If ever there was a PhD in C-grade films, he’d be a beneficiary. Forty-year-old Ashim Ahluwalia is an encyclopaedia of sex-horror films. Made in the underbelly of Mumbai in the 1980s, from Maut Ka Chehra, Private Life to Khooni Chudail, he’s seen them all. He harks back to his school days, where his fascination for the video nasties developed. “I used to watch C-grade films because that was the only way one could watch a naked woman,” says he.
While his friends continued to visit the dingy theatres that played sleazy clips, Ashim moved to the States to complete his graduation in filmmaking from Brad College in upstate New York. He returned to Mumbai to follow his dream — make films.
Since he was enamoured by the C-grade film culture, Ashim decided to make a documentary on the subject. He met several underground filmmakers, who shot illegal sex clips and sold them. He bonded with them. “The rebelliousness and wild passion they had while making those films matched mine,” says he. “I could relate more to their kind of films than B-town’s romantic comedies.”
In pursuit of documenting the lives of people behind the making of such taboo films, Ashim befriended everyone connected with the C-grade industry. He started hanging out on the sets of these films and had all-night drinking sessions with the team. “I used to accompany the cast and crew to Madh Island,” he smiles. “People thought I was scarred for life but instead, I was amazed by the way they made a film in four days flat, without spending too much money.” However, his plans of making a documentary went kaput when the artistes refused to face his camera. “They said, ‘We’re not going on record about our drunken conversations last night’. My documentary fell through. I was stuck with so many interesting ideas and characters, not knowing what to do with them.”
Ashim decided to accommodate all that material in a feature film. That’s how Miss Lovely happened. The film, spanning two decades (1980s-2000s), encapsulates the rise and fall of the C-grade film industry. It centres on a pair of C-grade cinema producers, also brothers, who fall for the same woman. “By 2000, sex was online and C-grade films started to die out,” says he. “Miss Lovely covers the highs and the lows of that industry.”
His passion for sleaze took Ashim to Cannes. Miss Lovely was chosen to compete in the Un Certain Regard section of the Film Festival this year. Although the film received polarised reviews from the Indian and the overseas press, Ashim has nothing to complain about. He says, “Some people said the film was strange, slow and art house, while the others thought it’s unlike any Indian film they’d seen. Some even found the sexual content repulsive.”
Ashim is hoping for an Indian release for Miss Lovely this year. He’s aware of the trouble that the film could face at the Censor Board due to the explicit sexual content but the director chooses to see the road ahead. “A lot of people are ready to invest in my future projects. What more could I ask for?” he smiles. For a person whose fascination for sleaze took him to Cannes, we believe he’s already made his presence felt.
