Director Adeeb Rais’ anthology film Kaali Peeli Tales that launches on Amazon miniTV on August 20 brings together an ensemble cast of Soni Razdan, Vinay Pathak, Gauahar Khan, Sayani Gupta, Maanvi Gagroo, Hussain Dalal, Sharib Hashmi, Priyanshu Painyuli, among others, and stories from different slices of life connected with one common thread- the iconic kaali-peeli taxis of Mumbai. Talking of the stories, Adeeb says that the film that took him two years to complete, also has another common link to it- all of them are offbeat stories that we often do not see on the big screen or web shows. So, for an independent filmmaker like him, it was overwhelming when the film got picked up by a big platform.
“The market is congested with big players who don’t give independent filmmakers too much of scope beyond a certain limit. The OTT space is also competing with big movies now because there are no theatres open so the films are going to OTT. It is becoming very hard for young and independent filmmakers, who were actually getting some kind of window through the digital medium, to showcase their work. So, I am really grateful and happy that Amazon has that faith in the series and they picked it to be their opening series for miniTV. This is not just for me but a ray of hope for a lot of independent filmmakers,” said Adeeb who feels a success like this matters because it opens up a lot of doors for more young filmmakers.
The young filmmaker has made a couple of short films prior to Kaali Peeli Tales like Dafan and Aunty Ji which tackle social issues, but never wants to limit him to one theme or genre. Talking of the short film space in our country, he agreed that the space needs to be explored more. “In the past couple of years, it has gone much better, but I think as a format it (short films) has been ignored, and there is a lot more potential in it that we are not exploring. It is tough because unless people come in and the commercial angle of it is sorted, people can’t make keep making short films without earning enough money. This format satisfies the audience and is there to stay but people have to be more open in giving more ways to filmmakers to make money through this medium because that is still lagging behind big time.”
Talking about the difficulty of getting stars on board for a short, he explained, “You can get them on board but it is tough. There is an apprehension in doing the shorter format and some actors are really cool as they just believe in a good character and a good script, but a lot of actors still have that fear. There is this industry perception that once an actor does a short film they are not getting long-format work. So some of them do not take a chance. But there are many actors who go for what they want and they redefine movies, they redefine the way things work. There are actors who are bold enough to take a plunge when they want to so I think things will change. I also see myself not giving up on the format”.
Adeeb has an interesting choice for an actor he wants to do a short film with, and it is none other than the King Khan of Bollywood. “I want to change the whole way people perceive short films so I would want Shah Rukh Khan to do a short film. Wouldn’t it be exciting to see him in one? Why can’t it be an amazing script, an amazing character, and why can’t we see him in a 20-minute format and enjoy that? We have relished his performances on the big screen, so why not in a short film? I would definitely like to work with Shah Rukh Khan on a short film,” concluded the filmmaker.
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