Amole Gupte And The Struggle To Make Children’s Films (Exclusive)

Zameen Ke Taare (1960) is one of Amole Gupte’s favourite children’s films, starring Daisy Irani and Honey Irani, about a rich child and a poor one, both of whom are unhappy and go looking for God in the Himalayas. Interestingly, the director’s most famous work, Taare Zameen Par (2007), seems like a wordplay on the 1960 film. Gupte remembers that in his society, out of 188 flats, only three had televisions, which formed into a sort of community viewing.

Gupte is truly a rare breed in Hindi cinema, not bothered about box office numbers and an active proponent of children’s cinema, which no one really seems to pay attention to much. He played the memorable and menacing gangster Bhope Bhau in Kaminey and then came out with the beloved children’s film, Stanley Ka Dabba.

Gupte visited The Free Press Journal office as he was the chief guest of Art Unbound, an art exhibition by neurodiverse artists, which is also when he sat down with us for a chat. Excerpts:

Q. You’re one of the top proponents for children-centric cinema. What challenges do you face?

A. It’s an uphill task for me because truly there is no enthusiasm from the viewer’s side. In Hindi cinema, the culture for children’s content isn’t there, but it does exist in Marathi cinema. When I made Stanley Ka Dabba, I showed the film to not less than 500 school principals all over India. They held hands with me and booked shows with us and PVR for a discount, and school buses filled with students would come to see the film. But overall, we don’t know how to honour our children and how to honour their stories because they aren’t of voting age. No vote, no note. Every film I try to make is a struggle for me.

Q. When did your passion for children-centric cinema start?

A. So there are two things: firstly, I am passionate about cinema as a student, whether it be international masterpieces, natya shastra, kala, music, sangeet—everything. Secondly, I am also a child rights activist—for children with disability, children with differences, children with financial challenges. For 12 years, I was part of a campaign where we helped expose students from municipal schools to theatre and cinema. Even Subhash Ghai took some of those students free of cost in his film school.

Q. You had a 90s talk show called Bindas Bol.

A. I don’t know if any footage of that show is still available. It was a very bold and frank talk show for its time in 1995. I addressed a lot of issues about the differences between parents and children, even raising the issue of being gay. There were about 60 episodes; it ran for about a year. We would shoot three episodes a day, and it was quite a load on my nerves because they’re sensitive subjects, whether it tackled religion, test tube babies, or alternative careers. Like there was an episode about a doctor who would drive a taxi by night; he wanted to know what was happening in Bombay.

Q. Your next project?

A. I’ve been shooting a boy for the last 21 years, from the time he was five. Now he’s 26. He’s on the spectrum and he’s a genius. He can just download a Mozart or a Beethoven score and just play the score offhand, just reading the notes. You’ve seen the children today. Their ability befuddles normal people, but they don’t make space for them in society. So the normal people should normalize them, you know, they should accept. But people get very frightened when they are seeing someone who’s not walking the path to the format. Which is why it’s an uphill fight for the inclusion of all kinds of differences. You can’t even call it disability anymore. It is a difference. My need to make this film, which has 21 years of this boy’s existence, is to educate people the way TZP had educated people. Let everybody live. You know, they have a right to earn and therefore be independent because they know acceptance. So they are trying. But if the entire society tries, the load will be off their shoulders.

Q. So inclusion in society for differently-abled individuals is still not there?

A. Of course, because there is no inclusion in schools. They are excluded from schools and sent to ‘special schools.’ That’s why I was talking about Besant Montessori School in Mumbai, which is an example of inclusion where children don’t label each other. Children with Down’s Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, etc., they all go to that school with other children. Otherwise, 90% of the time, institutions judge instead of teaching. We had Shantiniketan as a model; why did we forget about it? There needs to be exposure to the real

Bharat; currently, the exposure is only in your air-conditioned route to the school and back.

Q. How were you involved in Jo Jeeta Woi Sikandar?

A. I was a painter in those years. So I was literally living in 24 Pali Hill, Mansoor’s house. I was Mansoor’s hero before Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak in a film. Even Aamir made a film with me called Open Window. Mansoor’s sister had an art shop above which I was given an AC studio where I would paint. Tom Alter was supposed to shoot a scene where he was the commentator but was down with the flu, which is when I stepped in.