Can't blame them: Anurag Basu on Indian audience's shifting interests

By Sandeep Sharma
New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS)  The Indian audience should not be blamed for being receptive towards Hollywood films and western TV shows unless content makers in the country’s entertainment industry begin to experiment with new concepts, says acclaimed filmmaker Anurag Basu.
As a director, Basu’s credentials include films of different genres like Murder, Gangster, Life in a… Metro and Barfi. He has also dabbled with differentiated content on the small screen with a show like Love Story.
He believes not all Hindi films need to have a song-and-dance sequence to be successful. He says it is important for all to include classical forms of song and dance in movies for them to sustain.
Basu, who will don the judge’s hat for the upcoming Sony Entertainment Television show Super Dancer, said, “I have been making films for a long time and there was no dance in any of my films. Still, they have done well. There are people who like watching dance in films, but there are many who don’t consider it real. Movie makers are now catering to all kinds of audiences.”
Stressing upon the type of dance forms promoted in Indian films and TV shows, the 42-year-old pointed out that while “Bollywood as a dance form has got recognition around the world, somehow we ourselves are neglecting our classical dance forms”.
“That has gone out of the context. Once upon a time there was Saroj Khan, who used to add kathak or some other classical dance in her choreography for film songs. That era has ended,” Basu rued.