As the series progresses, you realise there were tensions within the pulp movie business. Talwar, who looks like a teddy bear, and Gulati describe themselves as commercial auteurs, or “makers”. They set themselves apart from the likes of Neelam and Shah, and accuse the latter of making cheap, smut movies that destroyed the subculture of low-budget films. Neelam and Shah, on the other hand, maintain they did what the market demanded. When audiences lapped up “extra portions” and distributors demanded smut, they made what was commercially viable. At one point in the final episode, Neelam points out that it was because their films made money that an entire community of professionals was able to make a living and live with dignity. As Kanti Shah — who is given a fantastic entry scene and who gets the literal last word — puts it, “If someone says they didn’t do it [add bits], then it’s because they weren’t making any films at the time.”
In the course of their interviews, Gulati and Talwar talk about the dreams they once had of being respected directors. We see photographs of a young Gulati with an equally youthful Javed Akhtar. Talwar is director and producer O.P. Ralhan’s nephew — Ralhan’s notable films include the Phool Aur Patthar (1966) which established Dharmendra as a star — and had dreams of making films with A-listers of the time. Both wound up in the world of less reputable cinema and the doors to Bollywood closed for them. The stigma associated with B-and C-grade cinema is difficult to shake off, which makes you see actors like Kiran Kumar and Raza Murad, who have straddled both worlds, and their labour in a new light. Another talking head who commands respect for both her honesty and the way she’s used technology to command respect from audiences is pop icon Rakhi Sawant.
It’s interesting to see what each filmmaker chooses to make when given the freedom and budget for a modest comeback. Shah and Talwar stick to what they’ve done before and what they know best. Shah’s film — Sautan Bani Chudail (The Mistress Becomes a Witch) — is, in his own words, “the same old horror film”. Similarly Talwar’s Blood Suckers is also classic horror, with vampires and blood spatter. On the other hand, Gulati says his film, Jungle Girl, is about the rights of tribal communities who live in forests while Neelam’s film is, according to her, about “an obedient woman who turns into a badass”. Yet both Gulati and Neelam shoot their stories with the tropes and caricatures you’d expect from C-grade cinema. Gulati has tribals dressed in exotic-looking two-piece outfits (look out for actor Hemant Birje’s cameo) while Neelam has titillating scenes of same-sex romance. Even while resorting to stereotypes, both seem to want to give their films a patina of idealism and respectability.
