shoma a chatterji gets the lowdown on Miss Lovely, releasing this week

IN a manner of speaking, Ashim Ahluwalia&’s directorial debut, Miss Lovely, is a classic “period” film because it reconstructs a period — the early 1980s in Bollywood cinema, when filmmakers like the Ramsay Brothers brought in a new genre in cinema (C- and D-grade films or the horror-soft porn genre where horror and sex complimented each other) to create its own niche audience. The two milestone films in this genre and time were Purana Mandir (1984) and Bandh Darwaza. (1994). Ahluwalia studied cinema at a New York film school and decided to make a documentary on the scenario and the struggle of C-grade filmmakers eight years ago. But when people he had spoken to backed out of speaking into the camera, he had to decide on a feature film.

Miss Lovely is by no means a “remake” or a celluloid “resurrection” of an ’80s horror-soft porn film. It is, rather, an insightful glimpse into the world of those who made these films — the smalltime directors, actors and crew who struggled to make both ends meet and survive in the cut-throat world of Bollywood, high-budget mainstream masala films. It exposes the underbelly of a segment of a Bollywood we do not know about because we never tried to find out what went behind the making of these films. Ramsay Brothers were big-time producers. But there were other, lesser-known filmmakers who made a living out of similar films, produced on shoestring budgets with small-time actors and affordable technical crews. Other notable films are Ghungroo Ki Awaaz, Raat, Hotel, Naagin Zinda Laash,  Maut Ka Chehra, Private Life and Khooni Chudail.

“I am a crazy person. I wanted to make an ‘ut-of-the-box’ film. Before this film, I made a documentary called John and Jane in 2005. The film is a unique blend of an observational documentary and tropical science-fiction. The film follows the stories of six ‘call agents’ that respond to American 1-800 numbers in a Mumbai call centre. It was screened outside India and was panned very positively. The money helped me get finance Miss Lovely,” says Ahluwallia. “I wanted to create my own space without making my film an imitation of Bollywood. The space did exist and I took advantage of it, that is all.
“I was looking into this ‘cheap sex and horror’ space that does not exist today, with the Ramsays not making such films anymore. It is a space where a feature film is shot within four days. I met several underground filmmakers who shot illegal sex clips and sold them. I bonded with them. The rebelliousness and wild passion they had while making those films matched mine. I could relate more to their kind of films than B-town&’s romantic comedies. I knew that if the feature film did not work, I had nothing to lose,” he laughs.

To the surprise of everyone involved in Miss Lovely — Nawazuddin Sheikh in his first major role in films, Niharika Singh playing Pinky, the leading lady of soft porn-horror films, and Ahluwalia, the film was chosen for screening at Cannes in 2012. “I was very nervous about playing this role of a C-grade filmmaker. This was the first time for me to portray the central character and the film and the character did not fall into the stereotypical slots one encounters in mainstream films. I play one of the two brothers who make these films. Over the film, I try to persuade my brother to begin making decent films and this creates a conflict between us that snowballs into a big thing. It was my first big role. Some of the cast I knew from before and since they worked in C-Grade films, I could learn a lot from them. Ashim knew what he was doing and he convinced all of us.”

The Censors blocked the film because “they were against some nude scenes. This delayed the release by a year-and-a-half. But they were finally convinced by my side of the story and agreed to grant it an A with minor cuts,” says Ahluwalia.
Model-turned-actress Niharika Singh, who plays the female lead, says, “For me, it has been a big leap. I am absolutely new to this field. None from my family has ever been connected to films in any way. I had no idea about the behind-the-scenes scenario of cinema. But I had seen John and Jane and loved it. I had no preconceived notions about my role, so there were no inhibitions for me as I had no ‘image’ to live up to. And in the process I felt that it was as if with Miss Lovely, we had ‘rediscovered’ cinema.” She has taken a course in film appreciation at the National Film Archive of India to boost her knowledge. “I just did what the director asked me to. The director is the most important person for any film and as for Asim I feel he has a vision that keeps haunting him till he gets it across,” she sums up.

Simon Jablonski of AnOther, a serious webzine, commented highly on the film after the Cannes screening, “Stylistically, it&’s reminiscent of ’90s Chinese cinema such as Chungking Express than anything you’d associate with the Bollywood tradition, while the wonderfully extravagant costumes and sets call to mind Rainer Fassbinder&’s The Bitter Tears Of Petra von Kant.” What more could the crazy Ahluwalia and his team want?