’ episode cannot fear us to go three steps back”

The outrage surrounding the release of ‘Padmaavat’ (2018) stunned Bollywood, causing concern for some filmmakers about their upcoming projects. However, co-producers Viacom 18 Motion Pictures are not letting the controversy stand in the way of good storytelling.

“In a big and diverse country like India, we never know what will offend whom, which community will get disheartened by watching a film. In ‘Padmaavat’, we celebrated the bravery of a community and they only protested to stop releasing the film. I think the ‘Padmaavat’ episode cannot fear us to go three steps back and make our creative mind extra conscious to make a film. It should be treated as an incident that was an exception,” said Ajit Andhare, Chief Operating Officer of Viacom18 Motion Pictures, in an interview with IANS.

Andhare pointed out that the company’s main criteria for film selection is a “good story that can potentially connect with the larger audience”. At the Ficci Frames 2018 event, he added that “I think now, with the success of ‘Padmaavat’, the fact has been proven. There are stories that deserve to be told. As a responsible filmmaking company, we were cautious about the subjects that we chose even before ‘Padmaavat’, but we do not want to add an extra lens of caution thinking which political wind will blow or which section of the community will get offended. That is certainly not the right way to choose a film.”

Viacom 18 Motion Pictures is planning to release more compelling stories in 2018, such as Nandita Das’ much-anticipated film ‘Manto’.