He changed the landscape of culinary art in India and took it to every Indian household with ‘Khana Khazana’. With Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor by his side, filmmaker Hansal Mehta, made the elaborated and fancy style of cooking accessible to an average Indian housewife.
Now the filmmaker, who has recently directed the Kareena Kapoor Khan-starrer ‘The Buckingham Murders’, has plans of starting his own YouTube channel, and eventually a food based OTT platform.
He told IANS, “Sharing recipes and stories about food is my passion and I’m glad I began that through ‘Khana Khazana’”.
However, Hansal is not a big fan of cooking based reality shows that are fiercely competitive in nature. Furnishing the reason for the same, he said, “I’m not a fan of cooking reality shows and contests like ‘MasterChef’. I don’t enjoy them at all. I always say cooking is meditation not a competition”.
But, he loves how the food based content is turning out on social media with celebrity chefs like Ranveer Brar (who also stars in ‘The Buckingham Murders’) and Sanjyot Keer gaining huge tractions on their YouTube videos.
Hansal told IANS, “The tradition has taken off in a big way on social media, YouTube, and I really enjoy it. I might even start my own YouTube channel. And eventually maybe a food based OTT platform. Let’s see”.
Hansal is the brain behind the acclaimed dramas in Hindi cinema including ‘Aligarh’ and ‘Shahid’.
Ask him what he considers the biggest challenge for storytellers in India, and pat comes the reply, “Our preconceived mindset and lack of trust in our audiences have become the biggest stumbling blocks in telling newer stories and trying to tell them in newer ways. Filmmakers are dissuaded from experimenting, forced into a formulaic herd mentality and then we complain”.
Pandemic has triggered a massive change in the taste of the audience as they're currently only interested in watching films which are ‘paisa vasool’ in theatres. Is there a disconnect between the makers, the exhibitors, and are they not in touch with what the audience actually intends to see in cinemas?
The filmmaker said, “Trust the audiences. Exhibitors, distributors and producers must take the initiative to make cinema-going inexpensive and attractive to the audiences”.
For a large section of the audience, which makes a film “blockbuster”, surviving in the current economy with rising inflation is a fight that they take on a daily basis. Naturally, in such a scenario, films with escapist themes or which are larger-than-life become their go to content.
Hansal shared, “We cannot expect them to spend so much money on visiting cinema halls when they are struggling for survival in our times. Hence, they turn to OTT for their engagement and entertainment. We cannot propound theories and do nothing about the basics. Stop complaining and do something I say”.