Indian indie filmmakers shine at Cannes
Though independent Indian cinema has always found a place for itself at Cannes Film Festival, right from the days of Satyajit Ray, it had been overshadowed by the sharp rise in the international popularity of “Bollywood” cinema but seems to be staging a strong comeback now.
Cannes has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for the independent filmmakers from India and indeed all over the world. All the Indian films that have either won awards or even featured in the many competition category at Cannes have been independent films.
However, by 1990s, with the advent of Bollywood on the global scene, especially capturing screens in some key Western markets and the sudden rise in films oriented towards Indian diaspora seemed to have pushed the independent Indian cinema into the shadows. And even though independent filmmakers from India were still gathering at Cannes, the broader focus unfortunately was totally on the big film stars and their films.
The presence of top Indian actresses, beginning with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and soon including Deepika Padukone and Sonam Kapoor on the red carpet at Cannes to promote the French cosmetics brand L’Oreal did move the focus of Indian presence at Cannes towards glamour and away from independent films.
Against this backdrop, it was encouraging to find a large number of independent films from India at Cannes in 2018.
Some, notably the makers of three Marathi films, were helped by their state governments to participate, while others, including a young, adventurous film maker from Kolkata, managed to land at Cannes on their own strength. And of course, some of the heavyweight of independent cinema in India, notably Shaji Karun and Jahnu Barua, were also present with their own projects at Cannes, highlighting, perhaps for the first time, the diversity of independent cinema in India at Cannes.
By bringing independent films to Cannes, the government has allowed the mostly young filmmakers to go for market screening of their productions, a dream for many, which also gives them an opportunity to interact with potential buyers from around the world and also discuss future projects such as co-productions with them.
This year’s exotic selection included perhaps the first film from Lakshadweep Islands to be screened at Cannes, as well as the award winning Assamese film Village Rockstars, by Rima Das, who said she was elated to be at Cannes as it was more than a dream come true for her and her team.
For Deepak Gawade and Sharad Kelkar, director and producer, respectively, of Marathi film, Idak, that de- picts the journey of a village simpleton and a goat, the visit to Cannes was a true milestone and a turning point for them.
But not every aspiring, young filmmaker from India has had government backing, so a young director from Kolkata put in all his savings to land up in Cannes, on the steam of his partiallycompleted film and with the backing of an equally young and enthusiastic producer.
Sudipto Roy, who is also a journalist, but had always been interested in filmmaking and has a couple of short films under his belt. Late in 2017, he took the plunge in the cinema world on a full-time basis, taking a sabbatical from his job to produce his first feature length film, Kia and the Cosmos.
Set in Kolkata and travelling to Kalimpong, the film is about Kia, an autistic girl who launches an investigation into the mysterious death of her cat, Cosmos and the film captures the journey which also brings Kia to face many harsh facts of her life, including the whereabouts of her father.
Roy, along with his producer, Prachi Kanodia, arranged a screening of his film at the Cannes Film Market and is thrilled with the reviews that he got from the viewers, who hailed from different countries.
“I and my mother loved Kia and her mother’s chemistry. My mother cried. I think the film is very well made and we would love to watch it in London when it releases,” said Jade Flintoff, a film critic from the UK after the screening.
The viewers’ comments left the young duo from Kolkata enthused about the future of their film.
“Cannes was a great experience and I am returning with more enthusiasm and much more conviction,” Sudipto Roy said.
Roy should be encouraged by the opinion of leading actor Manoj Bajpayee, who felt that Indian independent cinema is going great guns and has a great future ahead.
“It is amazing. The way it has been growing multi-fold and in leaps and bounds, it has been amazing. I really feel that in a place like Cannes, all the new filmmakers from India, from different languages, they should make it a point to come here together and show their presence, show their strength. Bajpayee said. IANS