ON A ROLL: In the past few months, many films have explored the idea of a film within a film. Some such films are Houseful;and (below) Autograph, Arekti Premer Golpo and Iti Mrinalini

The director says “Cut!” but the film rolls on. And that’s no surprise, really, for the filmmaker is not outside the frame, but within. The film that you are watching is actually a film within a film.

So when you see Subhabrata Mitra struggle as a director in Tollywood’s latest blockbuster Autograph, the stories inside the hall and outside mesh. Mitra is a young filmmaker who has just completed his first film. And so has his creator, first-time director Srijit Mukherji.

The film revolves around a superstar who helps young Subhabrata fulfil his dream of making a film based on Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries and Ray’s classic Nayak, which focused on a superstar’s interaction with a journalist.

Autograph is not the only film holding up a mirror to the film industry. Over the past few months, many niche and commercial films have explored the film-in-film formula. These include Gaurav Pandey’s Shukno Lanka, Rituparno Ghosh’s Abohoman and Aniket Chattopadhyay’s Chha e Chhuti.

On the cards are Kaushik Ganguly’s Arekti Premer Golpo, awaiting a Christmas release, Aparna Sen’s Iti Mrinalini, revolving around an ageing actress and her swansong, and mainstream Tollywood director Sanghamitra Chaudhuri’s Bidehir Khonje Rabindranath, which stars Sharmila Tagore as herself. Director Bappaditya Bandopadhyay, whose 2009 film Houseful dealt with an idiosyncratic filmmaker, is believed to be working on another film focusing on cinema.

An unusual trend, one would say. Some believe that it’s just a coincidence. “The flurry of films-within-films started late last year. But it’s just a happy coincidence that all these directors are using the format so regularly these days,” says Barun Chanda, actor, writer and film critic.

The device is the same, but the themes are vastly different. For instance, Atanu Ghosh’s Angshumaner Chhobi, released late last year, was a psychological drama revolving around the lives of a group of people making a film. Tollywood’s rising star Indraneil Sengupta plays a filmmaker in both Autograph and Angshumaner Chhobi.

Pandey’s Shukno Lanka had Mithun Chakraborty playing a film industry extra who gets the chance of a lifetime when he is offered the lead role in a film. In the process, Shukno Lanka takes a hard look at the industry underbelly. Chha e Chhuti is also a critique of the industry, though the treatment is light. The story develops when a film crew takes a break after the death of a technician. They head for a seaside resort where another drama unfolds.

Of course, the film-within-a-film device is as old as filmmaking itself. The history of cinema is replete with many examples — from Federico Fellini’s 8½ (1963) and the Johnny Depp-starrer Ed Wood (1994) to Burt Reynolds’s Boogie Nights (1997). Indian examples include Guru Dutt’s Kaagaz ke Phool, Ram Gopal Varma’s Rangeela and Mrinal Sen’s Akaler Sandhane.

Experts define the format in multiple ways — it can be about making a film or can include performances and other film clippings within the main structure.

The reasons for the sudden spurt in such films are as varied as the themes of the films. Mukherji stresses that he has been influenced by the masters of world cinema who dabbled with the genre.

“I took a liking to the format after watching Akaler Sandhane early in my life.” That, coupled with other films, including Ray’s Nayak, made him “fall in love” with the genre, he says. “It gives me the freedom to tell two or more stories in the narrative space of one, and to weave my stories in more than one dimension. Also it allows me to operate on various levels of reality and illusion.”

For others, it’s a comfort zone of sorts. “It’s very difficult for us to resist the temptation of making a film in the familiar surroundings of a film set and where there’s ample scope to use popular cinematic idioms,” says Kaushik Ganguly of Arekti Premer Galpo. The film is about a gay filmmaker from Delhi (played by the director, Rituparno Ghosh) who visits Calcutta to make a documentary on the life of the legendary jatra artiste, Chapal Bhaduri.

Aniket Chattopadhyay, who directed Chha e Chhuti, says the format helped him bring up some aspects of the industry such as the casting couch, a term used for sexual favours demanded by filmmakers in exchange for roles. The format, he believes, whets people’s curiosity about the private lives of film stars.

Some in the industry feel that there’s a growing acceptance of this genre among audiences for the films are more realistic than before. “Movie-goers today are more conversant with the filmmaking process. So they can connect with films that are self-reflexive,” says Joy Ganguly, producer of Shukno Lanka.

The producer, however, adds that filmmakers need to be careful too. “They can use the device as a vehicle to express their views on the industry, but they shouldn’t be self-absorbed about their craft to the point of alienating audiences.”

Ghosh of Angshumaner Chhobi agrees. “I tried to ensure a constant interaction between my film and Angshuman’s film. And I also had to keep my style of filmmaking and Angshuman’s style distinct from one other,” he says. “Besides, the audience has to be kept engaged in the two films.”

The audience, seemingly, has been happily engaged. Most of Tollywood films dealing with films have drawn a warm response from film buffs and viewers. Almost all the films did good business.

But will there be an encore next year? Till the last curtain call, perhaps.