Pickle July 2021 cannes Film Market Edition by Pickle -- Indian M&E Biz

India at Cannes Film Market 2021 www.pickle.co.in JULY | 2021

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INSIDE

STORIES

A Conspicuous Absence At Cannes

Three Views Of India At Cannes

22 6

NFDC Film Bazaar’s Co-Production Projects At Cannes Film Market

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Déborah Benattar Executive Producer and Founder La Fabrique Films

48 26

India Offers Fascinating Landscapes

Cannes Film Festival 2021 A Contest Of Heavyweights

Redefining Streaming Experience. Interview with Rose Adkins Hulse, 7 India’s Only Media BIZ magazine for the world CEO and Founder, ScreenHitswww.pickle.co.in TV

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fro m t he editor

Indian filmmakers and actors have already begun to occupy significant mind space in the growing streaming space. Many of the Indian acting talent who have had their films in sidebar sections in Cannes Film Festival have made a remarkable presence in the streaming platforms. “Streaming platforms have been a godsend for a slew of quality Indian actors striving for their due. Web shows have given them an opportunity to break out of the stifling confines of Bollywood,” says film critic and writer Saibal Chatterjee. It is a delight to read Saibal’s short stories of the talented actors.

e are delighted to present the latest issue of Pickle to delegates at Cannes Film Festival and Market. This is our 15th Cannes Film Market edition. Pickle has been in the trade racks of Cannes ever since we began to publish in May 2007. From our newsletter and print-only beginnings, Pickle has expanded its digital footprint, live events and knowledge reports on the media and entertainment verticals. India’s footprint at the Cannes Film Festival this year is visible. While Rahul Jain’s Invisible Demons will be present at Official Selection – Cinema for the Climate, Payal Kapadia’s A Night of Knowing Nothing will be at Directors’ Fortnight and Suman Sen’s Eka (Solo) at La Fabrique Cinema 2021. Film Bazaar, South Asia’s largest coproduction market, has collaborated with Cannes Film Market to present seven projects looking for co-producers and financiers on July 9. Co-Production Day will give participants opportunity to connect and do online meetings with co-producers and financiers at Marché du Film. The seven projects are Dengue by Prantik Basu (India, Netherlands), Rasa (Immerse) by Anjali Menon (India), Kuhiro Pariko Sahar (A Hidden Tale Behind The Mist) by Pasang Dawa Sherpa (Nepal), Moving Bangladesh by Nuhash Humayun (Bangladesh), Last Time On Earth by Paromita Dhar (India, France), Ghol (The Catch) by Rishi Chandna and Second Chance by Subhadra Mahajan (India).

With 1 billion mobile subscribers, 550 million plus smart phone users, 620 million Internet subscribers, 950 TV channels, 1,800 films produced annually, 100,000 newspapers and periodicals and over 50 OTT platforms, India’s vibrant M&E industry provides attractive growth opportunities for global and domestic corporations. The government’s policies are geared towards realizing the full potential of this sector. Feel free to email your thoughts and suggestions. We will be most happy to answer your questions and we are just a few clicks away to set up meetings (www.pickle. co.in) for collaborating with Indian media and entertainment companies.

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The Virtual India Pavilion at Marche Du Film provides Indian delegates with an opportunity to meet and conduct business with leading members of the international film fraternity thus creating a global footprint for Indian Cinema. This is a one point contact for Indians at Cannes. The interactive sessions at the India Pavilion are the sought after ones. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, in partnership with FICCI, is organising the India Pavilion. The objective behind India’s participation at Cannes Film Market is to promote Indian films across linguistic, cultural and regional diversity so as to forge an increasing number of international partnerships in the realms of distribution, production, filming in India, script development and technology, thereby accelerating the growth of the film sector in India. 10

India at Cannes 2021 6th July 3 pm - 4 pm IST / 11:30 am - 12:30 pm CEST The official opening of the Virtual India Pavilion 7 July 3 pm - 4 pm IST / 11:30 am - 12:30 pm CEST Showcasing International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 5 pm - 6 pm IST / 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm CEST Filming in India 8 July 3 pm - 4 pm IST / 11:30 am - 12:30 pm CEST

Co-productions: New markets, New possibilities 9 July 3 pm - 4 pm IST / 11:30 am - 12:30 pm CEST Film Production: Challenges faced & learnt in making global films 10 July 3 pm - 4 pm IST / 11:30 am - 12:30 pm CEST Taking Indian Content to Global Markets: Importance and role of film festivals in the age of digital platform

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There are close to 100 online delegates from India at Cannes Film Market this year

India has audio visual co-production treaties with over 15 countries — Bangladesh, Canada, China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Spain, UK & Northern Ireland, Bangladesh and Russia.

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The 52nd Edition of IFFI 2021 will take place from November 20-28, 2021. The 9-day cinematic feast will embrace the works of a wide variety of filmmakers across the world with masterclasses and knowledge series. Asia’s oldest event of its kind, IFFI still holds on to its preeminent position as a showcase of cinematic excellence. IFFI has remained steadfast in its emphasis on showcasing the diversity of Indian cinema as well as in its commitment to the celebration of excellence across movie making genres. bittersweet

Film Facilitation Office (FFO), set up by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, acts as a single point of contact for filmmakers to get all the relevant information about India’s film industry ecosystem, and help them navigate through filming guidelines of key Central government Ministries and State governments. Mee Vasantrao

Marathi cinema is the flavour from India at Cannes. Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation has supported half-a-dozen Marathi filmmakers to participate virtually at the Cannes Film Market. It has selected two films to represent at the Cannes Film Market – Ananth Narayan Mahadevan’s ‘Bittersweet’, which examines the plight of sugarcane crop workers; and ‘Mee Vasantrao’ which is the biopic of Vasantrao Deshpande directed by Nipun Dharmadhikari.

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From the Subcontinent

Three Views of

India At

Cannes

Though many from India will not be at Cannes this time, given the Covid-19 restrictions, three Indian films are part of Cannes Film Festival- Rahul Jain’s Invisible Demons in the special ‘Cinema for the Climate’ section, Mumbai-based Payal Kapadia’s A Night of Knowing Nothing in the Directors’ Fortnight 2021, and Suman Sen’s Eka in La Fabrique Cinema By Saibal Chatterjee

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A Night of Knowing Nothing Directors’ Fortnight

Director: Payal Kapadia

ravel from the subcontinent isn’t easy in the current situation, but three Indian filmmakers, two with completed films and one with a project on the verge of being greenlighted, will be in Cannes this year to share their images and ideas with the world. After a year that saw the announcement of a full complement of films but no physical screenings, the Cannes Film Festival is back with its 74th edition with a slew of Covid-19 protocols in place. India is on France’s red list, which poses a logistical challenge to film professionals and scribes from Indian this country who intend to make the documentarian trip to the French Riviera.

Rahul Jain’s Invisible Demons screens in the special ‘Cinema for the Climate’ section

The subcontinent does, however, have a brace of titles in the Official Selection. Bangladeshi filmmaker Abdullah Mohammad Saad’s Rehanais in the Un Certain Regard sidebar. Indian documentarian Rahul Jain’s Invisible Demons screens in the special ‘Cinema for the Climate’ section.

Saad’s film has made history. It is the first-ever Bangladeshi entry to find a place in the Official Selection in Cannes. Tareque Masud’s Matir Moina (The Clay Bird) is the only film from Bangladesh that has screened in Cannes before – in Directors’ Fortnight, 2002. Rahul Jain’s first documentary feature was the critically acclaimed Machines (2016), an austere, unflinching look at the grimly tortuous lives of workers in a textile mill in Gujarat. The film screened in Sundance and IDFA Amsterdam in 2017, besides numerous other festivals.

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Invisible Demons Cinema for the Climate Section

Director: Rahul Jain Invisible Demons, a 70-minute documentary about the grave repercussions of Delhi’s rapid urban expansion and the impact of polluted air and water on the most vulnerable segments of the megacity’s population.“It is high time that films about the realities of climate change are given a platform,” says Jain, who grew up in Delhi and acquired an MA degree in Aesthetics and Politics from the California Institute of the Arts. “I do not, however, like being labelled. I see myself as a young filmmaker who is reacting to the world around me.” He is quick to add that he is excited that “the cat is out of the bag and the film is going to play in Cannes”. He is now keen, Jain adds, to see how much Invisible Demons communicates with the audience in Cannes. The film pieces together stories of a few of Delhi’s inhabitants as they grapple with alarming levels of pollution. The film germinated years ago. On his way to school when he was only six, he would pass the river Yamuna. “Is this a nadi (river) or a nullah, I would ask,” Jain recalls. Pollution in Delhi, he says, isn’t just a winter phenomenon. “In the heat wave, my brain shuts down,” he says. “After Machines, I had a dearth of inspiration. I felt worthless. I wondered if anything I was going to make be of any use? I took a break and went to Bhutan. And when I returned to Delhi, I collapsed, strangled by the pollution,” the filmmaker recalls. The parallel Directors’ Fortnight 2021 includes Mumbai-based Payal Kapadia’s first fiction feature,A Night of Knowing Nothing. Scripted by the director with Himanshu Prajapati and lensed by Laila Aur Satt Geet cinematographer Ranabir Das, the film is far removed from the Indian entries that the Quinzaine has programmed in the past decade (Gangs of Wasseypur, Ugly, Raman Raghav 2.0, all helmed by Anurag Kashyap).

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Eka La Fabrique Cinema

Director: suman sen The synopsis of A Night of Knowing Nothing reads: “A University student writes letters to her estranged lover while he is away. Through these letters, we get a glimpse into the drastic changes taking place around her. Merging reality with fiction, dreams, memories, fantasies and anxieties, an amorphous narrative unfolds.” This isn’t Kapadia’s first appearance in Cannes. In 2017, the FTII alumna was at the world’s premier film festival with Afternoon Clouds, which featured in the Cinefondation short films competition. Directors’ Fortnight has a history of selecting films that go on to win the Camera d’Or, Cannes’ prize for the best debut film of a director. On the list of winners are Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay! (1988), Jafar Panahi’s The White Balloon (1995), Naomi Kawase’s Suzaku (1997), Bahman Ghobadi’s A Time for Drunken Horses (2000) and Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo (2013). This year, our eyes will be on Payal Kapadia’s A Night of Knowing Nothing, one of several first films in the Directors’ Fortnight lineup.

Suman Sen’s debut feature Eka (Solo) has made it to La Fabrique Cinema, an Institut Francaissponsored mentoring programme for young directors

Kolkata-born Suman Sen is the third Indian filmmaker in Cannes this year. His debut feature Eka (Solo) has made it to La Fabrique Cinema, an Institut Francais-sponsored mentoring programme for young directors. “We are now just one draft away from the shooting. The intention is to wrap up (the funding negotiations), so I’m staying over in Paris after the Cannes festival. The pandemic situation permitting, we want to start filming in mid-2022,” says Sen, who has been in the advertising industry for 15 years.

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Rehanais Un Certain Regard

Director: Abdullah Mohammad Saad According to the synopsis, Eka, set in Kolkata, “explores the degeneration of the social fabric of India”. The filmmaker says: “The film reflects the time I have lived in for the last couple of years: a time of hatred, intolerance and violence.” “I have a love-hate relationship with Kolkata,” says Sen, who moved to Mumbai five years ago. “I wanted to distance myself from the city and view it objectively. The move has given me a new reflective lens to view Kolkata from a different angle altogether.” Sen recently completed the short film The Silent Echo, set in Nepal. Eka, an Indo-Bangladeshi-French venture backed by Arifur Rahman of Goopy Bagha Productions, is one of ten projects selected for La Fabrique Cinema. Another La Fabrique Cinema inclusion is multiple award-winning Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani’s documentary Kabul Melody, about two teenage girls who face family opposition and Taliban threats as they pursue their passion for music. In her Statement of Intent, Mani, who made the widely applauded A Thousand Girls Like Me (2018), says, “Being a filmmaker in Afghanistan means being a social activist. In spite of it all, with Kabul Melody I want to show hope and the emergence of free will among the women who will create Afghanistan’s future.” In the Marche du Film (Cannes Film Market), the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) will present seven projects looking for co-producers and financiers. The slate includes Moving Bangladesh, a film produced, among others, by Arifur Rahman, who is also backing Eka. The other NFDC projects in this year’s Cannes Film Market are Prantik Basu’s Dengue, Anjali Menon’s Rasa, Nepalese filmmaker Pasang Dawa Sherpa’s Kuhiro Pariko Sahar (A Hidden Tale Behind the Mist), Paromita Dhar’s Last Time on Earth, Rishi Chandna’s Ghol (The Catch) and Subhadra Mahajan’s Second Chance.

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Satyajit Ray’s centenary year

A Conspicuous

Absence Satyajit Ray’s work was showcased in Cannes Film Festival on several occasions. It is a tad disappointing, therefore, to find him missing from Cannes Classics in his centenary year. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful had one of Ray’s masterworks been in the mix this year as well? By Saibal Chatterjee

atyajit Ray had a long and symbiotic relationship with Cannes. It began with his very first film, Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road, 1955), which won the Best Human Document award at the festival’s ninth edition in 1956. The Indian maestro’s work was showcased in Cannes on several occasions thereafter. It is a tad disappointing, therefore, to find him missing from Cannes Classics in his centenary year. After Pather Panchali, three of Ray’s films were in the Cannes Competition – Parash Pathar (1958), Devi (1962) and Ghare Baire (1984). A late-career work, Ganashatru (1989), played in the Special Screenings section. In 2013, one of his most consummate films, Charulata, was screened in Cannes Classics. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful had one of Ray’s masterworks been in the mix this year as well? Widely credited with putting Indian cinema on the world map, Pather Panchali has been screened in Cannes on as many as four occasions. Besides the world premiere in 1956, when it heralded Ray’s arrival on the global stage, it was in Special Screenings in 1992 (as a homage to the filmmaker who had passed away weeks earlier), Directors’ Fortnight in 1995 (to mark the film’s 40th anniversary), and Cannes Classics in 2005 (on the occasion of the film’s 50th anniversary). It might have been in the fitness of things to find a slot for a Ray film in the Classics 2021 selection.

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Pather Panchali is as much a part of Indian cinema folklore as it is of the Cannes Film Festival’s own history. In 1956, it won the Best Human Document Award, narrowly losing the Palme d’Or race to the French documentary Le Monde du Silence

The Cannes Film Festival is the only one of Europe’s ‘big three’ where the top prize eluded Ray. In Venice, the second part of the Apu trilogy, Aparajito (The Unvanquished), won the Golden Lion in 1958. In 1973, Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder), which was, like the Apu trilogy, adapted from a Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay novel, fetched him the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. It may be argued, and not unjustifiably, that Indian cinema has moved on since Satyajit Ray’s passing in 1992. It is also true that nearly 30 years on, the departed maestro continues to be a bright lodestar for contemporary subcontinental filmmakers seeking to make renewed global inroads. Ray perfected the art of making culturally rooted films that were, at the same time, universally relevant. That is an ability that can never go out of vogue. No filmmaker in this country has reached the heights that Ray consistently did at the peak of his prowess – all the more reason to celebrate what he achieved in terms of paving the way for his successors. In his centenary year and beyond, Ray remains a constant presence in our midst, reminding us of the intrinsic capacity of the medium to capture the essence of life that might be specific to one part of world and yet communicate with people across the globe. He was an auteur in the truest sense of the word, the kind of filmmaker that the Cannes Film Festival has feted over the decades.

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Ray’s oeuvre is important not only as films but also as historical/ social chronicles. “Seldom has a film director’s work chronicled the process of social change in a country over as long a span of time as Satyajit Ray’s,” film critic Chidananda Dasgupta wrote in his book The Cinema of Satyajit Ray. “The subjects of his films range over the shifting social scene in India for over one hundred and fifty years (at the time of the book’s publication).” Dasgupta wrote: “Devi (The Goddess, 1960) is placed in the 1830s. Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players, 1977) in the 1850s. Charulata (1964) is laid in 1879, Jalsaghar (The Music Room, 1958) at the turn of the century, the Apu trilogy in the early years of the 20th century. Sadgati (The Deliverance, 1981) was written by Premchand in the 1930s about an unspecified, as it were timeless, period. Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder, 1973) deals with the British-made wartime famine of 1943; besides, he of course made a host of contemporary films.” Ray’s contemporary films – Abhijan (The Expedition, 1962), Mahanagar (The BigCity, 1963), Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest, 1969), Seemabaddha (Company Limited, 1971), and Jana Aranya (The Middleman, 1975), among others – present a vivid portrait of a society and a culture in flux. No filmmaker has ever caught the nuances of this process and its impact on human beings as felicitously as he did. The simplicity of his films was often deceptive. Nothing that Ray made was ever chance-directed.

parash pathar

ganshatru

Devi 16

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R y at C nnes Beginning with the ninth edition of the Cannes Film Festival (1956), where his debut film PatherPanchali won the Prix du Document Humain, the Indian maestro travelled to the Croisette on several occasions in subsequent years. He had three more titles in the Cannes Competition – Parash Pathar (1958), Devi (1962) and GhareBaire (1984) – besides Ganashatru (1989) in the Special Screenings section. In 2013, one of his greatest films, Charulata, was screened in Cannes Classics. Pather Panchali is as much a part of Indian cinema folklore as it is of the Cannes Film Festival’s own history. In 1956, it won the Best Human Document Award, narrowly losing the Palme d’Or race to the French documentary Le Monde du Silence (The Silent World), directed by Louis Malle and famed oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. It was a year of heavy-hitters in the Cannes Competition, with the likes of Ingmar Bergman (Smiles of a Summer Night, which also won a Special Award), Akira Kurosawa (I Live in Fear) and Alfred Hitchcock (The Man Who Knew Too Much) going head to head. It was also the year when Henri-Georges Clouzot, known for his seminal French thrillers, landed a Special Jury Award for his Picasso documentary, Le Mystere Picasso (The Mystery of Picasso).The jury was headed by French actor-director-producer Maurice Lehmann.

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NFDC Film Bazaar’s

Co-Production Projects at

Cannes Film Market Film Bazaar, South Asia’s largest co-production market, has collaborated with the Cannes Film Market to present seven projects looking for co-producers and financiers on July 9. Co-Production Day will give the selected participants the opportunity to connect and do one-on-one online meetings with coproducers and financiers at Marché du Film. The seven projects are Dengue by Prantik Basu (India, Netherlands), Rasa (Immerse) by Anjali Menon (India), Kuhiro Pariko Sahar (A Hidden Tale Behind The Mist) by Pasang Dawa Sherpa (Nepal), Moving Bangladesh by Nuhash Humayun (Bangladesh), Last Time On Earth by Paromita Dhar (India, France), Ghol (The Catch) by Rishi Chandna and Second Chance by Subhadra Mahajan (India).

Dengue (India, Netherlands | Bengali, Hindi, English)

uring a sudden summer rain in Kolkata (India), a young migrant worker named Nepal gives refuge to Sunny, a medical student, by offering him his room to stay. While the narrow suburban roads get flooded and soon become a breeding ground for mosquitoes that carry a tropical virus, a feverish romance unfolds between the two men.

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Director – PrantikBasu Producers – PrantikBasu, Jan van der Zanden

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Rasa (Immerse)

(India | Malayalam, Hindi, English, Tamil)

anju, 34, a Nepali maid in a South Indian household, wears an emotionless face of efficient servitude. But this mask crumbles when she comes across Bharatanatyam, an Indian classical dance. Lavanya, 14, the school going daughter of Manju’s boss, has to train for a classical dance contest. A reluctant Manjuescorts her but unexpectedly the dance surprises her with itsgrace and emotion. Falling desperately in love with the danceform, Manju meticulously supports Lavanya’s dance trainingand performance; caring and paying attention to every minutedetail.

Director – Anjali Menon Producers Anjali Menon, NP Prakash

Kuhiro Pariko Sahar (A Hidden Tale behindthe Mist) (Nepal | Nepali)

devoted wife, SARKI (21) lives with her stony-hearted husband SANGE (28) and son DORJE (7) in a village surrounded by beautiful mountains. Sarki’s daily routine consists of household chores along with taking care of her paralyzed husband. Her efforts do not pay off and his health is worsening gradually. All of sudden their dog dies in a mysterious way. Sarki believes that it took all her husband’s pain and passed away. When Sange gets recovered but she gets encountered with a different reality.

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Director – Pa s a n g D aw a Sherpa Producers – Prem Prasad Adhikary

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Moving Bangladesh

(Bangladesh, France | Bengali)

ick of being stuck in traffic and in life, a struggling entrepreneur creates a motorbike-based ride-sharing app that may change travel in Bangladesh, forever... if he can overcome his family, relationships- and the government.

Director Nuhash Humayun Producers BijonImtiaz, Arifur Rahman, Bich-Quan Tran

Last Time On Earth (India, France)

ast Time on Earth is the story of Manna and his persistent dream of magical proportions. He is a construction worker who left his village to work in the city. While he toils in the night time metropolis, his dreams literally day time dreams seeping into scattered sleep take him repeatedly to the moon. Manna works in its glow and has recurring dreams of it. They are dreams that metamorphosis into signs, and finally into an idea that he plans to execute with his friend Kazi’s help.

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Director – Paromita Dhar Producers – Paromita Dhar, Yohann Cornu

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Ghol (The Catch)

(India | Gujarati, Hindi, English)

n impoverished Muslim fisherman becomes a millionaire overnight after catching a shoal of the rare and prized Ghol fish in the polluted, nearly barren waters off the west coast of India. The newfound wealth offers him a chance to buy a bigger boat and rebuild his life, but a renewed wave of anti-Muslim sentiment threatens his plans and forces him to confront past traumas.

Director Rishi Chandna Producers Dina Dattani

Second Chance (India)

ity girl Mia visits her family home in the Himalayas in winter, alone; depressed & detached. The caretaker of the house departs, leaving his old mother-in-law Bimal, in charge. Her days are filled with manual labor & looking after her naughty grandson Sunny. Interaction is unavoidable… The 3 distinct souls find themselves bound together beyond age & class divides. Until the arrival of an unexpected visitor drives Mia straight back into her trauma.Mia debates giving herself a ‘Second Chance’.

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Director – Subhadra Mahajan Producers Shyam Bora, Bhaskar Hazarika

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CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2021

Contest

of heavyweights Expect a keen tussle for the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize this year because it is, for the most part, likely to be a battle of equals, but do keep an eye on the surprises that the Un certain regard section is bound to spring By Saibal Chatterjee

hree previous Palme d’Or winners – Jacques Audiard, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Nanni Moretti – are among the 24 directors vying for the top prize at the 74th Cannes Film Festival. Important as that bit of information is, it isn’t the big news. The big news is that one-third of this year’s Palme d’Or contenders – eight of the 24 – are films that were wrapped up last year. What does that tell us? It is safe to assume that these filmmakers chose to opt out of the Cannes 2020 selection (or sit out other festivals held post-May) so as to be able to bring their films physically to Cannes this year and compete. The eight 2020 productions in Competition are Weerasethakul’s Colombia-set Tilda Swinton and Jeanne Balibar starrer Memoria, Kirill Serebrennikov’s Petrov’s Flu, Nanni Moretti’s Three Floors, Leos Carax’s opening film Annette, Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta, a 17th century erotic drama set in an Italian convent, Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch (which would probably have been the opening film had the festival not been cancelled last year), Bruno Dumont’s France, and Mia Hansen-Love’s Bergman Island.

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MEMORIA

ANNETTE

Director: Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL

Director: Leos CARAX

BENEDETTA

THE FRENCH DISPATCH

Director: Paul VERHOEVEN

Director: Wes ANDERSON

Serebrennikov will be unable to attend the Cannes Film Festival because he is serving a suspended sentence for embezzlement of government funds (a charge that human rights activists allege is a veiled retaliation against his criticism of the establishment) and is barred from leaving Russia. In 2018, too, the theatre and film director was prevented from making the trip to Cannes, where his musical Leto was in Competition. Serebrennikov’s latest film Petrov’s Flu, an adaptation of a 2018 novel by Alexei Salnikov described in the synopsis as “a deadpan, hallucinatory romp through post-Soviet Russia”, follows a flu-hit comic-book artist and his family through yet another day as he drifts in and out of bouts of fantasy and a reality in which nothing is as ordinary as it seems. Also in the Competition line-up is the Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi, who won the Golden Bear at the 2017 Berlin Film Festival for On Body and Soul. Her new film, The Story of My Wife, starring Leo Seydoux (she has three other films in the festival), Dutch actor Gijs Naber and Louis Garrel, is adapted from a Milan Fust novel of the same name. Enyedi’s debut film, My 21st Century, won the Camera D’Or in Cannes in 1989. Moretti’s film Tre Piani (Three Floors) tracks a chain of events that alters the lives of the residents of a Rome apartment building where coexistence as parents, siblings and neighbours isn’t the easiest thing to achieve. Moretti won the Palme d’Or exactly two decades ago, for The Son’s Room (2001). Audiard, whose Dheepan won the Palme d’Or in 2015, is in Cannes with Les Olympiades (Paris 13th District), which was shot in the French capital during the pandemic. It follows four youngsters who are friends and lovers. The brief synopsis reads: “Emilie meets Camille, who is attracted to Nora, who crosses the path of Amber. Three girls and a boy redefine what modern love is.”

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Carax, whose Annette stars Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, and Audiard, are among a record seven French directors in contention for the Palme d’Or. Mia Hansen-Love is competing with Bergman Island, in which a filmmaking couple (Tim Roth and Vicky Krieps) spend a summer in the Swedish island of Faro, where Ingmar Bergman lived and worked, with the intention of completing their respective scripts. As the days pass, they find the lines between reality and fiction blurring. Another Cannes Competition first-timer Julia Ducournau has Titane, headlined by Cannes best actor winner Vincent Lindon (The Measure of a Man, 2015), in the running. Catherine Corsini with The Divide, which plays out on the evening of a major ‘yellow vests’ protest in Paris; Bruno Dumont with France starring Lea Seydoux in a portrait of an anchor woman, of a country and of the media”; and Francois Ozon with Everything Went Fine, which has Sophie Marceau in the role of a woman whose octogenarian father wants her to help him end his life, complete the French Competition contingent. Several other directors are vying for the festival’s top prize for the first time – Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Tangerine) with Red Rocket, Israel’s Nadav Lapid with Ahed’s Knee, Finnish filmmaker Juho Kuosmanen with Compartment No. 6), Belgian director Joachim Lafosse with The Restless, and the French-Moroccan Nabil Ayouch with Casablanca Beats. A fictional filmmaker is at the centre of Israeli director Nadav Lapid’s Ahed’s Knee. The protagonist, a filmmaker in his mid-40s, travels to a remote desert village to present a film of his and finds himself contending with two deaths: one of freedom in his country, the other of his mother.

DRIVE MY CAR

BERGMAN ISLAND

Director: HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke

Director: Mia HANSEN-LOVE

FRANCE Director: Bruno DUMONT

FLAG DAY Director: Sean PENN

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GHAHREMAN

Director: Asghar FARHADI

HA’BERECH Director: Nadav LAPID

LES OLYMPIADES Director: Jacques AUDIARD

NITRAM Director: Justin KURZEL

Besides Weerasethakul, the the 2021 Cannes Competition features two Asian directors – Cannes regular Asghar Farhadi and Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi, whose 2018 film Asako 1 & 2 made the cut. This year, the latter is in Cannes with Drive My Car. Farhadi’s Ghahreman (A Hero) promises to be precisely the kind of probe into human foibles that the director is known for. The film centres on a man imprisoned for failing to repay a debt. Out on parole for two days, he tries to convince the creditor to drop the case against him in exchange for payment of a part of the sum. But matters do not pan out quite the way the protagonist expects them to. Hollywood star Sean Penn, who was in the Cannes Competition in 2016 with The Last Face, returns to the Croisette with Flag Day, a film based on a true story about one of the most notorious counterfeiters in US history. It is a father-daughter drama that stars Penn himself opposite his real-life daughter Dylan Penn. Australian director Justin Kurzel, whose Macbeth was in Competition in 2015, has a film among the award contenders this year. Titled Nitram, the film stars Caleb Landry Jones as a loner who goes on a shooting rampage. It is inspired by the real-life 1996 Port Arthur shooting in which 35 people were killed. Norwegian director Joachim Trier, who competed for the big prize in 2015 with his English-language Louder film than Bombs, has The Worst Person in the World in Competition this time around. The film, a dramedy about a young woman in the throes of an existential angst and a struggle to find true love, rounds off the director’s Oslo trilogy. Ayouch, a Competition newbie, brings a realistic hip-hop musical to the festival. The film, Casablanca Beats, features many non-pro actors. Set in the Sidi Moumen slum district of Casablanca, the film centres on a bunch of youngsters fighting to break free from the shackles of conservatism and express themselves through music.

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PETROV’S FLU Director: Kirill SEREBRENNIKOV

RED ROCKET Director: Sean BAKER

STORY OF MY WIFE

BAGLILIK HASAN

Director: Ildiko ENYEDI

Director: Semih KAPLANOGLU

Kuosmanen, whose The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki, was in the Un certain regard competition in 2016, has moved a step up this year. His new film, Compartment No. 6, set in the late 1990s, is about a Finnish student Laura who travels from Moscow to Murmansk to see ancient rock paintings. The only other passenger in the compartment is an unsociable, glum Russian miner. In the course of the long rail trip through the snow, the ice begins to breaks between the two travellers. American director Sean Baker gets his first shot at the Palme d’Or with Red Rocket, about a down-and-out former porn star returns to his small Texas hometown, where nobody really wants him back. Chadian director Mahamat Saleh-Haroun, who is no stranger to the Cannes Competition (his fourth feature film, A Screaming Man, won the Jury Prize in Cannes in 2010), is back in the reckoning with Lingui. It is a film about a young mother and her pregnant 15-year-old daughter who have to find a way to get an abortion done in a society in which that is easier said than done.

Several other directors are vying for the festival’s top prize for the first time – Sean Baker with Red Rocket, Israel’s Nadav Lapid with Ahed’s Knee, Finnish filmmaker Juho Kuosmanen with Compartment No. 6), Belgian director Joachim Lafosse with The Restless, and the French-Moroccan Nabil Ayouch with Casablanca Beats 30

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One film this critic would be particularly keen to watch is from Russia – Alexey German Jr.’s House Arrest. The protagonist of the film, David, is a university professor who launches a broadside against the city administration on social media. But instead of the mayor’s questionable dealings being probed, the whistle-blower is put under house arrest on a trumped-up charge As always, observers looking to discover new stars of world cinema will focus on Un certain regard, where seven of the 20 films have been made by debutants. The competitive section opens with Onoda, a film by French actor-turned-director Arthur Harari that has been filmed entirely in Japan. Among the Un certain titles to watch out for are Commitment Hasan, the second part of Turkish filmmaker Semih Kaplanoglu’s Commitment trilogy; Bulgarian filmmaking pair Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova’s Women Do Cry; Arab-Israeli director Eran Kolirin’s Let There Be Morning;and Russian filmmaker Kira Kovalenko’s Unclenching the Fists. One film this critic would be particularly keen to watch is from Russia – Alexey German Jr.’s House Arrest. The protagonist of the film, David, is a university professor who launches a broadside against the city administration on social media. But instead of the mayor’s questionable dealings being probed, the whistle-blower is put under house arrest on a trumped-up charge. And thus begins a David-versus-Goliath battle.

TRE PIANI Director: Nanni MORETTI

TITANE Director: Julia DUCOURNAU

VERDENS VERSTE MENNESKE

ONODA

Director: Joachim TRIER

Director: Arthur HARARI

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FFO AT CANNES

Seamless

Filming now a Reality in India In an effort to reach out to the filming fraternity across the globe, the FFO website www.ffo.gov.in has made the single window clearance for filming in India a reality. It helps international and domestic producers cut through the permission process required to shoot films in India

aying a red carpet for global producers and studios as part of its mandate to promote India as a filming destination, the Film Facilitation Office (FFO) has set up a web portal, www.ffo.gov.in, which provides all filming related information on a single platform. Having been set up as a single window clearance system for granting mandatory filming permissions from Central and State governments, the portal also lists out all important guidelines and advisories for both international and Indian filmmakers. Whether it is accessing information related to filming, or understanding the processes of international arrivals, visa issuance, or application for quarantine exemption request, it’s all easily accessible to filmmakers at the click of a button.

Applying online for filming in India through the portal is an absolute breeze. Once a filmmaker applies through the portal, there is an automatic transmission of information to all the nodal agencies. The web portal has information regarding the Nodal officers of all Indian States and Union Territories, along with their filming policies and guidelines. Besides enabling online submission of applications for filmmakers, the portal also enlists India’s co-production treaties. It disseminates information on India’s various shooting locations across all the States (each location having detailed information relevant to that particular location) and lists facilities available with the Indian film industry for postproduction, animation and VFX.

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The layout of the website has been kept simple with all information neatly organised under each subhead. For example, if you are an international filmmaker, production house or a domestic filmmaker seeking permissions for shooting there are separate step-by-step guidelines under Permissions tab, which also has online application, and guidelines about aerial filming, filming with animals, application for filming visa and temporary import of filming equipment. Applying through the FFO portal has never been easier. It requires the applicant to sign up with selfgenerated username and password to create an account, and start an incredible journey on one of the most user-friendly websites anywhere in the world for obtaining filming permissions with FFO by their side at every step of the way to guide them through all the nitty-gritty associated with filming in India. The website also allows registration of local representatives or line producers of foreign productions in order to carry out recce of shooting locales. After completing the registration process by uploading all documents in digital format, such as, detailed script, synopsis or concept, passport details of the crew, details of shooting locations in India and the period of shooting, etc, a nominal application processing fee is required to be submitted to start a one-on-one relationship with nodal officers of various government departments and agencies to help filmmakers realize their celluloid dreams.

The FFO, which became operational in 2016, has since assisted several international and domestic productions to complete their projects (Feature Films, Reality TV shows and/or Commercial TV Serials) in India. The portal bears a testimony to its proactive approach towards strengthening filming ecosystem in India by helping filmmakers link with shooting locations as well as the talent, resources and facilities available within the Indian Film industry for production and postproduction. Rest assured you are in good hands.

The ffo web portal (www.ffo.gov.in) has information regarding the Nodal officers of all Indian States and Union Territories, along with their filming policies and guidelines. Besides enabling online submission of applications for filmmakers, the portal also enlists India’s co-production treaties

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S OF TATE S LY D EN I R F M MOST FIL

INDIA

Explore the Rainbow

called

INDIA In its endeavour to create a world-class film-friendly ecosystem in the country, FFO has been engaged in promoting various filming destinations dotting the country ranging from the lofty, snow-clad Himalayas to the sandy beaches of Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. As part of this sustained effort, the ‘Most Film Friendly State’ Award is given away each year during the National Film Awards ceremony in order to provide national and international level visibility to the best performing states in terms of filming infrastructure, favourable policies and incentives offered to filmmakers. Beginning 2015, this prestigious award has been won by Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim

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MOST F I LM F R I ENDLY STATES O F I ND I A

SIKKIM A

djudged the ‘Most Film Friendly State’ of India in 2019 at the recentlyconcluded 67th National Film Awards, Sikkim offers picturesque locations like Yumthang Valley, Lachung, Gnathang Valley, numerous Buddhist monasteries and pristine glacial lakes that make for a perfect place to shoot a film. The small Himalayan state with its mesmerizing natural splendors coupled with an investor-friendly policy to make the work of filmmakers easy is extremely alluring. With its own brief history of cinema, attracting prominent filmmakers like Satyajit Ray and Dev Anand, the state government has made several attractive provisions to have a friendly film shooting environment for the producers and directors and also for the local filmmakers. The state is also working towards setting up a film city. Over the past few years, the state, especially the picturesque northern district, has served as the perfect backdrop of several Bollywood films and many regional films.

On the policy front, Sikkim offers all permits/permissions and paperwork through a single window system. The state government has also identified, catalogued and developed promising potential shooting locations, which have aesthetic and cinematic appeal. Besides providing support through resources and incentives in the production of a film, the state also assists in renting equipment required for filmmaking at reasonable rates along with the fee of the technician to handle the equipment.

The small Himalayan state with its mesmerizing natural splendors coupled with an investorfriendly policy to make the work of filmmakers easy is extremely alluring

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MOST F I LM F R I ENDLY STATES O F I ND I A

UTTARAKHAND A

nother state nestled amidst the mighty Himalayan ranges, Uttarakhand was declared the Most FilmFriendly State of 2018. The state with beautiful hills of Nainital, Mussoorie’s waterfalls, accompanied by the divine bells at Rishikesh, Badrinath, and Kedarnath is the right destination for filmmakers. Action scenes are bound to get racier, if shot at the skiing mountains at Auli and Munsiyari. Blessed with a rare bio-diversity, the animals at Jim Corbett Park too await their 10 seconds of fame. Among the initiatives undertaken by the state for promotion of filming include development of a film city and selection and development of places for outdoor shooting. Incentives offered by Uttarakhand to filmmakers include exemption of all films shot in the state from shooting charges, 50% discount for film units during the time of shooting at rest houses of Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd, and consider financing (up to INR

1.5Crores) for Hindi films with production cost up to INR 2 crores. Some of the films, documentaries and TV Serials shot in Uttarakhand include Student Of The Year, Koi Mil Gaya, Lakshya, Buntyaur Bubli, Paan Singh Tomar, Shivaay, Dum LagakeHaisha, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Facing The Mountain, Kedarnath, Lifelines, Splitsvilla, Khatronke Khiladi, Roadies, among others.

The state with beautiful hills of Nainital, Mussoorie’s waterfalls, accompanied by the divine bells at Rishikesh,Badrinath, and Kedarnath is the right destination for filmmakers

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MOST F I LM F R I ENDLY STATES O F I ND I A

MADHYA PRADESH W

inner of Indian government’s national award for the Most Film Friendly State in 2017, the ‘heart of India’, Madhya Pradesh, offers a wide variety of locales, eliminating the role of a set designer. From famous forts, marble rocks of Bheragh at, to the green hills of Pachmarhi, the options are rich and many. The temples of Khajuraho are UNESCO world heritage sites. The state has made considerable efforts towards easing filming in the state by creating a well-structured web site, film friendly infrastructure, offering incentives, maintaining databases, undertaking marketing and promotional initiatives. Initiatives taken by state for simplification of film production include appointment of Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation(MPSTDC) as the

nodal agency for film shooting clearance, incentives and subsidies in the state. The tourism department also coordinates with other departments to obtain legal mandatory permissions needed for producers. MPSTDC offers discounts at state owned hotels and free of charge shooting at selected locations.

From famous forts, marble rocks of Bheragh at, to the green hills of Pachmarhi, the options are rich and many. The temples of Khajuraho are UNESCO world heritage sites

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MOST F I LM F R I ENDLY STATES O F I ND I A

UTTAR PRADESH W

inner of the Most Film Friendly State in 2017, Uttar Pradesh is the rainbow land where the multi-hued Indian Culture has blossomed from times immemorial. TajMahal in Agra, the symbol of love, has attracted filmmakers to Uttar Pradesh since the black and white era. The temple town of Varanasi offers a never-seen-before cultural experience for the international viewer, while the Buddhist relics at Sarnath and Lucknow are other places that could double up as props for a film catering to a wide audience. The Uttar Pradesh government has developed the Film Policy 2018 with the sole aim of projecting the cultural,mythological, historical heritage and glorious traditions not only within the country, but also abroad through widespread publicity. For ensuring availability of all the film production related facilities under a single roof, the Film Bandhu, UttarPradesh has been constituted as a nodal agency. The Film Bandhu works in the direction of developing Uttar Pradeshas a hub of film production by generating a

friendly climate and promoting film related activities in Uttar Pradesh. Initiatives taken by the state for simplification of film production include setting up a Single Table System to provide better facilities to the people associated with films, setting up of State Film Division to provide easy,simplified and timely certification facility for films, providing free security arrangements for shooting films, and financial incentive through maximum subsidy of INR1 crore for film shot for more than half of its shooting days in Uttar Pradesh and INR2 crore for a film shot for more than two-third of its shooting days in Uttar Pradesh.

For ensuring availability of all the film production related facilities under a single roof, the Film Bandhu, UttarPradesh has been constituted as a nodal agency

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MOST F I LM F R I ENDLY STATES O F I ND I A

GUJARAT W

inner of the Indian government’s national award for the Most FilmFriendly State in 2016, Gujarat is increasingly becoming the most preferred spot for film shootings. Filmmakers wishing to offer the audience an ‘eastern’ experience can land in Gujarat. Blessed with diverse choices of great locations including spectacular geographical, archeological and royal sites, Gujarat is a treasure trove for the filmmakers of every hue. Gujarat’s single-window clearance facility, presence of a dedicated web portal, international promotions, database of product facilities and hotels and emergency services considerably streamline the otherwise cumbersome process of film making. Initiatives taken by the state for simplification of film production include quick shooting approvals. If decision on shooting application is not taken in seven days, permission will be deemed

to have been granted. Free security arrangement is offered at open areas and public places for film shooting and TCGL film cells at Gandhinagar and Mumbai coordinates, facilitates and carries out marketing activities for film shootings in Gujarat. Besides that, producers can avail services of a consultant from the Film Cell to act as their liaison during shootings.

Blessed with diverse choices of great locations including spectacular geographical, archeological and royal sites, Gujarat is a treasure trove for the filmmakers of every hue

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WELCOME TO SIKKIM

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Sikkim is home to glaciers, alpine meadows and thousands of varieties of wildflowers. Steep paths lead to hilltop Buddhist monasteries such as Pemayangtse, which dates to the early 1700s. Prominent shooting locales of Sikkim include Gangtok, Tsomgo Lake, Yuksom, Khangchendzonga National Park, Nathula Pass, Lachung, Lachen and Yumthang Valley, Ravangla, Namchi and Zuluk

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Sikkim Committed to support filmmakers

Our state has a congenial environment and ample natural resources for film production. The government is ready to render every possible support to the budding entrepreneurs of this sector, says Chief Minister of Sikkim PS Tamang 7/4/2021

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esides providing picturesque locations to filmmakers, Sikkim also offers all necessary support to them. These things have made it emerge the most film friendly state of the country at the 67th National Film Awards 2019. Sikkim Chief Minister PS Tamang has promised all support to filmmakers from his government. “Film is an area where the outcome of skill, activism, perseverance and hard work is instantaneous. Besides gaining name and fame, one can earn their livelihood working in the film sector,” he says.

Film is an area where the outcome of skill, activism, perseverance and hard work is instantaneous https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGkZGhjmLpmmRFcnQBRLFnWcjNs?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1

1/1

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government has launched Sikkim Film Policy 2020 which attracts film makers from across the world and provides subsidies to the film makers to encourage them to visit Sikkim as a film destination. be very We assure to pleased to open its lend a helping “Our state has door and welcome hand to the film a congenial makers creating filmmakers from environment and a film-friendly ample natural all over the world, e n v i ronment resources for as we stand with the and understand film production. slogan “Visit Sikkim The government that film tourism is ready to with the global 2022” render every avenue is the possible support next big thing to to the budding develop in Sikkim to provide endless entrepreneurs of this sector,” he opportunities for our aspiring and states. talented people.” Hopefully our youth will make a Sikkim will be very pleased to open lot of progress in the field of film its door and welcome film makers production in the days to come, adds the CM from all over the world, as we stand with the slogan “Visit Sikkim 2022”, Listing out some of the initiatives he concludes. of his regime, he says, “Our According to Tamang, through film, information of various events from the world is easily accessible. Film nurtures dynamic thinking and creates enthusiasm to trail and pursue the progressive Sikkim will world.

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Sikkim the paradise of filmmakers The state government of Sikkim is tirelessly working on creating a conducive ecosystem in making Sikkim a favoured destination for filmmakers, says Pooja Sharma, Chairperson, Sikkim Film Promotion Board

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Sikkim Government identifies this as the next big opportunity and supports and welcomes the international and national filmmakers who wish to `Shoot in Sikkim´ with huge subsidy schemes upto Rs 1 crore in cash and kind according to Film Policy

Pooja Sharma

Chairperson, Sikkim Film Promotion Board

Sikkim was conferred with the title of ‘Film Friendly State’ at the 67th National Film Awards recently... This National award is prestigious and holds a special place in my life as it’s in tenure of Prem Singh Tamang Golay as the Chief Minister of Sikkim and me as the Chairperson of Sikkim Film Board that we could make it happen. This is an award of each and every Sikkimese. Many thanks to IPR Department and predecessors involved in it. My special thanks to the 67th National Film Award jury Mr Ravi Kottarakara -who has been a constant guide and support to us, Mr Firdausul Hasan , Mr Shaji N. Karun, external advisor to the Film Board Mrs Anita Gupta among others.

What is the message to the global filmmakers? Holding on to this title as the most Film Friendly State in India is quite challenging but I find any sort of adversities and challenges interesting as they give me more strength to work hard and

make things successful. Sikkim Government identifies this as the next big opportunity and supports and welcomes the international and national filmmakers who wish to `Shoot in Sikkim´ with huge subsidy schemes upto Rs 1 crore in cash and kind according to Film Policy. Other facilities include single window clearance permit done through Film Facilitation Office, logistics such as hotels and accommodation, and vehicle provided at subsidised rate after the Sikkim entry point. One bus shall be provided free of cost to international filmmakers. Government has made the shoot in Sikkim very producer and filmmaker friendly. We have a good set of line producers empanelled with the board to make the recce convenient and viable for Filmmakers.

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What is the state of the film sector in Sikkim? What has been the impact of Covid-19? Sikkim at present is seeing phenomenal changes as far as creative art is concerned. The state government is tirelessly working on creating a conducive ecosystem in making Sikkim a favoured destination for filmmakers. The State Film Board has already chartered the Film Policy which not only helps in projecting the state as a premium filmmaking destination but also helps in upliftment of local performing artistes, filmmakers, entertainment business professionals. The government has been very vigilant under the guidance of the Chief Minister P S Tamang and was well prepared in advance for Covid-19 pandemic. Various measures were already in place which helped the state considerably in keeping the cases to zero for a very long time. Though the pandemic did hit all sectors of the state, the resilience of the people has made it possible in bouncing back and fighting continuously.

What is the objective of Sikkim Film Board? Is a Film City being considered to be built in Sikkim? Films are arguably one of the most important and impactful sectors in a modern society. It is a universal power of communication which not only records great events but also plays a key role in shaping society. Thus the objective of the Sikkim Film Board is not just to make Sikkim as a pivotal filmmaking destination but also give platform to the tremendous pool of talents that we have available in the state. One of the visions under the leadership of Chief Minister Tamang is to set up a Film City in the state. The idea behind it is to create and build a robust and modern Film City in Sikkim which would serve as a complete film Production Facility.

Cinemas from North Eastern States are emerging as a film centre of India... Cinema is universal, beyond flags and borders and passports. North East India serves as a region which is linguistically and culturally diverse thus having a wide array of stories to tell. Directors and filmmakers of the region are now leaping forward into the cinematic world. From internationally and nationally acclaimed filmmakers like Rima Das, Pradip Kurbah, Manju Borah, Dominic Sangma, Bobby Barauh, we have our own homegrown talents from Sikkim like Shyam Pradhan, Ugyen Chopel, Prashant Rasaily, Karma Takapa who have been successful in creating a niche for themselves in the map. Personalities like Bhupen Hazarika, Salil Chowdhury, S.D.Burman, Seema Biswas and Danny Denzongpa have made huge contributions at various national levels. There is abundance of talent in the North East places like Assam, Arunachal, Manipur, Meghalaya. Many talents are now heading to the global film festival circuit. Cinema in the North-East is undergoing a forward transition and their creative vision is finding a space globally. Film Festivals have opened up avenues for budding film makers to screen their movies at large platforms like the New York Indian Film Festival, International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Karlovy Vary International Film Festival etc.

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Sikkim is blessed with an abundance of natural wealth, diverse culture, rich tradition and a riveting history. It is a picturesque paradise which is unparalleled to any other place in the world

How is the infrastructure being developed in Sikkim for filmmakers?

Do you get local talent to help global and domestic filmmakers?

What is unique about Sikkim? What are the three things that one can cherish in Sikkim which is rare in other places?

Sikkim has unlimited pool of local talents who have been showcasing their talents not just nationally but globally as well. Various personalities have contributed in the mainstream Indian cinema and made a mark for themselves such as Danny Denzongpa, Geetanjali Thapa and Karma Takapa. Immense number of local talents are readily available to prove and make a mark domestically and globally.

Sikkim is looking at conducting a Film Festival. What are the plans? To promote local performing artistes, filmmakers, entertainment business professionals and create a self-sufficient and world class film industry in Sikkim, the state government is planning on hosting a Film Festival later this year. It will not just showcase the local talents of filmmakers but also plans to felicitate and give out awards to encourage production of films of aesthetic and technical excellence and social relevance.

A dedicated institution on Film and Television apart from the Film City has been envisioned by the government of Sikkim where film making courses will be imparted. The State Government also plans to create labs in consultation with National Film Development Corporation which will include Screen Writers’ Lab, Directors’ Lab, Producers’ Lab, Animation Lab so as to create a Media and Entertainment Hub. Setting up of screen theatres/ community halls and upgradation and modernisation of the facilities in the existing cinema halls are also in the pipeline.

Sikkim is blessed with an abundance of natural wealth, diverse culture, rich tradition and a riveting history. It is a picturesque paradise which is unparalleled to any other place in the world. Assistance in permissions, Provision of empanelled Line Producers, Security, Location Scouting, Audition Facilities, Production Office, Meeting/Conference Halls, Conveyance, Lodging, Food and other pre-production support facilities within the state of Sikkim with ease of doing business through single window clearances. The state government shall promote and facilitate, in assistance with filmmakers from the state, FAM trips (familiarisation trips) for potential investors, filmmakers, policy makers, film professionals and other stakeholders to encourage investments and incentives in this sector.

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India

offers Fascinating Landscapes India’s incredible variety of landscapes coupled with advantages like availability of very skilled and experienced film crews places the country in an advantageous position when compared to several foreign countries, says Déborah Benattar, Executive Producer and Founder La Fabrique Films, in an interview with Pickle, while sharing her experience of working as a production services company in India since 2013

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Déborah Benattar Executive Producer and Founder La Fabrique Films

One of the main advantages India has compared to several foreign countries, is that the technical crews are very skilled and experienced

Congrats! It is great to know Cyril Dion’s “Animal” (selected for the Cinema for the Climate Section, Cannes Film Festival 2021) and some parts were filmed in India and your company La Fabrique Films helped in executive production. Tell us about your experience of filming “Animal”. For forty years, 60% populations of wild animals and 80% of flying insects in Europe have disappeared. This is what scientists call the Sixth Mass Extinction. After the success of “Demain”, with more than a million admissions in France, and César for Best Documentary Film 2016, Cyril Dion decides to investigate our relationship to the living world. His new film, “Animal”, marries the eyes of two teenagers, the English Bella and the French Vipulan, two young activists who fervently campaign for the animal cause and against global warming. Across the world, they see the extent of the disaster but also discover initiatives that give hope to people. In India, they meet Afroz Shah, an environmental activist and lawyer from Bombay, who initiated the clean-up of Mumbai’s Versova Beach and has inspired people around the world to clean up their environment. The film “Animal” recalls a fundamental truth: human beings believe that they could separate themself from nature, but they are in fact the nature. They too are animals. La Fabrique Films line produced the shoot in Mumbai in November 2019 and we feel proud to be associated with such a beautiful documentary film dedicated to climate and ecological commitment.

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French director Cyril Dion with young activists Bella Lack and Vipulan Puvaneswaran and their crew during the shoot of “Animal” in Bombay

Tell us about La Fabrique Films? What are the projects you have done in India? We have been working as a production services company in India for foreign productions since 2013. We have welcomed movies such as “Les Cow-Boys” by Thomas Bidegain,“Maya” by Mia Hanse-Love, “Fahim” by Pierre-Francois Martin-Laval and “The Best is Yet to Come” by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière, among others. In the beginning of 2020, just before the pandemic, we had the pleasure to line produce a shoot in Rajasthan of the Swiss Film “And Tomorrow You Will Be Dead”, directed by Michael Steiner and produced by Zodiac Pictures. The film is based on a true story and its drama is hard to beat: In 2011 Daniela Widmer and David Och were traveling along the Silk Road in their bus when they were kidnapped by bandits in Pakistan and handed over to the Taliban. They succeeded in escaping their kidnappers eight months later. The movie will be released in cinemas in Switzerland on 28th October 2021.

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Stills from “And Tomorrow You Will Be Dead” directed by Michael Steiner which was shoot just before the pandemic in Rajasthan. It will be released in October in Cinema theatres in Switzerland. Copyright © Zodiac Pictures

What according to you are challenges for La Fabrique Films? We have been trying to defend the interest of foreign producers in a very transparent way. It would be a great incentive for line production companies like ours if the government expedite the refunding process of goods and service tax (GST), which is required to be paid by local entities like us. As export of services is not taxable in India, line producers are eligible to claim refund of part of this GST from the tax authorities in India. We have been trying to obtain this refund on behalf of our foreign clients, but it has proven to be a lengthy and tedious process.

What fascinates you in an Indian location? India is fascinating as it has an incredible variety of landscapes to offer. And apart from the variety of locations, one of the main advantages India has compared to several foreign countries, is that the technical crews are very skilled and experienced. It is always a great collaboration between the foreign and the Indian crew.

The Film Facilitation Office (FFO) has tremendously improved and speeded the permission process for international projects as well as the delivery of film visas for the cast and crew

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“Les cow-boys” Directed by Thomas Bidegain, filmed in India

Do you see visible changes after the formation of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting’s Film Facilitation Office? Has filming in India eased now? The Film Facilitation Office (FFO) has tremendously improved and speeded the permission process for international projects as well as the delivery of film visas for the cast and crew. We are hoping to see similar improvements in terms of permissions with other institutions: Indian Railways, ASI, DGCA, etc

The government plans to incentivise filming in India as well under Co-production Treaties? Will this be an advantage for India? Once the government introduces incentives like other foreign countries, India will definitely become one of the best shooting destinations in the world. Also, we would really appreciate if the government take care of few hiccups like streamlining the taxation processes, as mentioned earlier, to make it a win-win for all.

Your reflections on how tough it has been during the lockdown times… How do you see changes in the post-COVID world for filming? What are the changes that we should embrace to face reality? The lockdown time has allowed us to become more creative and work more digitally. But we are very trilled to go back to shoot and allow foreign and Indian crew to collaborate as they share the same passion for cinema.

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Stream of Things

How Streaming Platforms Helped Entertainment Biz During Pandemic Streaming players have been in some sense the saviours of production houses and diehard content producers. The risk of uncertain returns on content is being transferred to streaming players as they bear the brunt of the vagaries of audience preferences, says Dr S. Raghunath, Professor of Strategy, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

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Dr S. Raghunath

Professor of Strategy, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

With physical movement restrained and common viewing arenas such as theatres being passe in the world of virus mutation, the human hunger for entertainment has increased

recently released Indian documentary movie on a streaming platform called ‘1232 kilometres’ about the journey of seven daily wage labourers cycling to their village home during the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown received rave reviews. The emotional core of improbable hope with the pandemic as the villain and suspense generated in completing their journey evoked sympathy. In this unconventional thriller it is a general sense of justice that underlies the hope for the triumph of the protagonist and the defeat of the villain. With physical movement restrained and common viewing arenas such as theatres being passe in the world of virus mutation, the human hunger for entertainment has increased. The morose, monotonous grind of everyday life encumbered by restrictions on physical movement has made hearts grow fonder for the excitement of watching a movie, web series or a reality show on television channels or streaming platforms. With smartphone brands vying with each other to gain market share, unlike broadcast or cable networks, online services allow mobile phone viewers to watch content on demand. This facilitates binge viewing, the recently popular practice of watching multiple episodes of a single television show in one sitting versus watching an episode a week on traditional networks.

Risk of returns Streaming players have been in some sense the saviours of production houses and die-hard content producers. The risk of uncertain returns on content is being transferred to streaming players as they bear the brunt of the vagaries of audience preferences. The subscribers may have subscribed to multiple services to satisfy different content needs. Streaming players therefore have a high customer acquisition costs while the long-term loyalty of customers is anybody’s guess. They use algorithms to match subscribers to content, thereby offering advantages of customization and delivering it anywhere and everywhere as long as the subscriber has a device. In spite of these differentiating capabilities customers hover around subscriptions to multiple streaming platforms.

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Content is king Content remains the key value driver of streaming players in their current streaming model. Streaming players bring quality content that is ad-free and accessible anytime, anywhere. That has led customers to expect quality and premium content. In fact home grown start-ups in this space like AHA have grabbed market share by offering focused vernacular content. It is common knowledge that quality and premium content come at a price. Recognizing that remaining a distributor of content has its limitations, incumbent streaming players are attempting to get away from their business and financial dependencies on major studios. Therefore, they are actively pursuing their own local content production. However, producing content can be very expensive while customers continue to prefer watching licensed content. However, the streaming players are determined to control the streaming value chain by making content original and exclusive. They are making huge investments in content acquisition, licensing and production possibly leading them to substantial debt obligations. With increasing competition, the cost of content is likely to increase. And paying more for an asset could eventually reduce future returns leading to lower margins. Moreover, investments in original content require more cash upfront in comparison

to licensed content. Streaming income in the near future may not always cover the acquisition costs of streaming content assets giving rise to negative cash flow from operations which could in all probability lead to additional debt.

Silver lining However, the silver lining is about the use of data analytics in understanding customers’ needs, a key strength of streaming players which The business could create value for model of third parties.

streaming might expand in the future to include gaming and advertising connected to the profile of gamers

With the imminent introduction of 5G technology and edge computing, video experience can be enhanced with 5G’s higher data rate to support 360° viewing, especially in panoramic content, where 5G provides substantially higher capacity. Streaming platforms can consider adding virtual reality and augmented reality, with gaming and other use cases, which can enhance user experience. Cloud gaming and esports experience are other venues of monetizing as they can be improved by lower latency and higher data rates. The business model of streaming might expand in the future to include gaming and advertising connected to the profile of gamers. The bouquet of entertainment could grow richer, wider, and deeper in access and functionality.

Streaming income in the near future may not always cover the acquisition costs of streaming content assets giving rise to negative cash flow from operations which could in all probability lead to additional debt

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Future Trends

Redefining

Streaming

Experience ScreenHits TV allows consumers, who have been longing for an aggregator to organise all their streaming services in one app, get full use of their streaming apps by having a quick glimpse at what is recommended and what is trending across all their streaming platforms, says Rose Adkins Hulse, Founder and CEO Of ScreenHits TV, in a chat with Pickle Tell us about ScreenHits TV ScreenHits TV provides a unique platform for consumers to organise and get the most out of their streaming subscriptions in one place. It provides a unique interface to discover content across all the leading premium streamers, without having to switch between apps to do so.

How important is TV in a streaming world? TV has many definitions. Consuming content exclusively via satellite providers is no longer necessary. The consumer does not have to acquire expensive hardware or have a satellite dish on their roof to enjoy high quality content. The studios are dictating the method of delivery in this new digital age and the consumers are adapting quite well to it. I do believe there will always be a need for a TV screen

to watch TV, but the means in how the content gets on the TV is in the process of transition and TV as we know it will be redefined in this new direct to consumer, digital world.

Who are the major streamers using ScreenHits TV services? Services vary from region to region, but in the territories we are launched in, consumers are able to integrate the leading premium streamers such as Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Starz, Lionsgate, BBC iPlayer, Peacock, HBO Max, and Paramount +, to name a few.

Which devices does ScreenHits TV work with? ScreenHits iOS tablet app and soon to be mobile app has compatibility with Android TVs with Chromecast and Fire TV. Shortly we will be launching a native app on Vizio, LG, and Metz.

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We must learn from the successes and failures of the past and one valuable lesson that we should not forget is that consumers need curation. As consumers have less time at their disposal, ScreenHits TV strives to make their life easier by curating the best of the best

How does ScreenHits TV benefit the consumer and help stream content in one place? The most frustrating thing for the customer when trying to find something to watch is to have to switch in between streaming apps to do a search and discovery. This inhibits consumers from wanting to have multiple apps and removing apps that they feel are not used often, increasing unnecessary churn for streaming services. ScreenHits TV ensures that consumers get full use of their streaming apps, allowing them to have a quick glimpse at what is recommended and what is trending across all their streaming platforms.

What does research say? Our research, along with research from other leading data companies such as SmithGeiger Group and Nielsen shows that consumers want

Rose Adkins Hulse Founder and CEO of ScreenHits TV

an aggregator that helps to organise all their streaming services in one and doesn’t require hardware. Consumers are also looking for bundles, so they can easily transition from their Pay TV subscription to app TV. It is important for consumers to understand the true value in switching to app TV and their cost savings.

What is important for a consumer—content or platform? Content is always important and will remain so. The issue is that with so much fragmentation and rights returning to the studios for their direct to consumer streaming platforms, it can become quite a challenge to keep track of where everything is, so an aggregator that places the consumer first and lets them quickly find their favourite shows or discover the next big show to watch, will become extremely important.

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Streaming market is on the rise globally. It is amazing that the US alone has over 300 streaming platforms. It is also considered a $100 billion market with one billion subscribers. Where do we go from here now? Streaming market is expected to grow even bigger. As the industry starts to consolidate and the winning streaming services solidify their positioning and content roadmap, consumers will start to transition. There are still a large number of consumers that rely on Pay TV for accessing their media. However, streamers are the future and over the next 3-5 years, we will see a massive migration from Pay TV to app TV. These are exciting times.

How important is curation of content? There are many views on this. Some people want to have a universal search and access to every single piece of content that is available in the world. I personally do not believe in this. We must learn from the successes and failures of the past and one valuable lesson that we should not forget is that consumers need curation. As consumers have less time at their disposal, ScreenHits TV strives to make their life easier by curating the best of the best. So, when it comes to our users discovering content they are only

searching from the best content in the market. There are other services,too, but they do not curate or limit the number of streamers they have on their platform. However, if we were to do this, it would be a direct contradiction to our name.

How did the pandemic impact growth of aggregators like ScreenHits? During the pandemic more and more streaming services were launched, and the frustrations of having multiple apps on different devices with multiple interfaces proved to be very frustrating to the consumer. Addition of these new services accelerated our growth in the market exponentially. We were developing ScreenHits TV prior to the pandemic, but we have had to speed up our initiatives to ensure that we were growing with the industry and providing an immediate solution to cord-cutters.

Streamers are the future and over the next 3-5 years, we will see a massive migration from Pay TV to app TV

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ScreenHits has appointed Moviegoers Entertainment to oversee Indian content? Yes, this has been a wonderful decision. They have solidified our Indian growth plans and have secured premium Indian content partners for ScreenHits TV globally. They will continue to oversee the rollout of ScreenHits TV India and manage our partnerships with our key Indian players.

When is the India launch expected? We will be announcing this exciting news in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

What are the challenges you foresee in the times to come? Our biggest challenge is to keep up with the opportunities and manage our growth. There are a number of wonderful opportunities right now and we have to focus on our territory rollouts, new product features and always creating the best product for our streaming partners to ensure their content always remains top of mind with consumers at the point of discovery.

Tell us about your competition like Struum. Struum is not a competitor of ours.

They are not aggregating streaming services. They host content on their platform, similar to platforms like IndieFlix, Mubi, Curiosity Stream, History Hits and act more like a TVOD platform like Rakuten and Chili. Their business model is also very different from ours. They offer credits (like a discounted TVOD model) for their users to rent library content from the Indie streamers. They also own the customer relationship and for some platforms that may not be an issue, but as we work with the leading streamers in the world, that does not benefit them and never will. ScreenHits TV does not want to own the customer like Struum does. The customer will always belong to our streaming partners and our goal is to always drive traffic back to our partners’ site while creating a seamless UX for our customers to discover content across all their subscribed platforms.

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Cinema

on Big Screen Will

Bounce Back Despite the pandemic hitting the entertainment industry hard, Pranab Kapadia, Director at Moviegoers Entertainment Limited & Co-Producer at Hope Productions is hopeful of its revival adding that F9, RRR, Bell Bottom, Suryavanshi are the films that will be enjoyed only on the big screen

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Pranab Kapadia Director at Moviegoers Entertainment Limited & Co-Producer at Hope Productions

What made you venture into Moviegoers Entertainment? Especially after spending over a decade in Eros Entertainment? It’s been an amazing, fruitful and immensely enriching 13 years for me at Eros. Over the years, Eros became home to me and my colleagues, my family. I started out with business head responsibilities for Europe & Africa but gradually assumed a wider role of President Distribution – International thanks to the trust and faith our then CEO Jyoti Deshpande reposed in me. Through the years, I also had the opportunity of working closely with our Chairman Kishore Lulla who is a pioneer and visionary of the India film industry. He, along with his brother, MD Sunil Lulla guided and empowered me. This gave me the confidence to deliver my best. I always wanted to set up something of my own. When Eros decided to focus on their OTT platform Eros Now, I thought it to be an opportune time for me to explore theatrical and other distribution opportunities through my company Moviegoers Entertainment Limited.

How has been this journey (especially during pandemic times)? There

has been a lot of activity in Moviegoers Entertainment in recent times... Life has changed for everybody since the pandemic, especially for all businesses in Hospitality and Entertainment sector. With cinemas closed and shootings stopped, there was no activity in theatrical distribution. But content was being consumed in a big way on OTT platforms. With the support of industry well-wishers, colleagues and friends, we secured exclusive representation rights to integrate Indian content partners on Super Aggregator Platform Screenhits – a game changing Media Tech company founded by the supremely talented Rose Hulse. ScreenHits TV is committed to provide consumers with a single sign-in and easy-touse interface that combines their pre-existing streaming subscription services, videos and live channels thereby minimizing streaming fatigue by helping viewers discover and seamlessly watch content across leading streaming providers. We are also in the process of taking Screenhits into India and will soon be announcing a tie-up with leading industry media veterans as our joint venture partners.

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You have seen the cinema much closer than many others... From the traditional theatrical distribution to streaming. Yes. In 2004 with Mujhse Shaadi Karoge, I started my journey in overseas film distribution, while at Zee. I Subsequently moved to Adlabs in 2006 and Eros in 2008. In a span of 15+ years, I have overseen release of 170 films theatrically. Vivaah (2006 Rajshree Productions film starring Shahid Kapoor) was the first film to premiere day & date Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD) same time as theatrical while I was at Adlabs. It was revolutionary and way ahead of its time. Today we hear of Trolls 2 doing the same and breaking records.

Indian films, mainstream, commercial movies have a global footprint. But it has not rocked in box office or as a ‘Bollywood’ genre. Do you think India still is a force to reckon with? In early 2000s, if you walked into DVD stores like HMV or Virgin Records, you would find DVDs of Bollywood films in the ‘World Cinema’ section along with Korean, French, German language films. Over the last 20 years or so, ‘Bollywood’ has become mainstream everywhere. Go to any market, speak to any buyer, sample any terrestrial TV platform in any country, from LATAM to Russia, Bollywood has made its mark. Our films are being dubbed and subtitled in several languages because our content resonates with a global audience.

How much time will we take to come back to normal days for cinema (to

enjoy in theatres)? How do you react to the success of F9: The Fast Saga in box office and does this feel good factor continue in the coming months? To my mind, there was never any doubt about the survival of cinema. Any webinar with experts from media industry always said this. The argument was much the same when VCRs and DVD players came into every home, some critics were quick to write off cinemas. But upto March 2020, more than 50 per cent of a film’s revenue was derived from worldwide box office ticket sales. Yes, the pandemic has brought the shutters down for cinemas but it is temporary. In January 2021, Tamil film Master (starring Vijay) released and smashed records grossing over US$6mn in overseas. That infused the much needed confidence in producers that audiences eventually want to experience the right film on the big screen. F9, RRR, Bell Bottom, Suryavanshi etc are films that will be enjoyed only on the big screen.

You continue to distribute films in theatres... Is your confidence in theatrical revenue intact? Yes. For the right type of film, both customer experience and revenue that one can derive from cinemas will be unmatched by other platforms.

Our storytelling and narratives have changed. The whole world is our audience now

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What stays and what will change in the movie industry? With audiences now getting exposed to different types of content, readily available on their fingertips on platforms such as Netflix and Amazon, the demand for good quality content is ever increasing and this means our creative talent will have to work very hard to keep our viewers engaged. Different scripts and subjects which were once considered taboo or non-mainstream are finding financial backers and leading actors to play characters. That is a big change. Our storytelling and narratives have changed.The whole world is our audience now.

One of your commitments in Moviegoers Entertainment is to become a co-producer with R Balki and Gauri Shinde’s Hope Productions. What are the projects being worked on and anything to share? And why BalkiGauri Shinde? I am honoured and delighted to collaborate with India’s finest, most talented, creative powerhouse duo of Gauri Shinde & R Balki. Their unique style of storytelling, creating entertaining content and commercial success out of subjects that are considered taboo, is remarkable. After successfully producing award winning feature films and

commercials, collecting several accolades at prestigious film festivals around the world, their production company Hope Productions is now at the cusp of growth and I am excited to lead this as a co-producer. We are working on four films. Two bound scripts are ready. We will be finalising the cast for them and making an official announcement soon. In coming months, we will be making further announcements in terms of projects and our plans going forward.

One of the most interesting services rendered by Moviegoers is on monetisation of film content beyond streaming. What are the avenues open to a producer for new revenue opportunities? There is a huge area of opportunity for monetising ‘non-theatrical’ rights of catalogue content owned by studios or individual producers. This does not impair deals already done with regard to TV, Digital, Music or Theatrical Rights. (Potential) Outlets include Hospitals, Hotels, Universities, Shopping-Malls, Religious Places etc. Revenues can be trickling but it all adds up. We are currently representing a catalogue of over 1000 films and adding more titles.

Finally, London is your home. How is it to work out of the UK after it has left European Union? (It) Absolutely made no difference to our business. But at a macro level, there has been a shortage of trained staff for certain jobs because they have returned home either due to Brexit or Covid. Nonetheless, UK always offers great opportunities to the working-class communities and I have no doubt life will return to normal very soon.

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How VR Films & Studios handled

Covid Thankfully the localisation business had an upward swing due to a huge demand from streaming platforms as consumers relied on them for entertainment more during lockdown, says Manish Dutt and Krishi Dutt of VR Films & Studios Ltd

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Manish Dutt and Krishi Dutt Directors, VR Films & Studios Ltd

Do you miss being at the Cannes Film Festival and Market? For over a decade VR Films & Studios have been regular at Cannes… Indeed, yes. Virtual Cannes Festival and Market are surely not the same as being physically present there and this is the second consecutive year we missed it because of the challenging situation caused by Covid, though on business front new film acquisitions have been productive and fruitful.

Congrats! VR Films & Studios has done phenomenally well in quarterly results, especially amidst Covid-19 pandemic… Thank you, God has been kind. In spite of all the Covid induced difficulties and challenges, our FY 2020-21 has been more impressive than the previous year as we have posted more than 10 per cent top line. This quarter April 2021 – June 2021 as well we are hopeful of an impressive 15 per cent growth in the top line as compared to previous years

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Has your localisation studio business got impacted by lockdown? How did you manage to change the workflow in your dubbing services? Thankfully the localisation business had an upward swing due to a huge demand from streaming and TV platforms as consumers relied on them for entertainment more during lockdown. We pioneered our localising systems with “Remote Dubbing” and provided quality output with lots of R&D.

What are your learnings from the operation side of business from lockdown. Do we see this continue in normal times also? Do we go back to pre-Covid times? We realised with passion and determination, ways and means can be obtained and challenges can be handled effectively. Due to lockdown we had to first equip our team with working infrastructure from home and then innovate the usual dubbing work differently with each talent delivering from their respective homes. It was tough but with lots of effort we had quality output and this turned out to be our USP. We also managed to cut costs without impacting salaries and ensured our team is financially secured as only then each one of us could put in our best effort. We had to survive and gladly we came out stronger. Theatres were shut and TV platforms were not sublicensing so we made the best with streaming platforms like TVOD, SVOD and AVOD. We had three new releases in this period – Unhinged (Russell Crowe), Target Number One (Josh Hartnett), The Power (Rose Williams) - and are now getting ready with another major Hollywood release, Jolt (Kate Beckinsale). Post Covid times will be different from pre Covid times as we will incorporate and utilise some of the innovative skills we developed during lockdown, so it will be a beneficial mix of both times for sure.

We localised some of the best shows during Lockdown for leading streaming platforms, at times delivering more than 400 hours per month and the quality was very appreciated

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Have you been able to keep the quality in dubbing the same as that of being done in a studio? To a major extent yes. We localised some of the best shows during Lockdown for leading streaming platforms, at times delivering more than 400 hours per month and the quality was very appreciated.

Do you see video streaming platforms dominate the film and content space in the coming times? At the moment they are dominating and will continue to. Times ahead are uncertain but when the situation comes under control theatrical release will come back. Nothing beats the magical release in theatres, the charm to sit in a theatre with an audience and watch a film munching popcorn and samosas. With ad revenue again flowing in, TV platforms too shall make a revival and sub-license films from independents like us.

Have you added new streaming platforms for dubbed services in Indian languages? We already were localising for the best of the streaming platforms and Covid increased the business many folds as there was a huge demand for localisation during lockdown. We also added some new clients and are in the process of having more on board. We are increasing our dubbing infrastructure as well. We had plans to increase the number of our dubbing studios in 2020 but Covid made us abort those plans then, which we have revived now and we will be adding 10 new dubbing studios in Mumbai which will include Dolby Atmos and Dolby 5.1 mix studios.

It’s interesting to know that you are now into dubbing for Urdu, Singhalese... What are the foreign languages that are in demand now? Surprisingly there is a demand for Sinhalese, Nepalese and Urdu dubbing from various platforms. Perhaps they are expanding their reach into these territories in the Indian sub-continent with their local languages.

Any impact for your dubbing services for broadcasters -- VR Films has been the voice for Cartoon Network, Discovery and other kids channels? We have been working with the crème de la crème of broadcasters for years and they have remained with us since then. We have constant output for them which has kept increasing and we are in the process of adding new clients too. Hence our expansion plan has started to roll on because of the increasing demand and the Covid situation being managed. From 400 hours a month we are expanding our capacity to nearly 800 hours per month as platforms have realised that to get more subscribers and maximum reach, they would need more hours of content and localisation makes more monetary sense for them.

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Thriving

Stream of

Talent Streaming platforms have been a godsend for a slew of quality Indian actors striving for their due. Web shows have given them an opportunity to break out of the stifling confines of Bollywood. These talented performers who once thirsted for roles of substance can now demonstrate the full range of their talent. Mainstream cinema tended to pigeonhole them into stereotypical supporting roles. Not anymore. Among these actors are a few like Manoj Bajpayee and Kay Kay Menon who were names to reckon with even before the paradigm shift happened, but long-format narratives have certainly benefited them all, seasoned thespians and gifted greenhorns alike. By Saibal Chatterjee

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Manoj Bajpayee Investing In Roles Manoj Bajpayee had minor roles in Govind Nihalani’s Drohkaal and Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen, both 1994, before bursting on the scene with Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya (1998). He has since steadily built a reputation as an actor who invests every role with authenticity and depth. The Shool, Pinjar, Gangs of Wasseypur, Aligarh and Gali Guleiyan actor has had several streaming platform releases during the Covid-19 pandemic. Fans have seen the actor in Suraj Pe Mangal Bhaari and Silence… Can You Hear It?, besides the critically acclaimed Bhonsle. He is also the lead actor of the Amazon Prime series The Family Man, in which he plays a secret service operative who balances the pressures of his job and his commitments as a husband and father. His latest applauded appearance has been in one of the four segments of the Netflix series Ray, based on short stories written by Satyajit Ray.

The Family Man Ray Mrs Serial Killer

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STREAMING STARS

Kay Kay Menon Assertive Actor

Kay Kay Menon, a versatile actor who has had a long and busy career, has rarely been done justice to by Bollywood. But whenever he has been presented with an opportunity to demonstrate his skills, he has not been found wanting. His diverse filmography includes titles such as Sarkar, Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Life… in a Metro, Gulaal and Haider. With his assertive screen presence, Menon proves time after time that there are few of his ilk in the

Hindi movie industry. In one of his most memorable performances, in the Disney+ Hotstar series Special Ops, created and directed by Neeraj Pandey, the actor fleshes out a counter-terrorism officer who puts together a task force of five Indian spies spread across the globe to thwart a terror plot. More recently, he plays the lead in Bahrupiya, a segment of the Netflix series Ray.

Special Ops Ray

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STREAMING STARS

Kani Kusruti Actress & Activist An accomplished theatre and film actress, Kani Kusruti, with her activism background, has wide-ranging experience across cultural platforms. She did her theatre training at the Thrissur Drama School and the Paris-based L’Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq. Apart from acclaimed performances in the Malayalam films Kerala Café, Cocktail and Biriyani, which fetched her several awards, she has been seen of late in the Hindi-language web shows OK Computer and Maharani. She had a key role in Shaji N. Karun’s Oolu. In the wildly inventive futuristic fable OK Computer, created and directed by Pooja Shetty and Neil Pagedar, Kani plays a Goa cyber cell inspector investigating a hit-and-run case involving a self-driving car. In the Subhash Kapoordirected Maharani, she essay the role of a sharp-witted bureaucrat posted as an adviser to the eponymous character, a homemaker who replaces her powerful politician husband as the chief minister of Bihar in the 1990s.

OK Computer Maharani

Vikrant Massey Versatility In Web Shows Few actors have cashed in on the recent spate of web shows and movies on the streaming platforms to the extent that Vikrant Massey, a one-time television star, has done. The 34-year-old actor played supporting roles in Vikramaditya Motwane’s Lootera and Zoya Akhtar’s Dil Dhadakne Do before landing the lead in actress Konkona Sen Sharma’s outstanding directorial debut, A Death in the Gunj. Massey made an instant impact, surrendering himself to a callow young man of the 1970s grappling with a hostile world. The actor’s ascent has continued since then thanks in the main to a series of web shows that he has been an integral part of. Among these are Mirzapur (Amazon Prime), Broken but Beautiful (ALTBalaji), Made in Heaven (Amazon Prime) and Criminal Justice. As 2021 reached the halfway mark, Massey had a Netflix release – Haseen Dillruba, a thriller co-starring Taapsee Pannu.

Mirzapur Broken but Beautiful Made in Heaven

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Criminal Justice Haseen Dillruba

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STREAMING STARS

Pankaj Tripathi Strong And Steady Journey The Bihar-born National School of Drama alumnus has been on a steady upswing over the last ten years or so, starting with the accolades he garnered for his performance in Anurag Kashyap’s magnum opus Gangs of Wasseypur. Before he made his first appearance in Netflix’s Sacred Games in 2018-2019, he had a string of career-defining big-screen roles. Among them were critically hailed performances in Fukrey, Masaan (which screened in Cannes’s Un certain regard), Newton (Which premiered in the Berlin Film Festival’s Forum), Gurgaon, Bareilly Ki Barfi and Stree. In the past couple of years, with cinema halls being shuttered, Tripathi has had several releases on the streaming platforms – Gunjan Saxena – The Kargil Girl and Ludo (both Netflix), Kaagaz (Zee5) and the web shows Mirzapur (Amazon Prime) and Criminal Justice (Disney+ Hotstar).

Gunjan Saxena – The Kargil Girl Ludo Kaagaz Mirzapur Criminal Justice

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STREAMING STARS

Swastika Mukherjee Shining Star From Bengal

Jaideep Ahlawat In Full St(r)eam Jaideep Ahlawat, 41, after several cameos in films such as Khatta Meetha, Chittagong and Rockstar, rose to prominence with Anurag Kashyap’s twopart Gangs of Wasseypur. He also played key roles in the Shahrukh Khan starrer Raees, the action film Commando: One Man Army, Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam and Meghna Gulzar’s Raazi. In 20202021, Ahlawat, who learnt the ropes of acting at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, had as many as three releases on the streaming platforms – Khaali Peeli (ZeePlex), the Netflix anthology Ajeeb Daastaans and Dibakar Banerjee’s Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar. He made his web series debut in the Netflix spy thriller Bard of Blood before hitting his straps with a role in the critically acclaimed Amazon Prime crime drama Paatal Lok. The series revolved around Ahlawat’s character, Hathiram Chaudhary, a jaded Delhi policeman who is entrusted with the investigation of a high-profile case.

Ajeeb Daastaans Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar

A relatively late bloomer on the pan-Indian scene, Swastika Mukherjee has been one of the most accomplished actresses working in Bengali cinema for well over a decade. Her credits include Anik Dutta’s Bhooter Bhabishyat, Srijit Mukherji’s Jaatishwar and Suman Mukhopadhyay’s Shesher Kobita. Although she had roles in the Hindi films Mumbai Cutting and Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!, it wasn’t until she played the mentally disturbed wife of a leading Delhi journalist in Paatal Lok (Amazon Prime) that she was catapulted into the national consciousness. She then appeared in a key role in Dil Bechara, which turned out to be Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film. In the same year as Paatal Lok, Swastika was cast in the Zee5 crime drama series Black Widows alongside Mona Singh and Shamita Shetty. She has also been in a slew of Bengalilanguage web shows, all of which are on the Hoichoi streaming service.

Paatal Lok Black Widows

Bard of Blood Paatal Lok

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Huma Qureshi Style And Substance Another of the many actors who arrived on the scene riding on the two-part crime drama Gangs of Wasseypur, the hugely talented Huma Qureshi, 34, has since successfully diversified into a variety of movie genres. Endowed with the natural ability and intelligence, the actress has two major web shows behind her. The first, Leila, released on Netflix in 2019, was directed by Deepa Mehta, among others. The dystopian drama series had her in the title role. More recently, she played the lead in the SonyLIV political thriller Maharani, set in 1990s Bihar. Her film roles have straddled a wide range, from Abhishek Chaubey’s dark comedy Dedh Ishqiya, in which she shared screen space with Madhuri Dixit, and the legal satire Jolly LLB, opposite Akshay Kumar, to the Malayalam film White, a Mammootty starrer in which she played dual roles, and the Tamil-language Kaala, alongside Rajinikanth.

Leila Maharani

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Zoya Hussain Silence & Spoken Lines

A relative newcomer, Zoya Hussain made a strong impression with her very first big-screen role. The film, Anurag Kashyap’s Mukkabaaz, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017. Playing a mute woman who marries the pugilistprotagonist, the actress conveyed a range of emotions with the use of spoken lines. Zoya has also been in a few independent films such as Teen Aur Aadha and Namdev Bhau: In Search of Silence, both directed by Dar Gai. She played key roles in the Rana Daggubati trilingual Kaadan and Navdeep

Singh’s period actiondrama Laal Kaptaan, starring Saif Ali Khan as a late 18th century bounty hunter in the Bundelkhand region of northern India. In June 2021, Zoya’s maiden web show, Grahan, began streaming on Disney+ Hotstar Specials. In the role of a police officer who stumbles upon a dark truth about her father’s involvement in the 1984 Sikh riots, she delivers an impressively restrained star turn.

Grahan

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Rasika Dugal Visible On Web An actress who has steadily risen up the ladder, Rasika Dugal is one of India’s most visible stars on the web. She made her big-screen debut in 2007, with a role in Anwar and followed that up with appearances in films like Anurag Kashyap’s No Smoking, Santosh Sivan’s Tahaan, Ram Gopal Varma’s Agyaat and Aijaz Khan’s Hamid. Dugal’s finest hour came when she played one of the principal roles in Anup Singh’s critically lauded 2013 film Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost. It had her in the role of a girl who marries a woman who has been raised as a boy. In the web space, Dugal has had a steady stream of successes with shows such as Mirzapur and Made in Heaven (both Amazon Prime), Delhi Crime (Netflix), Out of Love and OK Computer (Disney+Hotstar) and A Suitable Boy, a Mira Nair-directed BBC One series that is available in India on Netflix.

Mirzapur Made in Heaven Delhi Crime Out of Love OK Computer

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Sobhita Dhulipala From Kashyap’s Workshop Yet another screen performer who cut her teeth in an Anurag Kashyap film. That film, Raman Raghav 2.0, premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes in 2016. Dhulipala had two subsequent Hindi releases in quick succession, Chef (2017) and Kaalakaandi 2018), but neither made much headway at the box office. The Tenali, Andhra Pradesh-born actress, 29, made her Telugu-language debut in the espionage thriller (Goodachari). Geetu Mohandas then cast Dhulipala in her Malayalam film Moothon (The Elder One). Anurag Kashyap, one of the producers of the film, penned the dialogues for the Hindi version of the film. Moothon premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019. That was the year that Dhulipala’s first web shows, Made in Heaven (Amazon Prime) and Bard of Blood (Netflix), made it to their respective streamers. Anurag Kashyap cast her in his segment of the Netflix horror anthology Ghost Stories.

Made in Heaven Bard of Blood

Ghost Stories

Rajesh Tailang Seasoned Actor With Global Exposure Rajesh Tailang is a seasoned actor with a body of work that has earned him substantial global exposure. He had lead roles in two films directed by Richie Mehta, Amal (2007) and Siddharth (2013). Both screened in the Toronto International Film Festival. Tailang was also in Prashant Nair’s Hindi dramedy Umrika, which premiered in the Sundance Film Festival in 2015. He played a supporting role in John Madden’s The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015), so-starring Dev Patel, Dame Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. Tailang’s early work in Hindi cinema was as a character actor in Govind Nihalani’s Hazaar Charasi Ki Maa, Dev and Thakshak and Ketan Mehta’s Mangal Pandey: The Rising. Richie Mehta gave Tailang a supporting role in Delhi Crime (Netflix). The actor has also essayed roles in other web shows, notably Mirzapur and Bandish Bandits (both Amazon Prime).

Delhi Crime Mirzapur

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Bandish Bandits

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Jitendra Kumar From Big Screen To Web Shows

Kirti Kulhari Chequered But Eventful Career Sayani Gupta’s Four More Shots Please! costar Kirti Kulhari, too, has had a chequered but eventful career, working her way through commercial Hindi films and then transitioning effortlessly into the web space. First noticed by Bollywood observers for her performance in Bejoy Nambiar’s Shaitaan, Kulhari went on to play meatier roles in films like Pink, co-starring Taapsee Pannu and Amitabh Bachchan, Madhur Bhandarkar’s Indu Sarkar, in which she played the titular role, Mission Mangal and Uri: The Surgical Strike. After striking a rich vein of form in the two seasons of Four More Shots Please! (Amazon Prime) and the one-off series Bard of Blood (Netflix), Kulhari made a strong impression with a layered performance in the role of a victim of domestic abuse accused of murder in Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors (Disney+ Hotstar Specials).

Four More Shots Please! Bard of Blood

IIT Kharagpur graduate Jitendra Kumar’s progression as an actor has not been from big-screen cinema to web shows. He has built his career around outings on the streaming platform. He featured in a series of The Viral Fever (TVF) shows – Permanent Roommates, TVF Pitchers, TVF Bachelors Season 2 and TVF Tripling, among others. The 2019 TVF web show Kota Factory and the 2020 Amazon Prime Video series Panchayat cemented his position in the industry. His performances in these shows brought Jitendra to the notice of Mumbai filmmakers. The Hindi films that he has been a part of include the Ayushmann Khurana starrer Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. One of his films, Chaman Bahaar, about a paan shop boy who falls in love with a schoolgirl who lives in a house opposite his shop, was released on Netflix.

The Viral Fever (TVF) shows Panchayat Chaman Bahaar

Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors

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Ali Fazal Varied Acting Career Ali Fazal has had a varied acting career that ranges from theatre and Hindi cinema on one hand to international projects, including major British and American ventures, on the other. He made his Bollywood debut with a small role in Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots. His breakout performance was as an aspiring musician in the comedy Fukrey. He played one of the two lead roles in Stephen Frears’ Victoria & Abdul, opposite Dame Judi Dench, and had a special appearance in the Hollywood blockbuster Furious 7. Fazal has demonstrated his range as an actor in web shows. He plays the rough and ready goon Guddu in Amazon Prime’s Mirzapur, a series whose Season 3 is now in the works, and a ruthless corporate climber in the first segment of the recent Netflix anthology Ray. Fazal will be seen next in Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile.

Mirzapur Ray

Death on the Nile

Sayani Gupta Striking Fine Balance Sayani Gupta, who has in her repertoire two successful Amazon Prime Video shows, Inside Edge and Four More Shots Please!, both of which have seen two seasons so far, has made steady progress on the back of a series of widely lauded supporting roles in Hindi cinema. She essayed a significant role in the recent Netflix release Pagglait. Her big-screen career took off with Shonali Bose’s Margarita with a Straw, which premiered in the 2014 Tor0nto International Film Festival (TIFF). Another Sayani Gupta starrer, Bornila Chatterjee’s Titus Andronicus adaptation The Hungry, premiered in TIFF three years later. Her outings in commercial Hindi cinema include the Shahrukh Khan starrer Fan and Subhash Kapoor’s Akshay Kumarspearheaded sequel to Jolly LLB. Sayani also played the eponymous character in the Indian thriller drama Kaushiki, which aired on the Hong Kong-based video streaming platform Viu.

Inside Edge Four More Shots Please

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Pagglait Kaushiki

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Mithila Palkar Making It Big With Little Things

Abhishek Banerjee Patience Pays Off Abhishek Banerjee did not find success easy to come by. Although he landed in Mumbai in his early 20s to be an actor, he had to bide his time. He however achieved fame as a casting director for Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, The Dirty Picture, No One Killed Jessica, Secret Superstar, Kalank, The Sky is Pink and Batla House, besides numerous other films and web shows, even as he continued to make brief on-screen appearances. He played a role in Devashish Makhija’s dark and disquieting Ajji. Then came a supporting role in Amar Kaushik’s horror-comedy Stree, starring Shraddha Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi and Aparshakti Khurrana. He appeared in the web shows TVF Pitchers, Typewriter and Mirzapur. His career-defining performance was as the murderous Hathoda Tyagi in Amazon Prime’s Paatal Lok. Banerjee was also seen in the recent Netflix anthology Ajeeb Daastaans.

TVF Pitchers Typewriter and Mirzapur

Mumbai girl Mithila Palkar, who began her career in theatre, debuted in a supporting role as lead actor Imran Khan’s sister in the Hindi film Katti Batti. A Marathi version of Anna Kendrick’s Pitch Perfect ‘cup song’ made Palkar a social media sensation as the number went viral on YouTube. Debuting in the web space with Girl in the City in 2016, she gained wider acceptance with the show Little Thing. The second and third seasons of Little Things premiered on Netflix, which bought the franchise. Palkar made her debut in Marathi cinema opposite Amey Wagh in Muramba. A lead role in the Hindi film Karwaan, starring Irrfan Khan and Dulquer Salmaan, followed. Actor-turned-director Renuka Shahane cast her in a key role in her first film as director, Tribhanga, headlined by Kajol.

Girl in the City Little Things

Paatal Lok

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Amit Sadh Breathing Life Into Characters Like many of the actors who have hit paydirt amid the current web series boom, Amit Sadh began his career with a successful stint in television that spanned nearly a decade and a half. He worked his way up into mainstream Bollywood thanks to a well-received performance in 2013’s Kai Po Che. The actor has since played significant roles in the Salman Khan starrer Sultan, Sarkar 3, Gold and Super 30. In the web space, too, Sadh now has a significant presence. He played the nononsense Senior Inspector Kabir Sawant in both seasons of the Amazon Prime crime thriller Breathe. Season 1 had R. Madhavan as the lead actor. In Season 2, titled Into the Shadows, Abhishek Bachchan stepped into the breach. Sadh played an army major in the SonyLIV military action series Avrodh: The Siege Within. He has also figured in the cast of three ZEE5 original films, Barot House, Operation Parindey and Yaara.

Breathe Avrodh: The Siege Within Barot House Operation Parindey Yaara

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Radhika Apte Poster Girl Of Web Shows If there is a poster girl of Indian web shows, it is Radhika Apte. Starting in theatre in Pune, she has had an exciting and eclectic acting career. Apte’s first lead role was in the Bengali film Antaheen (2009), co-starring Aparna Sen, Sharmila Tagore and Rahul Bose. She has since acted in his films across languages – her mother tongue Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali and English. In the web space, her output has been just as wide-ranging: the Netflix anthology film Lust Stories, the sweeping thriller series Sacred Games and the horror mini series Ghoul. In addition to working in both independent and commercial Indian cinema, Apte has played stellar roles in international films such as Michael Winterbottom’s The Wedding Guest and Lydia Dean Pilcher’s A Call to Spy. Her latest web appearances have been in the Netflix thriller Raat Akeli Hai and the Disney+Hotstar series OK Computer.

Lust Stories Sacred Games Ghoul Raat Akeli Hai OK Computer

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Divyenndu Ek Prem Katha With Acting Divyenndu, best known for his role in the Amazon Prime crime series Mirzapur, was born and raised in Delhi where he was involved in theatre before he made the move to Mumbai. After a small role in the Madhuri Dixit starrer Aaja Nachle, Divyenndu featured in two romantic comedies that catapulted him into the limelight – Luv Ranjan’s Pyaar Ka Punchnama and David Dhawan’s Chashme Buddoor. His big screen acting career has been benefited from the two commercial films that director Shree Narayan Singh cast him in – Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, starring Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar, and the social satire Batti Gul Meter Chalu, with Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor. His first foray in the web space was via a cameo in Season 2 of Permanent Roommates.

Mirzapur Season 2 of Permanent

Roommates

Shweta Tripathi Language Doesn’t Matter Delhi-born Shweta Tripathi is best known for her performances in Neeraj Ghaywan’s directorial debut Masaan (a film that premiered in Cannes) and the popular Amazon Prime web series Mirzapur, in which she plays the sprightly Golu Gupta. In a career that is barely a decade old, the actress has toted up an interesting line-up of films that includes her Tamil-language debut Mehandi Circus (2019) and the inventive sci-fi film Cargo, directed by Aarti Kadav and released on Netflix (2020). Her first screen role was in Trishna (2011), a UKIndia co-production written and directed by Michael Winterbottom with Riz Ahmed and Freida Pinto as the leads. Last year, Tripathi had two other Netflix releases, Raat Akeli Hai, co-starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Danish Renzu’s IndoAmerican film The Illegal. Siddiqui was also her co-actor in the dark social drama Haraamkhor (2017). In 2019, the actress appeared in an episode of Amazon Prime’s Made in Heaven.

Mirzapur Made In Heaven

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Raat Akeli Hai The Illegal

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Pratik Gandhi Roots In Theatre The Surat-born Pratik Gandhi started his acting career in theatre and Gujarati cinema. After appearing in several plays, he hit the big time as a screen actor with the Gujarati film Wrong Side Raju (2016). It went on to win the National Award for the Best Gujarati Film. It wasn’t until Scam 1992 came out on SonyLIV that Gandhi became a nationally known name. The series has him in the role of Harshad Mehta, the stockbroker who masterminded one of India’s biggest-ever financial scandals. The series has catapulted the actor into Mumbai cinema orbit and he has begun to land roles in Hindi films. Gandhi has also played the lead role in the web series Vitthal Teedi, which was released on OHO Gujarati in early May.

Scam 1992 Vitthal Teedi

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Shreya Dhanwanthary Actor, Writer & Director Hyderabad-born Shreya Dhanwanthary has two breakthrough web shows behind her. In The Family Man, top-lined by Manoj Bajpayee, she holds her as Zoya, a punctilious analyst in an anti-terrorism outfit. Playing another professional, a business journo this time around, in Scam 1992, a financial scandal web series directed by Hansal Mehta. Her performance as the real-life journalist Sucheta Dalal, has earned her positive reviews all around. Dhanwanthary made her big-screen debut in the Telugu-language film Josh (2009) starring Naga Chaitanya and Karthika, following it up with Sneha Geetham (2010). Her first Hindi film was Why Cheat India, co-starring Emraan Hashmi. The multi-talented actress wrote and directed A Viral Wedding, an Eros Now mini-series in which she also played the lead role. Loop Lapeta, the official Hindi remake of Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run, is scheduled to be Dhanwanthary’s next release.

Family Man Scam 1992 A Viral Wedding

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Akshay Oberoi On A ‘High’

Maanvi Gagroo Carving A Niche Maanvi Gagroo has surmounted entrenched body image barriers to carve a niche for herself in Hindi films and web shows. The Delhi-born actress appeared in web shows like TVF Pitcher, TVF Tripling, Permanent Roommates, and Made in Heaven before Four More Shots Please!. happened to her. In the breezy Amazon Prime series, which has had two successful seasons, Gagroo plays a girl who is a part of a quartet of spunky, self-willed women fighting male domination and gender biases. Gagroo’s big screen appearances have been in Ujda Chaman, a comedy which released in 2019, and the Ayushmann Khurrana starrer Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, a humour-laced drama about same-sex love. Her other films are PK, Tu Hai Mera Sunday, Aamras and the Hotstar movie Guy in the Sky.

TVF Pitcher TVF Tripling

New Jersey-born Akshay Oberoi has strong screen presence, which he presses into the service of every role that he plays, be it on the big screen or in a web show. When Oberoi moved to Indian armed with years of training in acting, jazz and ballet, he worked with Makarand Deshpande in Prithvi Theatre. He made his debut in Sooraj Barjatya;s Isi Life Mein. The film did not click but Oberoi was on his way. Isi Life Mein helped him prove that he had the chops to handle more challenging roles. He did just that in Gurgaon, a crime drama in which he plays the wayward son of a wealthy man with intelligence and a sense of balance. He also headed the cast of the horror film Pizza with panache. In the last few years, Oberoi has been seen in several web shows, including Selection Day (Netflix), Flesh (Eros Now) and High (MX Player).

Selection Day Flesh High

Permanent Roommates Made in Heaven

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Shriya Pilgaonkar Her Game Is On Mirzapur actress Shriya Pilgaonkar began her acting career in 2013 with the Marathi film Ekulti Ek. It was written and directed by her father Sachin Pilgaonkar, who also acted in the film along with his wife Supriya Pilgaonkar. Shriya’s performance in the film fetched her multiple accolades. She subsequently landed roles in two big films – Fan, produced by the YRF banner and starring Shahrukh Khan, and the IndoFrench co-production Un Plus Une, directed by the Oscar-winning Claude Chabrol. In the French film, she played the role of an Indian dancer and actor. Besides Mirzapur, Shriya has been in Gurinder Chaddha’s British historical series Beecham House, set in India during the Mughal era, The Gone Game, shot entirely during the pandemicinduced lockdown, and Apoorva Lakhia’s spy thriller Crackdown (both for Voot).

Mirzapur Beecham House

The Gone Game Crackdown

Sunny Hinduja Rapid Strides In Digital Sphere Indore-born BITS Pilani graduate and FTII acting alumnus Sunny Hinduja began his career playing meaty roles in niche independent cinema, including his debut in the experimental Ballad of Rustom, directed by Ajita Suchitra Veera. In 2017, his collaboration with Pakistani filmmaker Shazia Ali Khan yielded the feature film Pinky Memsaab. The moderate success in the independent cinema space notwithstanding, Hinduja has made rapid strides in the digital sphere. The young actor has in recent years garnered widespread critical and audience appreciation for his roles in Bhaukaal, TVF’s Aspirants and Chacha Vidhayak Hai Hamare, in which he is cast as the main antagonist. Hinduja played Milind in The Family Man Seasons 1 and 2 (Amazon Prime Video).

The Family Man Seasons 1 and 2

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Bhaukaal TVF’s Aspirants

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Vijay Varma From Hyderabad To Cannes

Sharib Hashmi Part Of Oscar Journey Sharib Hashmi began his acting career with an uncredited appearance in Danny Boyle’s Oscarwinning Slumdog Millionaire and a supporting role in Yash Chopra’s final film Jab Tak Hai Jaan, starring Shahrukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma. He then played the main character in Nitin Kakkar’s Filmistaan, which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2012. Hashmi, whose fame now rests primarily on the Amazon Prime web show The Family Man, in which he plays the principal associate of the protagonist Srikant Tiwari (Manoj Bajpayee). His filmography includes Vodka Diaries, Batti Gul Meter Chalu, Nakkash, Ujda Chaman, Ram Singh Charlie (a film he co-wrote and had a cameo in) and Pagglait, which Netflix released in March 2021. Hashmi has also appeared in the Voot Select series Asur and the SonyLIV show Scam 1992.

The Family Man Asur

Hyderabad-born Vijay Varma, who began as a theatre actor in his hometown and then trained in the Pune-based Film and Television Institute of India, was first noticed globally in Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout, which premiered in the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. The actor had another film in Cannes in 2018 – Nandita Das’s Manto, while Zoya Akhtar’s Gully, co-starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, premiered in Berlin in 2019. His career, however, had commenced a few years earlier with well-received roles in films like Chittagong and Pink. Most recently, Varma was seen in the Hotstar series OK Computer, which was preceded by Mira Nair’s BBC One series A Suitable Boy. The actor played a dual role in Mirzapur and a violent criminal in the Netflix series She. Two of Varma’s recent films – Banfaad and Yaara – went direct to the Zee5 streaming service.

Mirzapur OK Computer A Suitable Boy She

Scam 1992 Pagglait

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