Interview | Harshad Nalwade: ‘Follower is a love letter to a friend with whom I have had political differences’

FOllower, the debut feature film from Harshad Nalawade, wants to enquire the toughened questions with grace period. At its centre stands Raghu (Raghu Prakash), a radicalised journalist, who follows a local leader and believes that his community of interests has been wronged. He refuses to hear a word against him, as the line between his professional and personal life starts to blur.In an exclusive interaction with HT, the filmmaker opened up about the origin story behind the film, his concerns for independent films to coexist with mainstream releases, and why he believes the cinema-going audience knows much more than what we give them credit for. (Excerpts).How Follower took shapeIs Raghu inspired by real life? Has he seen someone like him in his surroundings? Nalawade says, “Yes, I would say it is a film about my friend. This film is a love letter to a friend with whom I have had political differences. That is what the film was about, and I was really interested in trying to understand where his extremist beliefs originated. What it takes to be a staunch supporter of somebody whom he barely knows. That was the beginning of the story, the place from where I started Follower.” He adds, “I have seen such a difference in opinion, be it regarding a political ideology or in general, life. The film also explores this aspect, regarding the idea of who Parveen is and who she should be, which is a matter of contention between the men. Such conflicts had been there when I started writing it. This was way back, when the troll culture, going online… and expressing anger was happening a lot. This was around 2015, during that time, I had massive fallouts with friends and relatives.”But Nalawade is hopeful; he knows that the friendships do survive in the end. “Many people have shared their own experiences with me, including stories about friendships being broken and the fact that they no longer speak to some of their relatives due to the ongoing political discourse that has become a part of people's daily lives. That happened with me as well. But thankfully, the friendship was so strong that it survived in the end. Follower is about these differences and conflicts. Now it has been a while, and when I see that my friendships survived, I have hope that no matter what kind of political differences I have, no matter how anyone makes us fight amongst each other, these people will not succeed in the long run. These relationships will last; they will always win out in the end,” he says.The filmmaker also opens up about the aggressiveness that has seeped into the films we watch nowadays, mostly the mainstream ones. He admits that this is a phase that will eventually pass.He says, “I think it is a phase. Right now, it is a paid army that attacks you. Earlier, it used to be real people as well. But now they are seeing other things as well, like what do I get from doing this? Why do I care? Am I getting my groceries? They are eventually thinking about those things. The noise is created so that the aam janta can be distracted. We are making films where the enemy is always outside the country. We are always interested in watching films where the enemy is anywhere but India. Any film which wants to shift the lens to the enemies within us is not celebrated. That is the time we are living in right now, but I think it will change. Because the cinema-going audience will also be tired of this after a point. They are also exposed to so many other kinds of films. So the taste has evolved, they want to see something challenging and thought-provoking.”‘All kinds of films should co-exist’Even if there's an audience for alternative films, the release window is so small that they eventually do not get to watch them. Either the time of the show is at an abrupt hour or the film itself is taken down after a few days. So they eventually wait for the OTT release. The filmmaker adds that this is indeed a problem, and says, “Yes, absolutely, all kinds of films should co-exist. I want to go watch Animal, I want to also watch Sabar Bonda in the theatre. We need to find a way so that the smaller films get to have a theatrical run that they should get. The problem right now is how the theatres are keeping the film for the first three days and seeing if it works or not. If it does not work by Sunday, let's take it out. However, it takes time; word of mouth eventually picks up after a few days. So I think one film should be allowed that space.”“We also need to figure out the screens for films," Nalawade adds. "A number of single-screen theatres are lying dead across the country. I wish state governments would do something about it. The multiplexes are good for the city, but what about the smaller towns? There, we can revive the single screens, and people will go watch films. Kerala is a great example of this; the single screens there are amazing. We will have more space for all kinds of films to co-exist, and the show timings will be better. Something like this should happen, and for smaller films, we need to explore newer ways to distribute them. We are still trying; all independent filmmakers have come together, and we are still discussing how to get our distribution rock-solid. In my opinion, I really hope single screens come back,” he says.Reactions to the film that stayed with him, caught him by surprise. “Mostly, the film was loved by everyone when it played at film festivals. We started the journey with the International Film Festival of Rotterdam. It was loved, the last show was houseful. Whoever has seen the film has liked it, and the only thing that we didn't expect, probably we did, was when we released the film in my hometown, Belgaum.”Why was the film's screening stopped in his hometown?He reveals that just before the evening show, there were some people who protested and wanted the film to be taken down. “The way it happened, it felt like it was all planned. I think it was orchestrated, so it was taken down. I did fight and try to release the film again in Belgaum, and I wanted the guys who protested to come sit with me and watch the film. I think they had this idea that this film was trying to provoke and start some sort of hate, but they were not ready to watch the film! If they were really concerned that this film could hurt sentiments, then they would have agreed to watch the film,” he concludes.Follower premiered on Mubi India on December 31.