Biopics in Bollywood

In panel discussion filmmakers Ketan Mehta, Omung Kumar and Anant Mahadevan shared about the reasons why they were making the biopics, during the day-3 of Indywood Film Carnival at Ramoji Film City on Monday.

Speaking at the occasion, Ketan Mehta said, "25 years ago nobody dared to make biopics. Making a biopic is difficult because everyone knows the original story. I did a biopic on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in 1993 titled 'Sardar'. I wanted to show his role in Indian Independence. After Independence India was divided into more than 500 kingdoms and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel made all those into one nation within three months. Biopics share the struggle of an ordinary person achieving extraordinary things. "

"I also did a biopic ‘Manjhi’. It is about a battle between a man and a mountain. For this movie, I went to the village and I did research to capture the entire story. I will do my next biopic on Rani Lakshmi Bhai," Ketan Mehta informed.

Mary Kom director Omung Kumar said, "Hollywood is doing biopics since many years. Making a biopic is an explanation about a person from a zero to hero. I worked hard for Mary Kom’s biopic. Priyanka Chopra has completely transformed as Manipuri girl for the film. In next five years, we can expect more biopics than the regular cinema. Biopics are becoming a new way of storytelling."

Director Anant Mahadevan said, "Biopic is about making the popular people, who were already popular. We should do biopics on the unsung heroes in the society. Hollywood made many memorable biopics on Second World War. If we make a biopic on Subhash Chandra Bose then it will create a lot of controversy and many people will protest against it. I'm doing a biopic, which deals with romantic and poetic way."