EXCLUSIVE: Aniruddh Guha comments on today’s paid stars given to films; says, “Reviews have become a matter of entertainment”

The creator of Shekhar Home, Aniruddh Guha, is a well-known screenwriter who has penned the stories for films and shows such as Ranneeti: Balakot & Beyond, P.O.W. – Bandi Yuddh Ke, Malang and Rashmi Rocket. Post the release of the JioCinema web series – an adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s canon of Sherlock Holmes stories, Bollywood Bubble chatted with Aniruddh about the show, his writing style and his views on the prevalent paid reviews culture. Read on to know what he said.

Aniruddh Guha on paid reveiws

Talking about whether reviews can be trusted in a time when makers pay reviewers to give films/shows a certain rating, Aniruddh Guha says, “Let me tell you something – A) I was very fortunate that I was reviewing between 2007 and 2016, which in my view, is sough of the golden decade of film reviewing per se in Hindi cinema. And there are a couple of reasons why I say this. One – It was the advent of websites and there were not as many as there are today. (These websites) gave avenues to interesting young writers to start putting out their opinions in an interesting way. It also coincided with the launch of Twitter in 2008. And Twitter was extremely fun unlike what it is today.”

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He continued, “There used to be real interest among cinephiles to talk about cinema, to share reviews, to compare reviews. Being a critic in those years meant something. I was also fortunate as it coincided with the time filmmakers like Zoya Akhtar, Imtiaz Ali, Anurag Kashyap, and Vishal Bhardwaj made films like Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye, Luck By Chance, Zindagi Milegi Na Doobara. At the same time, there were also films like Dabangg and Udaan… so there was a really interesting mix of films being made at that time. “

He added, “This was before the OTT boom so all films were made for the big screen. So it was a really good time and there were only a handful of critics, like 50 across the country. So, at times, getting your stars and name on a movie poster really meant something because we weren’t giving it out. There were a few but not the majority.”

Aniruddh Guha: There are only a few good reviewers across the country now

Aniruddh continued, “I’ll say I’m very fortunate that I stopped reviewing in 2016 because a sort of downfall happened post that. It was around this time people like ANupamaa Chopra, Rajiv Masand, Khalid Mohamad and other reviews stopped reviewing. There are only a few good reviewers across the country now as the steep rise in the number of entertainment websites has led to there being several reviews as each site sends one person to review a film. That person may not be interested in reviewing the film or is just excited to do it but doesn’t have the craft.”

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Aniruddh: I watch KRK reviews for fun

“So today, there’s a glut of film reviewers. So A) Reviewing is not the same anymore, and B) People also don’t care. Audiences don’t give a heck to reviews. And the people you’re talking about – the ones who give 4 stars day in and day out, I don’t think their followers also follow them for the review, they follow them for entertainment. The art of conning people is that you have to do it once in a while – so you have to be genuine most of the time and con people once in a while. But if you are conning people all the time, then people will catch on to your con. So now (reviews) really do not matter,” he stated.

He added that for films like Pathaan, Animal and Stree 2, it doesn’t matter what the reviews are people are going to watch it. Aniruddh concluded this answer by stating, “I think reviewers become inconsequential and that’s got to do with how they have conducted themselves and nobody else.” He added, “Reviews have become a matter of entertainment. If you come across a funny review on YouTube, you share it with people on WhatsApp. But it’s not like, ‘This guy I completely trust. Every time he gives a certain review I’m going to go for it.’ I watch KRK reviews for fun, but I’m not going to go by what KRK says.”

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Aniruddh Guha reveals if critics influence his writing

Having been a movie reviewer in the past, we asked Aniruddh if he ever lets the critic in him dictate how a narrative should flow. To this, the creator-writer said, “Absolutely not.” He continued, “If you are asking me if I am under pressure about how critics are going to take my work – No. Even when I was a critic, I felt there was this whole misconception of there being a special standard that people need to match. There is no such standard. No filmmaker in the world is ever going to set out to make a film/show/story intending for it to be bad. In their head, they are doing the best they can to make it as palatable to the audience as possible.”

He continued, “But some things connect and some things don’t; that’s part and parcel of story-telling. So when I was a critic, I would watch a film and respond to it as a human being. Not like, ‘Hey, I’m a critic. I’m going to be snooty about a kind of cinema or partial to another.'” He added that he has been honest with whatever he does – be it writing shows or reviewing films. He ended this question by saying, “My writing has nothing to do with me being a critic in the past or how people are going to react to my script. If I am going to be living under that pressure (of what critics think of my writing), then I’ll never be able to create.”

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Aniriddh on the conceptualizing of Shekhar Home

Talking about this version of Sherlock Holmes – Shekhar Home, came to be, Aniruddha Guha said, “So BBC got in touch with me. they asked me, ‘Would you like to adapt Sherlock?’ When I say Sherlock, it’s the BBC show they have. I said, ‘It’s a terrible idea, I’m absolutely not interested in taking on this project. Take to whoever else you want but I’m not doing it.’ They said, ‘Why would you not want to do it? It’s a big show. We have rights to it.’ I said, ‘Because the BBC Sherlock was an adaptation of the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle And they made Sherlock modern and as interesting as it is today. They took the story that was set in the 1900s and set it in real time. They made Sherlock very tech-driven.”

Stating that ‘the point of making an adaptation is to adapt it the way you want to adapt it,’ Aniruddh said, “I was not interested in making a remake of the BBC show as there is nothing to add to it. (If I had to remake the show) I might as well just watch Sherlock then – it’s available on Amazon Prime. Why would I remake it? So I turned that down.” He continued, “But they were like, ‘We really want to do something with Sherlock so if you don’t want to adapt the BBC show why don’t you come back with another idea.’ So I said, ‘I’ll think about it;’ and I went.”

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Aniruddh Guha on choosing the 90s as the backdrop for Shekhar Home

He added that after re-reading Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories he realized there was a beauty, an old-world charm, when there was no technology. He revealed that he opted to give the series a wist unlike what we normally see in crime shows – as the crimes get solved, a person with a dark past comes into the forefront and redeems himself as the mysteries unfold. The creator added that he chose the 1990s to set the series in as the 40s and 50s would appear too serious but the 90s is the perfect advent of technology and the old-world charm is still prominent. It is relatable. He added that his make or break was who he wanted as Moriarty in his version.

Also Read: Kay Kay Menon, Ranvir Shorey, Rasika Dugal and Kirti Kulhari led detective drama series Shekhar Home to release on August 14