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Hindustan Times

Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari on National Film Awards criticism: There will always be another point of view

Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari became a part of the jury for Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) recently, along with filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, to judge the short films coming into the festival. The filmmaker believes that it is her responsibility to give voice to young storytellers. Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari 'It is very important that we encourage young filmmakers to have a voice and tell different stories, and this is a great platform because it's an intersection of two countries. Once there is a film which has gone on an international platform, it also gives a tick mark to their portfolio,' she says, adding, 'It's my responsibility as a filmmaker that like how I got opportunities, I give opportunities to young filmmakers and also guide them. That's how you will find the next storytellers.' Being a part of a jury comes with its share of challenges as there will be people who won't like you decisions, as it happened with the recently announced National Film Awards. Mention it to her and Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari says, 'Any place where you are in a point of decision, especially when you're in a jury on that level, there will always be another point of view, and you can't help that. There will always be people who will like what you decide and those who won't. Also, it is a cumulative decision, so what happens inside the room and how decisions are made, it's completely a jury's perspective.' Ashwiny adds that she also learns a lot from the younger generation's fresh perspective. 'I think we undermine Gen Z. They're smarter, thoughtful and they ask questions which are important,' she says. Ask her if not recognising the youth's perspective is the reason behind the Hindi films' box office lull and she responds, 'No one knows what works and what doesn't work. If we start telling stories from a perspective to say that 'okay, this is working, now everyone should be making only that kind of film', storytelling doesn't work that way. You just work from your gut. It's subjective, it's not mathematics.' However, she does acknowledge their role. 'The younger audience are the decision makers. They are the ones who are more aware because they also see international cinema. They also drive the decision-making of what to watch in the household. It is important we cater to that audience, but we do also cater to what we feel as storytellers and what stories do we want to make. That is more important because a trend will be here today, but it won't be tomorrow,' she says, elaborating, 'There was a trend of horror, but now that is diminishing. Now it is a trend of love story because one film (Saiyaara) has worked. Tomorrow, it will be something else.' Ashwiny has made films like Bareilly Ki Barfi and Panga. Does she feel art suffers when filmmakers focus more on the commerce of it? 'When we make commercial cinema, there is a number attached to it. We, as responsible filmmakers, need to make sure that when we're making commercial cinema, we are making it from a point of view that we do need to have a return of investment for the producers. But at the same time, we also need to have a balance of creativity and commerce. You cannot have commerce without creativity, and creativity cannot go without commerce,' she replies.