Pickle May 2018 Cannes Film Festival and Market Issue

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CHANGING INDIAN NARRATIVE AT CANNES Un Certain Regard

Critic’s Week

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Fresh stories underscore transformation in the Indian film industry

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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

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e are delighted to present the latest issue of Pickle to delegates at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and Market. This is the eleventh edition of Pickle for Cannes Film Festival and Marche delegates.

Two Indian films – Manto, directed by Nandita Das (Un Certain Regard) and Sir by Rohena Gera (Critic’s Week) – are part of the official selections at Cannes. India’s quest to be in the Cannes Competition Section continues since 1994. The last Indian film to compete for coveted Palm D’Or at the prestigious gala was Shaji N. Karun’s Swaham in 1994.

We may not have our films picked in the official Competition Section for the past 24 years, but we are witnessing a new vibrant and changing India. A new crop of Indian film makers has made a mark both in the mainstream commercial and independent cinema.

The transformation is clearly visible.

The Indian M&E industry has emerged as a globally recognized market with revenue of around $22 billion. New opportunities are emerging with the explosion of digital platforms.

There are close to 200 delegates from India at Cannes. Many of them have come with a clear objective to syndicate and sell their films or collaborate and get leads on co-production opportunities. The Indian

delegation at Cannes is not dominated by established studios but independent film makers who are striving to excel in the crowded market place.

A mere glance at the winners of the National Film Awards 2017 (When Small Scored Big by Saibal Chatterjee page no.

34) highlights our film makers’ approach to storytelling across the length and breadth of India. This point has been further underscored by IIM Bangalore’s Dr S. Raghunath (corporate strategy professor) who has captured the new trend of real-life emotional dramas by our film makers (page no. 60), which resonates well with the global audience.

These are also exciting times for epicscale films in India.

India is now the world’s top mobile broadband market, consuming more data than anywhere in the world. The film industry’s structure is rapidly changing, driving new ways to produce, distribute, and monetize content across its landscape. Halfway through 2018, we are witnessing exciting time for the niche content creators.

Our forthcoming issue of Pickle in June will focus on India’s strength in services space with special emphasis on Animation, VFX for Annecy’s MIFA. Feel free to email us your thoughts and suggestions.

n vidyasagar pickle media nvidyasagar@picklemag.in, www.picklemag.com Pickle Volume XI 5th edition Published by Pickle Media Private Limited Email: natvid@gmail.com Mumbai Chennai No.2, Habib Complex Dr Durgabhai Deshmukh Road RA Puram CHENNAI 600 028

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15-18 October 2018 Palais des Festivals - Cannes, France

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COMPETING AT CANNES

A GOOD SHOW ON THE ANVIL The Main Competition of the 71st Cannes Film Festival holds tremendous promise. Expect a wide spectrum of cinematic riches

By Saibal Chatterjee

J

ean-Luc Godard’s latest film, Le livre d’image (The Image of Book), is his eighth entry in the Cannes Film Festival’s main competition. The 87-year-old French director who began making films when many of the 20 other filmmakers in contention this year were not even born.

Godard hasn’t ever won the Palme d’Or. He made his first film in 1960, broke into the festival only in 1980 with Every Man for Himself and had to wait until 2013 to bag a Cannes award – the Jury Prize for Goodbye to Language, which he shared with Xavier Dolan’s Mommy. Will the tide turn this year? Not much is known about The Image Book, so any guesswork would be completely misplaced.

Not only is the maverick French New Wave pioneer in the Competition, a strikingly vivid image from a film that he made 53 years ago (Pierrot Le Fou, 1965) – it shows Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina in a passionate and playful kiss – is at the heart of the festival’s official poster. A rare occurrence indeed! It is an acknowledgement of Godard’s importance in the history of world cinema.

The main competition of the 71st Cannes Film Festival has several other rarities, not the least of which is the fact that two of the contending filmmakers – Iran’s Jafar Panahi (Three Faces) and Russia’s Kirill Serebrennikov (Leto) – may not be at hand to present their entries. Politics would be the culprit.

Panahi has been under house arrest in Tehran and barred from filmmaking since 2010 but he has kept going. Serebrennikov, director of the Gogol Centre in Moscow and a bitter critic of Vladimir Putin, has been charged by the Russian authorities with embezzlement of government funds. Both

Saibal Chatterjee is an independent New Delhibased film critic and writer who has worked on the staff of several leading publications, served on the editorial board of Encyclopaedia Britannica’s volume on Hindi cinema and authored a biography of poet-filmmaker Gulzar.

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Noteworthy is the presence of a pair of Arab directors in the Main Competition, the first such instance in recent memory men might be prevented from making the trip to the Croisette.

Serebrennikov, who is also a celebrated theatre director and producer, made his Cannes bow in 2016 with the Un certain regard title The Student. His new film is about the life of Soviet rock star Viktor Tsoi and the Leningrad rock underground of the 1980s.

Panahi, on his part, has seen steady action in Cannes – as well as in the world’s other major festivals – since winning the Camera d’Or in 1995 for his debut film White Balloon. If the Iranian wins the Palme d’Or, he would be completing a rare “Grand Slam”. He already has Berlin’s Golden Bear (for Taxi, 2015) and the Venice Golden Lion (for The Circle, 2000) under his belt. Will the jury headed by Australian actress Cate Blanchett give Panahi the one prize that is missing from his mantelpiece?

Panahi’s Three Faces is about three Iranian actresses of different vintage. It would be tempting to think that a panel of nine jurors that includes five women, three of them actresses (besides Blanchett, Lea Seydoux and Kristen Stewart), would take more than keen interest in the latest film of Iran’s most awarded director, who, surprisingly, is in the festival’s Main Competition for the first time ever.

Among the other contenders is only one Palme d’Or winner – Nuri Bilge Ceylan whose Winter Sleep fetched him the festival’s top prize in 2014. He is competing this year with The Wild Pear Tree, which sees the director return to his pet themes via the story of an aspiring writer who returns to his native village to realise his ambition only to find his father’s mounting debts becoming an obstacle.

That certainly does not mean that the contest will be any less stiff. As many as eight other directors in the lineup, half of them from Asia, have been closing night honorees in past editions.

24

It will take some doing for any of the world cinema leading lights in Competition this year to surge ahead of the others when the jury sits down for its final deliberations.

An interesting duo in the Competition is made up of Polish-British filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War) and Kazakh director Sergey Dvortsevoy (Ayka). The former, who has been making films for three decades, taught in the mid-1990s at the film school in Moscow where Dvortsevoy, a remarkable documentary filmmaker who won the Prix Un Certain Regard in 2008 for his first fiction feature Tulpan, was a student.

It is, of course, not known if a teacher and his pupil have ever competed against each other in Cannes. This is Pawlikowski’s first trip to Cannes, while Ayka marks Dvortsevoy’s maiden Competition appearance.

Also noteworthy is the presence of a pair of Arab directors in the Main Competition, the first such instance in recent memory. One of the two, Egyptian Abu Bakr Shawky (Yomeddine),

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COLD W Pawe

Cannes Classics The Cannes Classics 2018 to screen heritage films in restored 2k and 4k versions. It explores the history of cinema with documentaries produced in 2018.

GIRLS OF THE SUN Eva Husson

3 FACES Jafar Panahi

WAR el Pawlikowski

SORRY ANGEL Christophe Honore

YOMEDDINE A.B Shawky

is also the only debutant among the 21 filmmakers in the section. He has never been to Cannes before.

Yomeddine is about a man raised in a leper colony who sets out with an orphan boy and a donkey to look for the family that abandoned him as a child.

The plot stems from The Colony, a short film Shawky made chronicling tales of residents of the Abu Zaabal leper colony in Egypt.

No first-time filmmaker has won the Palme d’Or since 1989, when Steven Soderbergh bagged the award for sex, lies and videotape. That apart, no Egyptian director has ever won the top prize here although the nation has been represented in the Cannes Competition as many as 14 times. So, Shawky has history against him.

Lebanese actress-turned-director Nadine Labaki (Capernaum), on the other hand, has deep, long links with the festival. Her first film, Caramel (2007), emerged from a screenplay that she developed during a Cannes Film Festival Residence programme in 2005. The film premiered in Directors’ Fortnight. In 2011, Labaki was back on the Croisette with Where Do We Go Now?, which played in Un certain regard. Capernaum, her third directorial venture, has catapulted her to the Main Competition.

The 71st edition of Cannes kicks off with Iranian auteur Asghar Farhadi’s Spanish-language Competition entry Everybody Knows, starring Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Ricardo Darin.

Three other key figures in Asian cinema – Jia Zhangke (Ash is Purest White), Lee Chang-Dong (Burning, an adaptation of a Haruki Murakami short story), Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters) – will lead the charge, with Competition first-timer Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Asaki I & II) completing a strong quartet.

Besides Godard, France is represented in the Main Competition by Stephane Brize (At War), Christophe Honore (Sorry Angel), Yann Gonzalez (Knife + Heart) and Eva Husson (Girls of the Sun), starring Emmanuelle Bercot and GolshiftehFarahani.

Italy has two films in the running – Matteo Garrone’s Dogman and Alice Rohrwacher’sLazzaro Felice. The notable European countries missing from the Competition action this year are Germany and Spain.

The two Americans in the Competition are Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman), who is competing in Cannes for the third time, and David Robert Mitchell (Under the Silver Lake), who is visiting the Croisette for the third time but is vying for the Palme d’Or for the first time.

AYKA Sergey Dvortsevoy

THE IMAGE BOOK Jean-Luc Godard

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MANTO Written and directed by Nandita Das

Genres: Biography Country: INDIA Language: HINDI Duration: 112 mn Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rasika Dugal International Sales: VIACOM18 MOTION PICTURES

SCREENING DATE & TIME May 13 (Sunday) 11 00 May 18 (Friday) 13 30 VENUE: SALLE DEBUSSY

Representing I With just a few movies making the cut at the 71st Cann producer of movies, remains woefully under-represented

By Saibal Chatterjee

W

ith a solitary film in the official selection, the world’s largest producer of movies, India, will definitely not be the most visible nation at the 71st Cannes Film Festival.

The title that has made the cut is Nandita Das’ second directorial venture, Manto.

The film stars Cannes regular Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Miss Lovely, Gangs of Wasseypur, Raman Raghav 2.0) as the eponymous Urdu writer who chronicled the turmoil and the human cost of Partition

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pickle entertainment biz guide

like nobody else.

The cast of the anticipated film, to be screened in Un Certain Regard, also features Rasika Dugal (Qissa – The Tale of a Lonely Ghost) in the role of Manto’s wife Safia, Tahir Raj Bhasin as 1940s movie star Shyam, and Rajshri Deshpande as the writer Ismat Chughtai.

“Manto was a politically engaged writer whose work was infused with deep humanism,” Das told this writer last year in Cannes where the first look of the film was unveiled. “He gave voice to the voiceless by turning the spotlight on workers,

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SIR Rohena Gera

Genre: Drama Countries: INDIA, FRANCE Language: HINDI, ENGLISH Duration: 96 mn Writer: Rohena Gera Cast: Vivek Gomber, Tillotama Shome Producer(s): Brice POISSON (Inkpot Films), Rohena GERA (Inkpot Films) International Sales: MK2 Films

SCREENING DATE & TIME May 14 (Monday) 11.15 | 17.15 | 22.30 VENUE: SALLE BUÑUEL

ndia at Cannes nes Film Festival, India, which is the world’s largest d country at the prestigious movie extravaganza prostitutes and others living on the margins of society.”

The year before that, when she and lead actor Siddiqui were in Cannes to announce that the film was set to roll, the writer-director had revealed: “It’s not a cradle-to-grave biopic but a drama celebrating the life and work of a writer who was a natural rebel, a man who went against the tide without being a conscious activist.”

Manto covers a period of seven years between 1946 and 1952, which was an important phase in the history of the subcontinent as well as in the life of the combative writer who had several runins with the authorities on both sides of

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India-Pakistan border on account of his incendiary, outspoken ways.

“Manto’s ‘simple yet profound’ narratives are today as relevant as ever,” Das had said. “That is what draws me to him.

He talks about everything I care for – freedom of expression, the question of identities thrust upon us, about wedges being driven between groups.”

India has a film in La Semaine de la Critique (Critics Week) – Oune-based Rohena Gera’s first fiction feature, Sir (Monsieur). It is an Indo-French co-production. Sir has been produced by Gera and her French-born husband Brice Poisson’s Inkpot Films.

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It’s not a cradle-to-grave biopic but a drama celebrating the life and work of a writer who was a natural rebel, a man who went against the tide without being a conscious activist — Nandita Das Director, Manto

budget documentary What’s Love Got to Do With It?, which probed, with humour and bemusement, the phenomenon of well-heeled, widely-travelled young Indians opting for arranged marriages over love. It was the first Indian documentary to be purchased by Netflix.

Sir, featuring film producer and actor Vivek Gomber (Court) and Tillotama Shome (Qissa – The Tale of a Lonely Ghost), is about a domestic help who works for a young man from a wealthy

Mumbai family. The two belong to spaces that exist on separate sides of a huge social divide but are compelled to look for common ground.

Sir is the only non-European film among the seven features that are competing for Critics Week prizes. International sales of the film are handled by Paris-based mk2 Films, which has as many as five titles in the Cannes Film Festival’s main Competition.

Indian Movies at Cannes Film Market Elsewhere on the Croisette, Indian actors and directors will seek a piece of the action via industry screenings in the Marche du Film and other promotional activities on the sidelines of the festival.

Chennai-based movie star Dhanush will put in an appearance with the team of the Indo-French co-production The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir.

The actor plays the male lead in the Ken Scott-directed film adapted from the Romain Puertolas novel The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe. His co-stars in the film are Berenice Bejo, Gerard Jugnot, Barkhad Abdi and Erin Moriarty. The film is slated for release soon after the festival winds up.

Bollywood star-actor Manoj Bajpayee will travel to Cannes for the unveiling of the first look of Ajji director Devashish Makhija’s next film, Bhonsle. The synopsis of the film reads: Bhonsle, a terminally-ill local policeman, retired against his will, finds himself forging an unlikely companionship with a 23-year-old North Indian girl and her

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little brother, while the raging conflict destroying the world around them reaches his doorstep, giving him one last battle worth fighting for.

Bhonsle, produced by Singaporebased streaming platform Muvizz, is the third feature directed by Makhija, whose previous film, Ajii, had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival last year. Makhija and Bajpayee had worked together on the critically acclaimed short film Taandav.

Muvizz will also present another independent film in Cannes, Zaigham Imam’s Nakkash, produced by Pawan Tiwari and starring Inaamul Haq, Kumud Mishra and Sharib Hashmi.

Among other films in the Marche du Film will be Aneek Chaudhuri’s White, an experimental, dialogue-less film that tells stories of three survivors of sexual violence.

The young Kolkata-based director’s previous film, The Wife’s Letter, which amalgamated a Rabindranath Tagore story with an aesthetic inspired by Salvador Dali’s surreal art, was screened in the Cannes market last year.

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Indian Films at Cannes India has an old association with Cannes with Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar having won the Grand Prix award in 1946. Here is the full list of Indian films screened at Cannes

2017

Actors: Shashank Arora, Ranvir Shorey, Amit Sial

Dibakar Banerjee, Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap

Cinefoundation Selection Afternoon Clouds

Critics Week True Love Story

Director: Payal Kapadia

Director: Gitanjali Rao

Actors: Rani Mukherjee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Randeep Hooda, Saqib Saleem

Script and Animation: Gitanjali Rao

Director’s Fortnight

2016 Directors’ Fortnight Raman Raghav 2.0 Director: Anurag Kashyap Actors: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vicky Kaushal, Sobhita Dhulipala, Mukesh Chhabra Cannes Classics The Cinema Travellers Director: Shirley Abraham & Amit Madheshiya

2015 Un Certain Regard Chauthi Koot Director: Gurvinder Singh

Ugly Director: Anurag Kashyap

Shaji N Karun’s 1994 film “Swaham” was the last movie from India -- the world’s most prolific film-producing nation -- that competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes

Actors: Suvinder Vikky, Rajbir Kaur, Taranjit Singh Harleen Kaur Masaan Director: Neeraj Ghaywan Actors: Richa Chadda, Sanjay Mishra, Vicky Kaushal, Shweta Tripathi

2014 Un Certain Regard Titli Director: Kanu Behl

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Actors: Rahul Bhat, Abir Goswami, Sandesh Jadhav Semaine de la Critique The Lunchbox Director: Ritesh Batra Actors: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui Cannes Classics Charulata Director: Satyajit Ray Actors: Madhabi Mukherjee, Soumitra Chatterjee, Sailen Mukherjee

2012 2013

Un Certain Regard Miss Lovely Director: Ashim Ahluwalia

Midnight Projection Monsoon Shootout Director: Amit Kumar Actors: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Vijay Verma Special Screening Bombay Talkies Director (s): Zoya Akhtar,

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Actors: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Niharika Singh, Anil George Director’s Fortnight Gangs of Wasseypur Part 1 & 2 Director: Anurag Kashyap Actors: Manoj Bajpayee,

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Richa Chadda, Nawazuddin Siddiqui Cannes Critics Week Peddlers Director: Vasan Bala Actors: Gulshan Devaiah, Nishikant Kamat, Kriti Malhotra, Siddharth Menon

2011 Special Screening Bollywood: The Greatest Love Story Ever told Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Jeff Zimbalist Actors: Javed Akhtar, Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit and others

Out of Competition Section Pather Pachali directed

by Satyajit Ray Actors: Subir Bannerjee, Runki Bannerjee, Uma Das Gupta

2002

Udaan Director: Vikramaditya Motwane Actors: Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Ram Kapoor

2007 All Cinemas of the World section To commemorate 60 Years of Indian Independence and 60 Years of Cannes Film Festival India was the focus country at Cannes Film Festival in 2007.

The seven Indian movies selected for this section include Saira Directed by Dr Biju, Missed Call (Directed by Mridul Toolsidass & Vinay Subramanian), Guru ( Directed by Mani Ratnam), Dosar (Directed by Rituparno Ghosh), Veyil (Directed by Vasanthabalan), Dharm (Directed by Bhavna Talwar) and Lage Raho Munnabhai (Directed by Raj Kumar Hirani).

2005 32

1997 Un Certain Regard Gudia directed by Goutam Ghose Actors: Mithun Chakraborty, Nandana Dev Sen, Pran, Masood Akhtar, Mohan Agashe

Retrospective of Raj Kapoor in 2002 A retrospective of Raj Kapoor: 1948’s Aag, 1949’s Barsaat and 1951’s Awaara.

1996

Out of Competition

Competition Section

Devdas directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Oru Neenda Yathra directed by Murali Nair

Actors: Jackie Shroff, Kiron Kher, Aishwarya Rai, Shahrukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit

Actors: K. G. Ramu, M. M. Roy, Parvati,

2010 Un Certain Regard

Haridas, Mohanlal, Suhasini

1994 Competition Section

Marana Simhasanam’s short film OruNeedraYathra was included in Un Certain Regard in 1999 and won the Camera d’Or

Un Certain Regard Marana Simhasanam directed by Murali Nair First film Actors: Lakshmi Raman, Vishwas Njavakkal, Sudhas Thayat Vanaprastham directed by Shaji N. Karun

Actors: Mullenezhi, Gopi, Aswani, Sarath, Vishnu Bandit Queen Director’s Fortnight Director: Shekhar Kapur Actors: Seema Biswas, Nirmal Pandey, Manoj Bajpayee, Raghuvir Yadav

1993 Section Parallel Padma Nadir Majhi directed

by Goutam Ghose

1989

1999

Un Certain Regard

Swaham directed by Shaji N. Karun

Out of Competition Ganashatru directed by Satyajit Ray Un Certain Regard Piravi directed by Shaji N.Karun First film Mention d’honneur Caméra d’Or Actors: Premji, Archana, C.V. Sreeraman

Actors: Venmani

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1988 Section Parallel Salaam Bombay directed by Mira Nair Prix de la Caméra d’Or Long metrage Un Certain Regard Antarjali Yatra directed

by Goutam Ghose Actors: Shatrughan Sinha, Promode Ganguli, Mohan Agashe

1986 Competition Section Genesis directed by Mrinal Sen Actors: Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri

1984 Competition Section Ghare Baire directed by Satyajit Ray Actors: Soumitra Chatterji, Swatilekha Chatterjee Un Certain Regard Khandhar directed by Mrinal Sen

1983 Competition Section Kharij directed by Mrinal Sen

1982 Un Certain Regard Elippathayam directed

by Adoor Gopalakrishnan Section parallele Dakhal directed by Goutam Ghose

1980 Competition Section Ekdin Pratidin directed

by Mrinal Sen

1978 Section Parallele

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Oka Oorie Katha directed by Mrinal Sen

Pardesi directed by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Actors: Balraj Sahni, Sachdev Achala, Nargis, Oleg Streezhenov, Prithviraj

1976 Competition Section Nishant directed by Shyam Benegal Actors: Mohan Agashe, Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Girish Karnad, Amrish Puri

1956 Competition Pather Pantchali Directed by Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray’s debut film PatherPanchali won the Prix du Document Humain at the Cannes Film Festival in 1956. In 2005 it was again selected to be honoured as one of the world’s greatest films

1974

1954

Competition Section

Short Films

Garam Hava directed by M.S. Sathyu

River of Hope Directed by N. Bhavnani

Actors: Balraj Sahni, Gita Siddharth, Jalal Agha

1953

Section Parallel Padatik directed by Mrinal Sen

Feature Film in Competition

1970

Awara directed by Raj Kapoor

Section Parallel Bhuvan Shome directed by Mrinal Sen

Actors: Leela Chintnis, KN Singh, Nargis, Raj Kapoor, Prithviraj Short films

1962

The Great Experiment Directed by V.R.Sarma

Competition Section

1952

Devi directed by Satyajit Ray Actors: Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore, Chhabi Biswas

1958

Short Films Rustic Delights Directed by V.R. SARMA

1946

Competition Section

Competition Section

Paras Pathar Directed by Satyajit Ray

Neecha Nagar directed

by Chetan Anand Winner of the Grand Prix

Actors: Tulsi Chakravarthy, Ranibala, Gangapada Basu Competition Section

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Actors: Uma Anand, Rafiq Anwar

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NATIONAL FILM AWARDS 2017

When Small Scored BIG

A bunch of non-mainstream am titles dominated India’s National Awards this year. The past few years had seen tent-pole movies like the historical epic Bajirao Mastani and the VFX-laden fantasy Bahubali rule the roost. The 2017 jury, which was chaired by filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, chose to celebrate cinema that were unusual in both conception and execution and stood out from the usual clutter created by mainstream movies, thanks to their locations, themes and approaches to storytelling — By Saibal Chatterjee

BHAYANAKAM Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography

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cripted by the veteran director himself, Bhayanakam is the sixth part of Jayaraj’sNavarasa series that he launched in 2000 with Shantham. Adapted from two chapters of Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai’s epic novel Kayar, the Malayalam film is set in Kuttanad and its backwaters during World War II. It revolves around a postman who brings money orders to the homes of men that have joined the British army. As the war intensifies, he becomes a carrier of ill tidings, bringing news of deaths

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in the battlefield. Bhayanakam also fetched Jayaraj the National Award for best adapted screenplay. The film’s DoP Nikhil S. Praveen won the award for best cinematographer.

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A.R. RAHMAN Best Music & Best Background Score

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t is difficult to keep the Mozart of Madras out of the picture.

This year, he won not only the best m music award for Mani Ratnam’s romantic drama Veliyidai, but als also took home the prize for best ba background score for a very differe different kind of film, Mom, a dark, v violent story of a mother who w wreaks vengeance on stepdaught daughter’s rapists. That the maestro ha has garnered the twin awards for 201 2017 is particularly special – it was the year when the triumvirate of director Mani Ratnam, lyricist Vairamuthu and the com-

VILLAGE ROCKSTARS Best Film

poser complete a quarter century of a partnership that began with Roja. The Kaatru Veliyidai score is vintage ARR – it transports us back to his 1990s heydays.

SINJAR

Indira Gandhi Award for the Best Debut Film

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he sophomore effort of Assamese writer-director Rima Das, Village Rockstars was conceived and executed singlehandedly. Shot in her own village with amateur child actors, the film tells the story of a girl who wants to acquire a guitar in order to form a musical band with the boys she hangs out with. But she has to contend with two major handicaps – her gender and her poverty. Last year, Village Rockstars was selected for the HAF (Hong Kong Asian Film Financing Forum) ‘Goes to Cannes’ program and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Since then it has travelled the world and received unstinted praise. The National Award was no surprise.

injar, directed by awardwinning documentary filmmaker and former journalist Sandeep Pampally, is set in the remote tropical archipelago of Lakshadweep (where no film was ever shot before) and made in the dying Jeseri dialect, which is a blend of Malayalam, Tulu, Kannada and Arab. It is about two housemaids in Sinjar, Iraq, who are abducted along with Yazidi women

by Islamic State terrorists.

They manage to flee their captors and return to their native Lakshadweep only to find that their conservative society is not much better than the IS camp that they have escaped from.

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S

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WALKING WITH THE WIND Best Sound Design and Re-recording

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he work of sound designer Sanal George and re-recordist Justin Jose put the Ladakhilanguage film on the National Awards roster. And deservedly so.

The charming little film directed

by Praveen Morchhale is dedicated to the late Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami and even uses an Iranian cinematographer (Mohammadreza Jahanpanah, who, among many other films, lensed JafarPanahi and KambuziaPartovi’s Closed Curtain). It tells the story of a ten-year-old,Tsering, who walks seven kilometers

NAGARKIRTAN

Best Actor, Best Costumes, Best Make-up & Special Jury Award

across a difficult terrain to get to school every day. One day he accidentally breaks a friend’s school chair and decides to take it to his village and repair it before the mishap is discovered.

MHORKYA

Best Children’s Film

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winner of a quartet of National Awards, prolific Bengali director Kaushik GangulyNagarkirtanhas been in the news ever since it went into production. A same-sex love story starring two fine actors, Ritwik Chakraborty and Riddhi Sen, the film provoked the ire of some conservative sections of society but eventually managed to get a censor certificate. Nagarkirtan fetched Riddhi Sen the Best Actor award making him the youngestever to win the prize. The film also picked up a Special Jury Award in addition to two other nods for the costume designer and the make-up artist.

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remarkable debut film

by Amar Deokar, who had to sell his two acres of land in his village in Maharashtra to raise production funds, Mhorkya also earned a Special Jury Mention for child actor Yashraj Karhade.

The film revolves around a young sheep herder whose ambition is to lead the upcoming parade in his school.

In his quest, he runs into a former soldier who appears to have lost his mind but becomes the boy’s lodestar.

Mhorkya, which means leader, tackles several themes that are not strictly aimed at children. It questions hollow notions of patriotism, lays bare the loopholes in the education system.

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TO LET Best Tamil Film

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irected by cinematographer Chezhiyan Ra, To Let follows a young Chennai couple and their art-loving son as they struggle to find a new home for themselves when the houseowner orders them to vacate their present abode. The film, set around a decade ago when the city saw a real estate triggered by the exponential growth of the information technology industry, focuses on the plight of an aspiring film writer who is unable to afford the exorbitant rents. The male protagonist, whose search for an accommodation leads him nowhere, has to resort to lies in

an attempt to tide over the crisis.

That triggers its own set of problems. Lensed by the director himself, the naturalistic To Let uses a soundscape that captures the spirit of street-level Chennai to perfection.

MAYURAKSHI Best Bengali Film

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wondrously subtle and effective exploration of the relationship between a busy middleaged man who has little time to take any breaks from work and his ageing father who is fast sinking into dementia, Atanu Ghosh’s Mayurakshi has proven to be surprise hit. The son returns from the US and tries to reconnect with his old man but the latter has begun to drift away: a universal story told with deep empathy. Bolstered by sterling performances from

veteran Bengali actor (and Satyajit Ray’s famed alter ego) Soumitra Chatterjee and superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee, the film also benefits tremendously from an evocative musical score (by Debojyoti Mishra). It won the Best Bengali Film award. Mayurakshi probably deserved more.

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UPCOMING FILM BY SHAJI N. KARUN

OLU (SHE) AVA Productions presents A film by Shaji N. KARUN Producer: A.V. ANOOP Creative Producer: Pierre ASSOULINE

Now completing post-production “Olu” (She) is the tale of a Gypsy girl who mysteriously survives under the Kerala backwaters where she has been sunk by her rapists.

Only during full moon nights, can she see the world above water. It is on such a night that she happens to ‘meet’ Vasu, a young untalented painter, rowing his boat.

Out of love, she empowers him to create paintings that will change his life. But their contrasting inner visions of love may remain unbridgeable.

Shaji N. Karun started his career as the cinematographer for over 40 films by the master Aravindan. His first three feature films as a director have all been selected in Cannes: Piravi (Camera d’Or Special Mention), Swaham (Competition), and Vanaprastham (Un Certain Regard). He is the recipient of several National Awards, the Padma Shri Award, and was made Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the Ministry of Culture, Government of France.

Contact Shaji N. Karun and Pierre Assouline at Cannes filmshaji@gmail.com pierre@theupliftingcinemaproject.com +33 (0)613215900

Chef Vikas Kha Up his First Fe The Indian chef turned film maker to relea at the 71st Cannes International Film Festi

VIKAS KHANNA Celebrated Chef and Film Maker

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ichelin-starred chef Vikas Khanna, 46, has had the entire world – from heads of state and royalty to the poorest of poor children – eating off his palm for years. He is now poised to register a hat-trick of sorts in Cannes, where film, not food, is the prime attraction. Khanna will be at the glitzy film festival for the third year in succession to serve up a sampling of his maiden feature film, The Last Color, which is based on his own boo of the same name.

A teaser of the film will be unveiled on the sidelines of the 71st Cannes Film Festival. Featuring Neena Gupta in the lead role, The Last Color is inspired by a real-life incident. The film is scheduled for release by the end of 2018.

Khanna premiered his documentary Kitchens of Gratitude in Cannes festival’s Marche du Film in 2016. The film explores religious faiths through the lens of food,

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with a simple message of peace and harmony. In 2017, the celebrated chef and activist was back in the French Riviera town to unveil the trailer ofBuried Seeds, which blurred the line between fact and fiction to narrate his life’s journey from the small town of Amritsar to the rough and tumble of New York City, where the chef lives and works.

Buried Seeds was conceptualized and directed by filmmaker-photographer-visual artist Andrei Severny. The film went on to screen at the Venice Film Festival that year. “(Vikas) Khanna contains within him two different worlds. His story, like mine, straddles two disparate cultures. I also relate to his struggle to make it big in New York, which is one of the toughest cities in the world,” Severny, a Russian émigré, had said about his association with the globally feted chef in Cannes last year.

Khanna’s story is indeed hugely fascinating. He learnt the art and craft of cooking from his grandmother who he would accompany to the Golden Temple, Amritsar and be by her side as she worked in the langar. He soon started preparing rotis alongside her. He was only 17 when he set up his own catering business. He later learnt the ropes from renowned chefs across the globe.

In addition to being a highly regarded chef, Khanna is a writer, poet and television show host who devotes time to causes that he holds dear. That apart, in association with the Welcomgroup Group Graduate School of Hotel Administration, his alma mater, he has set up the world’s first Museum of Kitchen Arts, where he showcases the history and diversity of India’s culinary traditions. We will be watching with keen interest: will The Last Color taste as good as his food?

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anna Serves eature Film ase the teaser of The Last Color ival

The Last Color

by Vikas Khanna

Celebrating Strength of Human Spirit I

t’s the Holi day in 2012, the Hindu festival of spring and colors, and back in Varanasi after 20 years, a young advocate is celebrating a nation-wide Supreme Court order against an age-old tradition of social injustice meted out to the destitute widows of India -- to whom even the simple joys of colors were denied. It was in this city that, 20 years ago, Choti, a sassy, tight-rope walker befriends an old widow, Noor. As a member of the ashram, she lives a life of complete abstinence, but her young friend’s innocent exuberance and joy of life fills her with renewed hope. The two form an unlikely bond, with Noor looking out for Choti, inspiring her to “fly high” by seeking an education and fighting for her rights with dignity. Choti listens enraptured by

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the memories her friend shares: of playing Holi dressed as Radha, the consort of Lord Krishna, and flinging great bursts of her favorite pink-colored gulal into the sky. Choti promises her that they will play the next Holi together. But then, one night, another friend of Choti’s, Anarkali, is murdered by the heinous police chief and his goons.

Being the only witness to her murder, Choti is imprisoned on Holi eve. Everything falls apart in the ensuing chaos. Will Choti be able to keep her promise of playing Holi with Noor? Pitting the smoke rising from the funeral pyres of Manikarnika Ghat, against the joyous color-bursts of Holi celebrations, Vikas Khanna’s marvellously layered story of the survival of a delicate friendship, is brilliantly told and poignantly life-affirming.

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Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani

Union Minister for I&B, Govt of India

Shri Bharat Bala Film Maker

Shri Ashok k R. Parmar

Prasoon Joshi

Ms. Vani Tripathi Tikoo

JS, (Films), I&B, Govt of India

Chairman, Central Board of Film Certification

Actor, Writer, Director Producer and Member, CBFC

Shri Shaji N. Karun

Shri Jahnu Barua

Ms Parvathy

Film Maker

Film Maker

Actor

OFFICIAL INDIA DELEGATION AT CANNES

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t the India Pavilion, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting will be showcasing Indian cinema across linguistic, cultural and regional diversity, with the aim of forging international partnerships in the realms of distribution, production, filming in India, script development and technology, and promoting film sales and syndication.

The India Pavilion will be showcasing Indian films at Cannes 2018, hosting topical events and acting as an information point for the Indian film industry.

The Pavilion will provide a platform to Indian filmmakers and producers (mainstream and independent) to market films and engage in co-production work.

In addition to B2B Meetings, interactive and networking sessions, the focus will be on Celebrating 50th Anniversary of International Film Festival of India, IFFI, Goa in 2019, policy initiatives of the government related to film sector and ease of filming in India.

It provides Indian delegates with an opportunity to create a global footprint for Indian Cinema.

Leena Jaisani Senior Director & Head - Entertainment Division FICCI

Bobby Bedi Producer, MD, KALEIDOSCOPE ENTERTAINMENT

FICCI is managing the India Pavilion at Cannes under the aegis of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Directorate of Film Festival, Government of India. The FICCI Entertainment Division has been cheerleading the potential of Indian M&E sector for the last two decades.

Bobby Bedi is a regular at Cannes for over two decades now.

His film Production Company has a track record of world cinema -- Bandit Queen, Fire and Maqbool. Bandit Queen, directed by Shekhar Kapur, was part of Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 1994. Bobby is at Cannes with new projects for OTT and VoD platforms.

Amita Sarkar, Deputy Director General Confederation of Indian Industry

For the 17th consecutive year, CII will be coordinating the India participation at the Cannes Film Market, positioning the Indian Entertainment industry on the global landscape. For the first time, CII will be partnering with Marche for opening cocktail for Producers Network on May 9. Visit CII Booth at the Palais (24.01).

Avtar Panesar Vice President - International Operations

Yash Raj Films Yash Raj Films (YRF) will be represented by Avtar Panesar at Cannes. He will be at the festival for a short time. and three of YRF’s films in pipeline for 2018 include Sandeep & Pinky Faraar (August), Sui Dhaaga – Made in India (September) and this years’ blockbuster on the anvil Thugs of Hindostan (November).

Narayanan Ramaswamy Producer, MD Thenandal Studios Ltd

TSL has a slate of dozen films in production for release in the next 12 to 18 months.

TSL’s Sangamithra (directed by Sundar C) which was launched at Cannes last year will be greenlighted in July 2018. TSL is at Cannes with its new romantic thriller Iravaakaalam (directed by Ashwin Saravanan).

Narayanan Ramaswamy is part of this years’ Producers Network.

MUST MEET AT CANNES Rohit Sharma Head of Int’l Sales & Distribution Kanika Vasudeva VP - Int’l Sales & Distribution Fox Star Studios India

With over half-a-dozen films ready for release, market veterans Rohit and Kanika will be pitching their forthcoming releases to buyers. The slate includes Sanju (June 29), Drive (Sep 7), Ek Ladki Ko Dekha to Aisa laga (Oct 12), Student of the Year 2 (Nov 23), Total Dhamaal (Dec 7).

Gayatri Gulati VP International Sales Viacom18 Motion Pictures

It is India’s finest fully integrated motion pictures studio that has emerged as a force to reckon with by delivering a stream of critically and commercially successful films. Gayatri Gulati is at Cannes with half-a-dozen films for sales and syndication including Manto (by Nandita Das) and new Marathi films in addition to their library catalogue.

Kamal Gianchandani, President Deepak SHARMA, COO

PVR Pictures Limited is the largest independent studio for the distribution of Hollywood films in India. The PVR team is at Cannes to acquire all rights for Hollywood films and other language films for India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Pakistan.

Rima Das Producer, Director Fling River Films

Rima Das’s Assamese-language Village Rockstars is the Best Indian Film (2017) bagging the National Film Awards. It was selected for the Discovery section, IFFI and several fests. Village Rockstars features amateur child actors from Das’native Chhaygaon village, where it is set, the film tells the story of a poor but spirited girl who aspires to buy a guitar and make music. Rima is at Cannes with new projects.

Manish Dutt, MD, VR Films & Studios Krishi Dutt, Jt MD

VR Films & Studios is a seasoned buyer and distributor of foreign language films in India.

Manish and Krishi run India’s biggest dubbing factory and manage over 900 artistes who lend their voices in several languages. Even after clocking 50,000 hours of dubbing and witnessing 80 percent year-on-year growth, Manish’s VR Films is hungry for more.

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Sanjay Jumani Buyer , Sunstone Entertainment

Sunstone Entertainment is India’s leading motion picture distribution, production & joint ventures company in Bollywood doing business for over 45 years now. It has been acquiring rights of Hollywood Movies for India & supplying Bollywood to rest of the world for the last over three decades.

Sanjay is a Cannes veteran and has a deep insight on Indian films in the overseas market.

Ridhima Lulla Chief Content Officer, Eros Now Kumar AHUJA President - Business Development, Eros Int’l

Eros Now is Eros International Plc’s On-Demand South Asian Entertainment Video Service accessible worldwide to viewers across internet enabled devices. With more than 10,000 movie titles, it caters to 80 million registered users and 5 million paying subscribers worldwide.

Qaushik Mukherjee, Director ODDJOINT

Q’s production house Oddjoint has produced several films that crossed boundaries and got it into the forefront of an independent movement.

It is now positioned as a fiercely independent art platform, with Céline Loop and Q at the helm of affairs.

Q has built his career around demolishing established creative shibboleths with his transgressive and subversive brand of filmmaking. He is at Cannes with his new film Garbage (which was premiered at Berlinale 2018).

Ashish Saksena, COO, BIGTREE ENTERTAINMENT

An industry veteran, Ashish Saksena manages Book My Show which helps connect Film Producers, Distributors and Exhibitors by providing a one-stop destination for all the entertainment ticketing needs for movies and live events- anytime, anywhere. The company is now venturing into the space of Content acquisition for Videos and in Music.

This flagship brand of Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. has a presence in over 300 cities & towns across India.

Leena Manimekalai, Writer, Director, Producer, Dream Warrior Pictures

With film production experience in a variety of genre in both Tamil and Telugu Film Industry, Dream Warrior Picture endeavor to produce movies that are of critical entertainment value.

Dream Warrior’s film Joker (2016) won Indian National Award for Best Feature Film and recent film Aruvi (2017) was critically acclaimed. Leena is at Cannes with a special project.

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Bhuvan Lall Chairman, Lall Entertainment

Cannes veteran and award winning Filmmaker & Writer Bhuvan Lall launched LALL Entertainment in 2003.

His vision is to create Global content with an Indian soul. Our mission is focused on strategic investments in world class intellectual properties.

He is now producing -The Man India Missed the Most - Subhas Chandra Bose based on a book by Bhuvan.

Mukesh Ratilal Mehta, Producer, CEO, E4Experiments

Mukesh Ratilal Mehta, the founder of E4E brand, is in the film Industry for almost 35 years now. Mukesh is a member of Producers Network 2018 at Cannes.

He will be screening his successful and critically acclaimed Malayalam film Sudani From Nigeria at Cannes Film Market on May 15. He is known for launching new talent and his mission is to take Malayalam films to the World.

MORE INDIAN COMPANIES AT CANNES RELIANCE ENTERTAINMENT

Dhruv Sinha Head Overseas Buisness ODDJOINT

RED CHILLIES ENTERTAINMENT

Gaurav Verma Chief Revenue Officer

RAJIV MENON PRODUCTIONS

Saraswati Menon Associate Producer

MUMBAI FILM FESTIVAL MUMBAI ACADEMY OF THE MOVING IMAGE(MAMI)

Anu Rangachar Head, Int’l Program

NH STUDIOZ

Shreyans Hirawat, Director Rajiv Jhaveri, AVP

MAHARASHTRA FILM, STAGE & CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

Ashok Rane Co-Ordinator

CUSTARD APPLE PICTURES

Manjunath Nagoji Rao Gujr Managing Directo

BOMBAY BERLIN FILM PRODUCTIONS,

Arfi LAMBA, CEO - Co-owner Katharina SUCKALE,COO / Co-owner

BLACKSWAN ENTERTAINMENT

Mona Sareen Producer - Director

BASIL CONTENT MEDIA

Sanjay Ram Co-Founder

ALLIANCE MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

Aviya Chada Acquisitions Coordinator

AVA FILMS

Sudipto Roy, Writer - Director Prachi Kanodia, Producer

BB ENTERTAINMENT

Bobby Sarma Baruah, Writer - Director - Producer Sulakhyana Baruah , Film Producer

XXXXXX CONTENT BUYS FROM FOX STAR STUDIOS INDIA SANJU

29 June, 2018 Genre: Biopic Language: Hindi with English Subtitles Director: Rajkumar Hirani Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, Anushka Sharma, Sonam Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Vicky Kaushal, Jim Sarbh and Boman Irani Few lives in our times are as dramatic and enigmatic as the saga of Sanjay Dutt. Coming from a family of cinema legends, he himself became a film star, and then saw dizzying heights and darkest depths: adulation of diehard fans, unending battles with various addictions, brushes with the underworld, prison terms, loss of loved ones, and the haunting speculation that he might or might not be a terrorist.

Sanju is in turns a hilarious and heartbreaking exploration of one man’s battle against his own wild self and the formidable external forces trying to crush him. It depicts the journey of a man through everything that life can throw at him. Some true stories leave you thinking “did this really happen?” This is one such unbelievable story that happens to be true.

DRIVE

EK LADKI KO DEKHA STUDENT OF TOH AISA LAGA THE YEAR 2

07 September 2018

12 October 2018

Genre: Thriller

Genre: Comedy Genre: Action / / Family Drama Language: Hindi with Eng- Language: lish Subtitles Hindi with EngDirector: Shelly lish Subtitles Chopra Dhar Director: Punit Cast: Anil Kapoor, Sonam Malhotra Kapoor, RajCast: Tiger kummar Rao, Shroff Juhi Chawla

Language: Hindi with English Subtitles Director: Tarun Mansukhani Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Jacqueline Fernandez

23 November 2018

TOTAL DHAMAAL 07 December 2018 Genre: Comedy Language: Hindi with English Subtitles Director: Indra Kumar Cast: Anil Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, Madhuri Dixit, Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Javed Jaffery

For more details: rohits@in.foxstarstudios.com; kanika.vasudeva@in.foxstarstudios.com 47

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TELANGANA WOOS GLOBAL FILM MAKERS

Building Brand Telangana Through Cinema Under the dynamic and visionary Chief Minister K Chandra Sekhar Rao, Telangana is leaving no stone unturned to make the State a popular ďŹ lm making destination of the world, here are the excerpts from an interview with B. Venkatesham, Tourism Secretary, Government of Telangana has more than 1,000 years of continuous living history ranging from the walled city of Old Hyderabad to Modern Hyderabad. There are Falaknuma Palace, Golconda Fort, Charminar and Qutub Shahi tombs along with beautiful valleys and waterfalls spread across the state.

Many eminent filmmakers have on record highlighted the immense help they have received from the Telangana Government and its people while they shot their movies. The fact is that filmmaking is one of the most strenuous activities requiring a secure environment for filmmakers. We have always striven to ensure that and will continue to do so.

B. VENKATESHAM Tourism Secretary, Government of Telangana

The state of Telangana has some of the most beautiful film shooting locations. Tell us how film-friendly is the state for domestic and global filmmakers?

Telangana state is a place of rich heritage and historically Hyderabad state was ruled by Kakatiyas, Qutub Shahis and Nijam dynasties. Hyderabad city

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What steps are being taken by the government to bring global filmmakers and production houses to the film locales in the state?

A new government has been formed in Telangana State headed by the dynamic and visionary Chief Minister K Chandra Sekhar Rao. Under his leadership, Telangana Tourism and a dedicated nodal agency, Telangana State Film Development Corporation, have been formed for facilitating film shootings in the state.

These agencies are working on various film-friendly policies in order to bring global and Indian film makers to discover the beauty of Indian stories, locations, art, culture and heritage.

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TOP FILM LOCALES IN TELENGANAL Jodeghat valley Laknavaram Suspension Bridge Golconda Fort SapthaGundalu Water Falls Ramoji Film City

Hyderabad is a world-class film production centre offering award winning talent, both in front of and behind the camera

Faluknama Palace What according to you are the advantages of getting a film shot in Telangana? What’s the infrastructure available for filmmakers here?

Hyderabad is a world-class film production centre offering award winning talent, both in front of and behind the camera. Leading edge post-production work, animation and special effect capabilities, stunning film making locations, state-ofthe-art studio facilities along with comprehensive support services that deliver a seamless production experience from start to finish are available. The best example is the world renowned Ramoji Film City. It is acclaimed internationally and serves hundreds of films every year.

Does the state government offer sops like accommodation for crew to filmmakers during a film shooting?

Hyderabad is well connected with the rest of the world by an international airport and all the tourist destinations are well connected by rails and roads. The Telangana Tourism department also runs a hotel chain called Haritha Hotels. Their presence is spread across the state and located almost in all the tourist places. These hotels have qualified personnel and star facilities, providing accommodation, catering food and other amenities. Haritha Hotels has a website with all the required information and accommodation can be booked online. The Tourism department gives a rebate of about 30% on project basis. So film makers can book hotels in advance as per their filming schedules.

The Government of India has set up a Film Facilitation Office (FFO) for seamless single window clearance.

Do you have any such single window clearance system in place to facilitate film shooting in the State?

To encourage film shooting in the State, Telangana Government is formulating a robust film tourism policy which includes a single window clearances for necessary permissions and logistic and administration assistance.

The specialty of the policy is that Telan-

49

gana State Film Development Corporation will accept the application from filmmakers and process their application for shootings by pursuing the matter with various departments and issuing clearances within 7 days. If not done in the prescribed time frame, the applicants could take all permissions as deemed to have been given on the eighth day and could start shooting.

Do you have a redressal mechanism in place for film producers to contact when they face problems during a film shoot? Who is the first person to call in Telangana if someone wants to shoot?

We will be happy to assist filmmakers through the course of shooting and would try and eliminate any problem or difficulties. Telangana State Film Development Corporation (TSFDC) has appointed a nodal officer to understand the concerns and needs of filmmakers through the various stages of filmmaking and the permission process. Filmmaker can also reach the Executive Director of TSFDC for any query.

What other initiatives do you have for the creative industry and filmmakers to engage them?

The Telangana Tourism department is inviting filmmakers and producers across the globe to take part in the massive state wide “Fam-Tours� to get acquainted with the State and film locations.

These Fam-Tours campaign to build Brand Telangana and tell its beauty across all media platforms. We are also radically improving infrastructure across the state to make it them beautiful and functional for film makers.

Will you be forthcoming if any of the foreign film producers want to project Telangana as a backdrop for a feature film?

We are committed to creating great cinema. We aspire to become a part of the international filmmaking community which will be proud to see more of Telangana and our people in international cinema.

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Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

SHOOTING LOCALES OF INDIA From snowy mountains, pristine islands and plunging ravines to dusty plains, India has to offer probably every possible backdrop that a film maker needs to tell a great story. Here are the top attractions for Cannes delegates from various states of the sub-continent that can take the film viewing experience to an entirely new level

STATE-BY-STATE Andhra Pradesh (Hyderabad) From sun-kissed beaches of Visakhapatnam to the temples of Vijayawada, the Indian Grand Canyon at Gandikota and the Araku Valley, where the clouds say hello to the hills, Andhra is a filmmaker’s dream come true.

Arunachal Pradesh (Itanagar) Arunachal has everything to offer a film crew. Beautiful landscapes and scenery, roaring and turbulent streams emerging from majestic snow-capped mountains, lush green forests, colourful tribes and hospitable people would make any filmmaker opt to shoot in the state.

Assam (Dispur) One of India’s last great natural and anthropological sanctuaries which very few filmmakers have explored, Assam offers valleys and hills to cascading waterways and unending plains, music and dance, festivals and carnivals.

Bihar (Patna) Serving as the backdrop of films like Gangs of Wasseypur and Manjhi: The Mountain Man, Bihar has a thriving film industry. The government is also developing a film city at Rajgir in Nalanda district, 70 km southeast of Patna.

Chhattisgarh (Raipur) The state served as the backdrop of films like ‘Newton’, which was India’s official entry at the Oscars. Carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, Chhttisgarh has a vast tribal area with unmatched natural beauty.

Goa (Panaji) This little state is a panacea for filmmakers exploring locales that offer the lethal combination of beaches and booze. The region with its colonial architecture is a feast for anyone with an eye for details. Goa, with its vibrant culture, is a theme waiting to be taken up by Western cinema.

Gujarat (Gandhinagar) Winner of Indian government’s national award for the ‘Most film-friendly state’ in 2016, Gujarat is increasingly becoming the most preferred spot for the tinsel world.

Filmmakers wishing to offer the audience an ‘eastern’ experience can land in Gujarat.

The Temple Town of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh

Rann of Kutc

The Himalayan state of Uttarakhand bagged the Special Mention Award for being the ‘Most Film-Friendly State’ in 2017

Haryana (Chandigarh) Dotted with heritage sites, golf course, lakes and bird sanctuaries, Haryana offers locations like splendid Pinjore Gardens that is the only Mughal garden outside Kashmir and Morni hill station that houses various Tikkar Taal resorts and Quail.

Himachal Pradesh (Shimla) From hills to mountains, capped by snowy peaks; punctuated by passes and glaciers, Himachal Pradesh has an abundance of parks, rich with flora and fauna and regions that experience temperature extremes.

Jammu & Kashmir (Srinagar{S*}, Jammu{W*} The Dal Lake dotted with innumerable houseboats and the distant snow covered mountains along with Gulmarg, Sonmarg and Pahalgam at higher levels add unique colour to the surroundings. Together with Jammu and Ladakh regions, the state is a filmmakers’ delight for new locales.

Jharkhand (Ranchi) Jharkhand is a nature lover’s paradise. It is home to countless waterfalls -- Hundru Falls, Lodh Falls and Johna Falls. The State’s locales include forests, hills, valleys, waterfalls, wildlife, history, culture, charming towns and vibrant cities.

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A View of India Gate from Ras

Karnataka (Bangalore) This state has the Silicon City of India.

A range of architecture is depicted here through its palaces, temples, mausoleums, monuments and ruins. Sanctuaries, national parks and waterfalls, along with endless beaches, scenic hills and modern cityscapes are abundant in the state.

Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram) With its unmatched natural beauty, this ‘God’s own Country’ is God-send for cinema. Be it the Athirapally or Paalaruvi Falls, or the backwaters at Kumarakom, the state forms a perfect backdrop for films that are high on romance.

Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal) Winner of the Indian government’s national award for the ‘Most film-friendly state’ in 2017, Madhya Pradesh offers a wide variety of locales, eliminating the role of a set designer. From famous forts, marble rocks of Bheraghat, to the green hills of Pachmarhi, the options are rich and many. .

Maharashtra (Mumbai) Home to Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood, Maharashtra is a director’s delight, as his/her search for locations ends right here. It boasts of a huge variety of options, seeking to be dissected with a camera.

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ch in Gujarat

Backwaters at Thekeddy in Kerala

shtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi

Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, Rajasthan

Manipur (Imphal) Manipur has to offer some of the most scenic shooting locations in the country.

Home to the beautiful Loktak Lake, picturisque Leimram Waterfall and the majestic Kangla Fort, the state is a paradise for filmmakers.

Meghalaya (Shillong) Meghalaya, or the abode of clouds, remains a virgin territory waiting to be exploited for film shootings. Improving its infrastructure manifold, the state aspires to become a preferred destination for shooting films.

Mizoram (Aizawl) Mizoram recently organised a three-day Indian Film Festival at Vanapa Hall in Aizawl. The state government is ready to provide any assistance in terms of infrastructure or logistics support if interested filmmakers would venture in the state.

Nagaland (Kohima) A state that is on the world map for Hornbill Festival and music, Nagaland has much more to offer as a pristine shooting location.

Odisha (Bhubaneshwar) Odisha is becoming an increasingly popular destination for film makers. The Puri Jagannath temple can give modern archi-

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tecture a run for its money. The Sambalpur waterfalls and the Paradip port mesmerise one, with the confluence of river Mahanadi and Bay of Bengal, at its backdrop.

Film Facilitation Office (FFO) The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, set up the FFO with a view to promote and facilitate film shootings by foreign filmmakers in India. FFO assists them to get requisite permissions as also disseminating information on shooting locations as well as the talent, resources and facilities available within the Indian Film industry for production and post production. It proactively works closely with various Central and State Government agencies to create a film friendly environment in India. FFO accepts application for shooting of feature films, reality TV shows and commercial television series in India.

Indian Missions abroad will grant a F-Visa to such applicants who are coming to shoot in India, provided the Ministry of I&B has approved the proposal For Further information: http://mib. nic.in/film/film-facilitation-office

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Goa is well known for its beautiful beaches

Puducherry came into prominance after Danny Boyle’s Life of Pi

Dal Lake at Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir

Raniganj in West Bengal

Punjab (Chandigarh) Already a popular destination with Bollywood filmmakers, Punjab with its ancient buildings erected by the Patiala dynasty, The Golden Temple at Amritsar, sunshineyellow mustard fields, heritage sites and effervescent lifestyle, has all the necessary ingrediants for global filmmakers.

Full of virgin locations that are waiting to be explored, Tripura is full of surprises.

Rajasthan (Jaipur) This princely state is the top choice for royal tales. The stories of Hawa Mahal, Mount Abu and the haunted forts in Alwar are waiting to be told on celluloid.

Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow) It is the only Indian state that offers sops to global filmmakers. Taj Mahal in Agra has attracted filmmakers to Uttar Pradesh since the black and white era. The temple town of Varanasi offers a unique cultural experience for the international viewer.

Sikkim (Gangtok) Sikkim with its picturisque locations like Yumthang Valley, Lachung, Gnathang Valley, numerous Buddhist monasteries and pristine glacial lakes make for a perfect place to shoot a film.

Tamil Nadu (Chennai) Tamil Nadu has a lot on its platter to offer.

While the green fields of Pollachi, heavenly falls of Hogenakkal or the misty magic of Ooty and Kodaikanal offer a visual treat, the temples of Madurai, or the beaches of Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari take one to a different world altogether.

Telangana (Hyderabad) Telangana is going all out to woo international filmmakers to shoot in the state, especially in various beautiful locations like Jodeghat, Gandhari Killa (fort), Mitta waterfall (Satha Gundu), Manikguda caves, Kerameri Ghat Road and Shivaram.

Tripura (Agartala) This state can serve as a perfect backdrop for adventure films that demand locales where the jungle plays an important part.

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Uttarakhand (Dehradun) The beautiful hills of Nainital, Mussoorie’s waterfalls, along with the divine bells at Rishikesh and Badrinath, makes it the right destination for filmakers.

West Bengal (Kolkata) The British are long gone but the colonial influence still remains, in the look of its buildings and monuments. Interiors and mindsets that haven’t morphed with the time yet co-exist happily with the present.

UNION TERRITORIES

The seven Union Territories of India are blessed with natural beauty not seen anywhere else in the world. From shallow lagoons and coral reefs of Lakshadweep, an archipelago off the south western coast of India, to the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal which is home to the Andamanese, a group of indigenous peoples including the Sentinelese, who have had little contact with any other people, these Union Territories can match the best of global shooting destinations. Ang Lee’s Oscar winning film ‘Life of Pi’ was shot partly in Puducherry, a UT in South India.

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INNOVATION IN MEDIA Towards $100 Billion

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COLORS A Journey Of Ideas Eight years on, COLORS continues to grow fro m strength to strength tak challenge thr ing on every own in its pa helped by the incredible th that differen idea tiates the bra nd from others. An insightful ch Ra at with ajj Na ya k k, CEO, CO LORS, the flagship en tertainmen t channel of Viacom 18 Media Pv t Ltd

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India’s Only Film BIZ Magazine for the World 09:3 13-02-2016

ickle reaches out to audio visual companies in over 50 countries; Targets global buyers and distributors; Film Festivals and markets; Animation production companies; Global companies looking at offshoring from India; Co-production seekers and location service providers.

Pickle business guide tracks the entertainment business in India.

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THOUGHT LEADER

The crucial concern for independent films’ access to the big screen

P

opcorn, samosas, nachos, Pepsi, chai, Nescafé...

Welcome to the ongoing celebration of the first Indian Cinema Century at your neighborhood multiplex! Exhibitors have an increasing tendency to forget all they owe to Cinema. As exhibitors are regarding audiences as mere ad, food and drink consumers, the onscreen ad sessions sneakily increase in length both ahead of the movie and at PIERRE ASSOULINE intermission. As for the Only Films, Paris / Westeast Films, Mumbai food & beverages offer, it ness is has turned so large and overpriced that it now builds up to above about Cinema. Cinema is the art of creating chemistry between Image and Sound a quarter of multiplexes total revenues.

Foreign and Indian films under 100 min- in such a way as to touch the heart and utes are getting an intermission cut only the intelligence of the audience. Please for the obvious sake of imposing more only offer us a soulful cinematic Nationads and increasing drinks and snacks al Anthem as India is neither a brand sales. To the contrary of mainstream nor a logo. India is an amazing 1.3 billion Indian films, which are written and souls longing for genuine emotions. produced integrating the intermission As the price of admissions increases, so concept, those shorter films are not con- does the amount of advertising imposed ceived to be interrupted. The artificial upon the Cinema patrons, unlike your intermission forced on those films is a smartphone apps which come for free if you accept advertising. Are exhibitors violation of their integrity.

Exhibitors -the final players in the com- who are responsible for force-feeding plex process of bringing an idea to the their clients with ads ready to offer them free seats? screen- are also forgetful of the power of Cinema when they only offer a lifeless, Exhibitors, especially multiplex chains, frozen digital flag to our eyes as we stand have always benefited from the powerful up for the National Anthem. I would like attraction of Cinema to rake in revenue to remind these exhibitors that their busi- from ad space, overpriced beverages

Spotlighting the Cultural Dimension is essential in that Culture needs support.

Entertainment does not

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Today, Hollywood Studios’ strategy of simulating interest in producing Indian films when actually focusing on expanding their US home production market-share on the Indian territory is bearing fruits and snack sales. None of those significant profits made possible only by the power of Cinema goes back to Cinema.

On April 4th, the Bombay High Court recommended curbing “exorbitant” food and beverages prices in multiplexes.

However, that regulation would be unenforceable. Better opt for a salutary levy designed to ease funding for distribution of new and daring productions.

Independent filmmakers have always struggled to find a theatrical release.

The number of filmmakers has grown significantly with the decrease of the cost of making films. Competition for getting screen time at the theaters has now turned ruthless.

Astonishingly, the films from all regions holding potential to move Indian Cinema forward and onto the International Scene are the ones lacking aggressive exposure. These films are often overshadowed by the sterile marketing loudness of some Bollywood films. To date, no proper National Cinema Institution is there for giving them a voice.

Mainstream star-driven films are saturating the market with a number of screens per single release now higher than ever.

That inflation of screens makes no economic sense because it results in a mediocre ratio of admissions per screen. The only purpose is to crush competition and diversity. Such monopolizing of the market should be regulated.

Though video streaming platforms offer a great opportunity for independent Cinema to be seen (200+ million Indian digital video viewers currently, and growing), it cannot be a satisfying answer to a filmmaker who claims his vision to share his work on the big screen as well.

To address the urgent need to fund and promote distribution of independent films in India on a proper scale, a workable strategy can be an Indian version

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of a French model. In France, each admission to a theater carries a levy on top of government taxes. This levy amount goes to the National Center of Cinema for redistribution to exclusively French film production and distribution. Today, Hollywood Studios’ strategy of simulating interest in producing Indian films when actually focusing on expanding their US home production market-share on the Indian territory is bearing fruits: American blockbusters are reaching an unprecedented high at the Indian boxoffice. Indian cinema is not benefitting from that imported growth in what will soon cease to be the least-penetrated market in the world. On the contrary, American films take screens away from an Indian Cinema already suffering from screen-scarcity. A special levy such as the French one, applied to all admissions including Hollywood but exclusively allocated to Indian cinema production and distribution, is a way to reverse or at least to arrest that negative trend.

In order for that special cinema levy to not adversely affect the number of admissions by inflating movie ticket prices, it could be partially or entirely funded from the entertainment tax (now GST), which in Indian states is high. A spin-off from this approach might be to change the way Cinema is considered tax-wise. Marathi films were tax-exempted in a pre-GST Maharashtra. Similarly, independent films in general, because of their Cultural Dimension, should not fully bear the unfair burden of entertainment tax.

Spotlighting the Cultural Dimension is essential in that Culture needs support.

Entertainment does not.

Pierre Assouline can be reached in Cannes: +33 (0)613215900 pierre@westeastfilms.com LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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MAKE YOURSELF VISIBLE IN PICKLE-JUNE 2018 INDIAN M&E SERVICES ANNECY ISSUE Pickle reaches out to audio visual companies in over 50 countries; Targets global buyers and distributors; Film Festivals and markets; Animation production companies; Global companies looking at offshoring from India; Co-production seekers and location service providers. Pickle business guide tracks the entertainment business in India.

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T

he current trend of using a universal language to communicate with a large number of diverse people around the world – both known and unknown to us – is unprecedented in the history of India.

India reportedly has 270 million monthly active Facebook users and 200 million monthly active users of WhatsApp. For the digitally connected Indians, the avenues of entertainment are many. But for a Fa-

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DR S RAGHUNATH Dean (Admin) and Professor of Corporate Strategy and Policy at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

pickle entertainment biz guide

cebook connected, WhatsApp savvy audience, visual narratives that are quick and sharp hold attention. Therefore, these days the task of attracting and retaining prolonged attention of the audience in a full length feature movie is a daunting task for the makers, to say the least.

Among the recent Bollywood blockbusters are an array of biopics, sports films and epicbased spectacles like Dangal, Sachin, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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The Elevating Effect of Real Life Drama The growing number of digitally connected Indians is increasingly lavishing attention on ďŹ lms that tell real-life stories of role models who have triumphed against all odds, says Dr. S Raghunath

Mary Kom, Paan Singh Tomar, Neerja, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Hindi Medium, PK, Secret Superstar, Padmaavat, Bajirao Mastani and Bahubali. These movies are about heroes and heroines, some based on mythology and history, while others inspired from ordinary Indians with extraordinary feats.

In these movies, the protagonist prevails in extreme circumstances. They dramatize a sense of morality, courage and purpose. Though the main characters have flaws, they often sacrifice themselves to show human potential in adversity.

Biopics have become a dynamic genre in India.

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These movies have become more appealing to producers and distributors as the stories are easily available, the main characters are well-known and the movie, when completed, has a potentially large audience who anyway have been following the accomplishments of the subject of the biopic.

However, we know that the talent required for storytelling has to be better for biopics than for movies with totally fictitious characters as protagonists. The handicap for storytelling arises from the simple fact that real life does not come in the traditional three-act structure and the real people involved can complain LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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The Indian talent in screen writing has been unleashed due to the general orientation to support storylines

about discrepancies between the actual events and those depicted in the movie.

Here is an important twist in the nature and depth of talent in the writer, the actor and the director for recreating critical scenes frame by frame from the biopic subject’s life that would eventually make or mar the narrative in the movie. In the context of sports, sports such a cricket, wrestling or athletics take centre stage. The actor who has accepted the role usually has to transform himself/herself physically for the role and this process of paying attention to their new physique with the built-in tension of the outcome of the each match or race creates a series of interesting story questions that highlight the emotional elements of the lives.

While it is generally accepted that there can nothing be more boring on the screen than being accurate and undramatic, di-

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rectors of biopics find it challenging to exaggerate the good or the not so good aspects of the character’s life or twisting the events to make their films more appealing.

Therefore, the main questions that need to be answered relates to what to include or exclude and how to create drama out of the given circumstances.

To accomplish this tall order, a lot of research is necessary before the script and the screenplay of biopics is written. Writers need to have a clear understanding of the nature of the characters and the events they want to portray.

The Indian talent in screen writing has been unleashed due to the general orientation to support storylines that are rooted in facts but grow and spread in imagination in terms of achievement of the main character.

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The Indian audience is instinctively looking for healthy character-strength expressions. The mental and emotional state of the audience reaches a certain elevation when they observe an act of moral goodness or courage screenwriters such as Vishal Bhardwaj, Juhi Chaturvedi, Himanshu Sharma among others have created exceptional screenplays to keep the audience interested, not allowing them to be alienated, bored or confused.

Indian movies, which were traditionally musicals with romantic and family drama-based plot lines, have come a long way. Today, the emphasis has moved from mechanically executed plots to a story waiting to be uniquely narrated. Plot, as we understand it, has always been about what happens, about mechanics, while story is about subtext – meaning and emotion. As is widely accepted, the basic movie plots are few but it is the screenplay that turns them into unique stories.

One of the reasons why sports-based movies and biopics are making waves in India is because they are a rich mode of telling original stories. Bollywood movies these days are coming up with narratives and characters that are very positive in terms of depicting an important widely accepted thinking that “a winner never quits”. The more successful biopics/sports stories are based on the premise that “the underdog can succeed over formidable odds”.

In the fast-paced life of digitally connected Indians fed on a daily diet of occurrences of inappropriate human behaviour in contextually relevant social settings, the hunger for learning through observation and through modelling behaviour by watching those who have excelled in such situations is a widely felt need.

A plausible explanation is that from observing others in adverse conditions the human mind forms an idea of how new behaviour and response in similar occasions or circumstances depicted in such

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movies serve as a guide for action.

These genres of movies that have turned into blockbusters offer an opportunity of empathy with comparable others, allowing the audience to feel passionate and act in worthwhile ways as depicted by the main character in these movies.

Among these blockbusters, the most appreciated are those that have longlasting effect and involve emotional experiences while watching the movie as well as during reflection and recollection of the movie. Therefore, the audience empathises with the protagonist in the movie and uses the movie-watching experience as an opportunity to learn and consider whether the observation sparks something inside them.

It appears that Bollywood movies that facilitate emotional resonance with the main character have a large-scale positive response. The ability to create such evocative content, structure, and overall narrative in a movie is rewarding as the audience in India has the ability to pay for the large screen movie experience in theatres.

The Indian audience is instinctively looking for healthy character-strength expressions. The mental and emotional state of the audience reaches a certain elevation when they observe an act of moral goodness or courage. Therefore, Indian moviemakers are beginning to deliver primarily observational and visual impact and intense emotion or “elevation” when the audience observes portrayal of goodness in extreme adverse conditions, or a strong character in action.

Future Bollywood blockbusters, too, are likely to continue delivering cinematic elevation in a number of ways that the audience could easily observe and emotionally connect with.

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VOICE OF CHANGE

What’s Happening to Medium Budget Cinema?

The delivered to your device film and ‘delivered to your device drama series’ is the future shape of medium budget cinema, even though revenue models remain unclear, says Bobby Bedi

BOBBY BEDI Managing Director Kaleidoscope Entertainment

S

lowly but surely there has been a seismic change in the film business. It started, as all successful changes start, with a change in consumption habits. For some decades there was a subset of cinema that was finding its feet. This included home video, DVD, ‘made for TV’ films, etc.

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While this kind of cinema had its heyday in the West, In India it was a nonstarter. In the last decade we saw nothing of it. Ninety-five percent of it never released, or if it released, it failed at the box office. Smaller successes too yielded nothing for the producer. The pirates took it all. Even the rare success was illusionary. A Rs.50Mn film took another Rs.70Mn in P &A. To recover Rs.120Mn, the film needed a box office of Rs.30Mn. One look at the past 10 years box office shows that hardly any Rs.50Mn film got there. The probably was so low that these films were not just worth funding.

The other significant difference between what was happening in India vis the rest of the world was that Indian TV channels never accepted the concept of a ‘Made for TV’ film. Early experiments in ‘telefilms’ had failed, so the genre was a No-No. In fact, Indian GECs told producers that even abysmal flops at the box office had a price, but an unreleased film had no value.

Then something changed. A large American video rental company reinvented themselves. Instead of delivering DVDs to people in their home, they delivered them over the Internet. Netflix was such a successful experiment that it started changing the way we consumed content.

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Even though revenue models are unclear, the threat to conventional channels is palpable. General Entertainment Channels and film channels should be worried start-ups all joined the movement. YouTube, Apple and then Amazon came into the fray. Even a major retailer joined the fray. Amazon took the conventional physicality of “every shopping mall needs a multiplex as an anchor tenant to drive footfalls” to a digital high and Amazon Prime was born.

In our own little world, we saw the coming of Eros Now and HotStar, some offerings from the biggies -- Amazon, Netflix and Apple -- and the movement came to India.

Simultaneously, another new product hit the market. Now that content was being delivered to homes and even individuals directly, the scripted drama series came of age. It wasn’t rationed at the rate of one hour a week but one 10-hour season at a time. Suddenly we could watch what we wanted, when we wanted and for as long as we wanted on the device of our choice. And what’s more we could chose to watch it without advertising breaks. The OTT revolution had started, and a host of OTTs started in India.

This “delivered to your device film” and “delivered to your device drama series” is the future shape of medium budget cinema. It does not rely on expensive promotion, it doesn’t rely on distribution economics, it doesn’t need to kowtow to multiplex time slotting and most importantly, it does not rely on a one or two-week window before it disappears into thin air.

Having painted this utopia, I must caution that the economic model for this is still unclear. The content creator is getting paid, but the OTT channel is still fig-

uring out its revenues. IT oscillates between subscription and advertising and neither is sufficient. We hope a balance between the two will evolve in the near future.

Even though revenue models are unclear, the threat to conventional channels is palpable. GECs and film channels should be worried. Someone out there is offering a better product and delivering it better. More importantly, consuming it is infinitely better. I don’t see this threat destroying conventional channels, just forcing them to become unconventional. Not just in delivery but also in content.

I have always maintained that a film is like a bullet. It leaves the barrel and either hits the target or misses. Traditionally this was for a variety of reasons. Either the product was bad or external circumstances killed it. Many good films failed because of failed communication, competition, poor scheduling etc. The reasons were many. Tragically you could not put the bullet back and fire it better or differently.

With the coming of the OTT, the channel loads the bullet and you hold the trigger. You fire it up close and you fire it at will. Lousy content will still fail but a good story, well told will always find its audience.

Bobby Bedi is a film maker and museum designer. He is regular to Cannes for over two decades. He produced Bandit Queen directed by Shekhar Kapur which was part of Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 1994

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