Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
‘INDEPENDENT FILMS NEED A VIABLE BUSINESS MODEL’
Actor-director Konkona Sensharma feels at home in the space of independent cinema, but it is difficult for her style of filmmaking to succeed without an alternative marketing strategy.
The 37-year-old filmmaker, who made her directorial debut with A Death In The Gunj, says small budget independent films need to work out a viable business model so that they continue to be made in the future.
“I think I would be comfortable in this zone. I don’t see myself making something big in that sense. But I’d like it to be worthwhile for the people who are putting so much effort (giving their time to a film like this) at one time. How can you compete with films that have such big budgets? You have to come out with a song to reach out to people. So we have to find other ways to advertise a film without songs,” Sensharma says.
She adds that she visited a lot of studios to tick them off her list and they eventually refused to fund the script, despite appreciating it.
“Even while developing the script, I never thought it will get made because I know the world we live in. We know what gets money and what doesn’t. It’s always been that way. I didn’t think anyone will give me money. So that kind of freed me to do whatever I wanted to do,” she says.
“I guess I got fortunate as it was easy for me to put my foot in the doors and get a meeting with producers as I was a well-known actor,” says Sensharma, who has been a part of movies such as Life In A... Metro (2007), Wake Up Sid (2009), and Talvar (2015).