Star system has helped Bollywood flourish: Zoya

Zoya Akhtar wants the audience to enjoy her films.

MUMBAI: Film-maker Zoya Akhtar strongly believes in Bollywood’s star system and feels it has helped the industry build an identity in the map of world cinema.

“Having a proper star system is important. If you see worldwide or in India, Hollywood and China, all these three film industries have a star system. The rest of the film industries in Europe and other countries don’t have stars and their film industries are dying,” Zoya told IANS in an interview.

Having directed film stars Hrithik Roshan and Abhay Deol and her younger brother Farhan Akhtar, Zoya said India has survived Hollywood because “we have our language; we have our own style and so our audience would want to see a Shahrukh Khan and not a Tom Cruise”.

“Our star system has made our industry grow. So I definitely have a lot of respect for that and I understand that as well,” the 40-year-old said.

When asked who she believes is a film star, she said: “They are called stars because no matter what the film is, they get an opening. Stars pull people. But having said that, stars want to cater to their audience by doing what has worked before.” She added, “So you can’t make too many films with them because stars don’t want to experiment. They want that safety and that is the problem.”

“In this case, Aamir Khan is a little different,” she said, on her experience of working with him in Talaash, which released November 30.

Zoya co-wrote the film with director Reema Kagti, experimenting for the first time with the suspense genre.

“My challenges were to keep the story engaging, give depth to the characters and also focus on their emotional chord. Our audience relates to the emotional quotient. So, if you don’t connect with them emotionally, they will not watch a film,” she said.

Zoya, the daughter of poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar and scriptwriter Honey Irani, has written and directed Luck By Chance (2009) and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011).

She said she would like a balance of commercially viable and critically acclaimed projects.

“I feel both are important. Commercial success is important. If I make a film and it makes money, but if the audience says they didn’t like it at all, I will be disappointed. I want everybody to watch my films and like it,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2012.            

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