Movies are all about packaging today: Mahesh Bhatt

bangalore: you can't make a good film without making a bad film. that's the charm of a director's life. otherwise don't make films at all. nothing corrupts like success. movies are born in the heart of passionate persons. a director has a passionate world view. express it, you'll be brilliant. the above remarks by director mahesh bhatt sums up the mood of the question-answer session journalists and kannada film directors had with him and director priyadarshan at kannada bhavana on thursday.veteran director m.s. sathyu set the tone for the `encounter' by stating that cinema should have a definite theme and purpose to make people think about their problems. "we should make thinking cinema," he said and left the field open for bhatt and priyadarshan to field questions from the audience. it was mahesh bhatt who stole the show all through with his straight answers. the ace director came down heavily on the new filmi trend which emphasises looks. "this is the age of packaging. the emphasis is on looks. if you scratch it, there will be nothing in it. it is an alarming situation. movies look like movies, but they are not movies. they are not worth anything and do not linger with you." according to bhatt, mere packaging turns films into pulp. the common man does not fall for it. stating that script writers are missing everywhere, he said, "it is a commodity in short supply. but anything you draw from personal experience will have great impact." when asked why he quit directing films, bhatt said: "the film industry does not need me. i feel i did not have anything to do as director. so now i am producing films and also writing." on censorship: "if i make a film on the present situation in india, it will be burnt. but i can write. writing is more fulfilling for me at this age (52). censorship is stricter in political and radical films. these are days of intolerance. when the censor board watched my film zakhm, they wanted the saffron colour of the turban in a scene turned into grey." noted malayalam director priyardarshan categorised films into realistic and non-realistic films. "judging whether a film is good or bad, varies from people to people," he said. on the reason for the failure of south indian directors in hindi films, priyadarshan said: "without knowing the people and the culture of hindi land, they ventured into it... so the films flopped."