News India Times
July 17, 2015
20
– that’s all you need to know
Arts & Entertainment
By Shilpa Jamkhandikar
– MUMBAI
or an event that once
made little impact on the
international circuit, the
Mumbai Film Festival
has come a long way.
Last year, after the main sponsor
Reliance Entertainment pulled
out, the festival relied on contri-
butions from individuals. This
year, after a revamp and the
addition of a new sponsor (the
other Reliance, Mukesh
Ambani’s Reliance Industries),
the festival seems to be on firmer
footing. Re-christened Jio MAMI
(after the Reliance brand which
is the main sponsor), the festival
has a new committee and a new
chairperson – film-maker Kiran
Rao.
Rao, 41, a long-time champi-
on of indie cinema in India,
spoke to Reuters about her plans
for the festival, why she wants to
focus on Indian cinema rather
than international films, and
what went wrong with her earlier
pet project, Filmbay.
Can you talk about what will be
different at the Mumbai Film
Festival this year?
We are really excited about
the festival this year and we have
inherited a festival that has a
reputation of showing excellent
cinema, and we intend to fulfill
on that promise and expecta-
tion.
So there will be great films,
but we hope to take it to another
level by increasing the audience.
We are hoping to engage them
by events and programmes and
master classes so that more peo-
ple are encouraged to watch
independent cinema and sample
the diverse kind of cinema that
exists in the world.
Sponsorship was a problem in
past editions of the festival, but
now that you have a sponsor on
board, what are the other prob-
lems you see?
This year we were fortunate
that we found our sponsors, and
Jio and Star have come on board
with the right attitude to make
this festival strong. Actually, the
onus is now on us. But we’ve
struggled on many other levels. I
think it’s important for a festival
to have some kind of a focus and
a long-term vision and goal, and
I think this time we sat down
and really chalked that out. It
can’t just be an annual screening
of films. It has to be something
that will have a longer lasting
impact on the film fraternity and
on how films are made in the
long run. I think it should be a
celebration of cinema that the
city engages with and really
takes ownership of. So those
struggles we hope to overcome
through some of the things we
have planned.
Were you involved with the festi-
val before this, in any way?
Six to eight months before last
year’s edition was when Mr
(Shyam) Benegal had asked me
to be part of the board. It was a
telephonic conversation and I
was never called to a meeting – I
am not sure they had any. The
next thing I heard four-five
months later was that they didn’t
have the funds to pull off the fes-
tival that year, and that is when I
kind of got involved. Anu
(Author and film critic Anupama
Chopra) and I tried to raise
funds.
What will your main focus with
Jio MAMI be?
I think the funding was just
one thing that was lacking. I
think the one big focus that I
have and the entire team has is
to make this festival a gateway to
Indian cinema. (It should) be the
place where Indian films can be
well showcased… Showing inter-
national films is great and of
course very useful and essential
for cine fans, but unless we do
something for our own film-
making community, it will just
be one more film club exercise
where everyone comes and
watches films.We would defi-
nitely want to be a place where
Indian films are discovered, cele-
brated and slowly find a way that
filmmakers can possibly get dis-
tribution and exhibition in India
and across the world.We can
hopefully build it into a market
for independent films.
NFDC’s Film Bazaar has been
doing that quite successfully at
the Goa festival.What do you
hope to do differently?
They are doing an amazing
job and it wouldn’t make sense
to replicate them. They are a co-
productions market and they
start at the stage of script and
part funding before you finish
the film. But we are looking at
more the distribution and exhi-
bition end of it because that’s the
space we lack in India – a place
where independent films can
find distribution easily.
Can you talk about what went
wrong with “Filmbay”, the indie
space centre in Mumbai that you
were supposed to head for
NFDC?
Actually I rather not. If you
don’t mind. It’s a conversation
we can have separately.
It’s also a much longer con-
versation. I can only say that it
was very disappointing for me
that it did not work out. I had
worked very hard many years
previous to finding the venue. It
was a big letdown for me, but I
haven’t given up my hopes of
doing this and creating a space
for exhibition and I will have to
start at the very beginning. I
hope NFDC is able to use that
space.We had made full designs
for that space and hopefully they
will use those designs and make
something good for the city.
Did that experience make you
wary of working with govern-
ment agencies, or with partners
on such projects in general?
I think I have learnt a lot of
lessons. The problem is that film
is a space which is both creative
and commercial. For some peo-
ple the focus is purely creative,
some people are more interested
in how it can become a commer-
cial venture.
I will be definitely be more
wary while choosing partners in
the future, be it government or
anybody. I was doing this out of
passion. I truly wanted to do it.
This was something I had truly
worked to do for very long and
giving it up was very, very hard.
But yes, I have learnt some les-
sons and I have grown up a little
bit.
– Reuters
F
Kiran Rao On Her Plans For Mumbai Film Festival
Director More Important Than Script: Nawazuddin
- MUMBAI
N
awazuddin Siddiqui,
who plays a Pakistani
reporter in Salman
Khan’s upcoming mega movie
“Bajrangi Bhaijaan”, says the
director is more important to
him than the script.
“A lot of people say script is
important, and I agree to some
extent. But I feel the director is
more important than the
script. A good director can cre-
ate magic with bad or average
script, but a bad director can
kill even a good script. I am
more focused on the director.
So for me, director is more
important,” Nawazuddin said
during a promotional event
here on July 8. Nawazuddin
had earlier worked with direc-
tor Kabir Khan in “NewYork”
and with Salman Khan in
“Kick”.
This is his second outing
with the director and the actor,
and he said he was comfort-
able working with them as he
understands their process.
“I know Kabir’s working
style, so it brings a comfort
zone and I amworking with
Salman sahab for the second
time, so there is a comfort level
with him too,” he said.
Nawazuddin will be seen
portraying the role of a
Pakistani reporter who helps
Salman in his journey.
“The biggest task for me is
the honesty of the character.
The character I am portraying
should look authentic, whatev-
er that character might be, I
put in all my efforts to achieve
it,” he said.
“Bajrangi Bhaijaan”, direct-
ed by Kabir Khan, features
Salman Khan and Kareena
Kapoor Khan.
It is about a young mute
girl from Pakistan who finds
herself lost in India with no
way to head back over the bor-
der to her home.
The film is scheduled for a
worldwide release on July 17,
during the Eid weekend.
– IANS
