Pickle September 2014 Toronto Edition by Pickle -- Indian M&E Biz

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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

e are delighted to present the latest issue of Pickle, on the occassion of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). It will screen 285 feature films and 108 short films (total screening time 31, 038 minutes). Seventy countries are at TIFF and a total of 5, 671 films were submitted for the festival. Undoutedly, TIFF has become a launch pad for the Oscars, and every year the excitement for the Academy Awards starts in Toronto. Films premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival that went on to win Oscars include ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘The King’s Speech’ and ‘American Beauty’ among others. We track this trend on what’s on offer this year. We have profiled TIFF’s Artistic Director Cameron Bailey who has pioneered the art to discover films for screening at Toronto which would eventually win Academy Awards. Cameron has significantly contributed for Indian cinema’s global footprint. He religiously visits India every year in June-July (since 2006) for a brief three-day visit to scout for talent and films for Toronto festival. That’s why we have half-a-dozen Indian films at Toronto for continuous eight years. It’s a special year for India at Toronto as for the first time an Indian film will be featured on the opening nite of festival

on September 4. Priyanka Chopra starring biopic based on the life of World Boxing Champion Mary Kom (directed by Omung Kumar) will be opening nite film. Shonali Bose’s Margarita, With a Straw, Debut Tamil film director M Manikandan’s The Crow’s Egg, Oscar winner Danis Tanovic’ Tigers (it’s a India-UK-France co-production film) and short film Newborns (directed by Megha Ramaswamy) will be screened. The India Pavilion is located at the Industry Centre Regency Ballroom at Hyatt. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting with Directorate of Film Festival is organising the India Pavilion. The 45th International Film Festival of India will be the major focus from India at Toronto. Do visit the India Pavilion to get a peek of IFFI (at Goa). We have presented a special package of IFFI in this edition of Pickle. The new Indian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given an optimistic outlook for a developed India and the media and entertainment sector is poised to push the soft power of India. Our next issue will focus on MIPCOM (October), American Film Market (November) and International Film Festival of India (December) Feel free to email your thoughts and suggestions.

n vidyasagar pickle media nvidyasagar@gmail.com, www.picklemag.com Pickle Volume VIII 1st edition Published by Pickle Media Private Limited Email: natvid@gmail.com L Mumbai L Chennai No.2, Habib Complex Dr Durgabhai Deshmukh Road RA Puram CHENNAI 600 028

Printed by Bon Graphics New #7, Arumugam Nagar, Dayalan Garden, Chinna Porur, Chennai – 600 116 Mobile: +91 9884816263 Email: bon_graphics@yahoo.co.in

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A still from Mary Kom

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WORLD PREMIERE’S FROM INDIA AT TORONTO Five new Indian ﬁlms will be showcased at the 39th Toronto International Film Festival. These titles represent well nigh the entire spectrum of the subcontinent’s cinema.

MARY KOM

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MARGARITA, WITH A STRAW

THE CROW’S EGG

Laila is a young romantic, a secret rebel in a wheelchair. Undeterred by cerebral palsy, she embarks on exhilarating adventures of self discovery, which cause a rift both within and with those she is closest to. Ultimately, it is in the intensity of these bonds where she must ﬁnd the strength to truly be herself. Director: Shonali Bose | Production Company: Ishan Talkies, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, Jakhotia Group | International Sales: Viacom18 Motion Pictures

By Saibal Chatterjee

ive new Indian films will be showcased at the 39th Toronto International Film Festival. These titles represent well nigh the entire spectrum of the subcontinent’s cinema. Besides four feature length fiction films, TIFF’s Indian fare this year also offers a unique short documentary that celebrates the courage and resilience that keep acid attack survivors going. This eight-minute film, Newborns, has been helmed by Mumbai-based directorscreenwriter Megha Ramaswamy and produced by Anand Gandhi and Sohum Shah’s Recyclewala Labs. Gandhi, whose Ship of Theseus played here in 2012, has also edited Newborns. It is one of 36 short films from 29 countries that have been selected for TIFF’s inaugural Short Cuts International sidebar. Among the Indian films in this year’s TIFF line-up is a Bollywood biopic about five-time world women’s boxing champion Mary Kom. Mary Kom, which is production designer Omung Kumar’s directorial debut, has Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra in the lead role. The film has been produced by Devdas and Ram-Leela director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The just completed film has been in the news in India for the problematic casting of Priyanka as the gutsy boxer from the Northeast Indian state who rose from humble beginnings to the pinnacle in the world of women’s boxing. Priyanka does not bear any resemblance to the real-life Mary Kom. So the question

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When a pizza parlor opens on their old playground, two carefree slum boys are consumed by the desire to taste this new-fangled dish called ‘pizza’. Realizing that one pizza costs more than their family’s monthly income, they begin to plot ways to earn more money – inadvertently beginning an adventure that will involve the entire city. Director: M. Manikandan | Production Company: Grass Root ﬁlm, Wunderbar Films Pvt. Ltd., Fox Star Studios Pvt. Ltd. | International Sales: Fox Star Studios Pvt. Ltd.

being asked is: wasn’t a more physically suitable actress available for the role of the Indian sporting icon? Be that as it may, the film on her life has the blessings of Mary Kom herself and it is bound to find many takers in Toronto and elsewhere. If Priyanka Chopra’s pivotal performance is anywhere near passable, the misgivings might just be dispelled, at least for the moment. Mary Kom, which opens theatrically on September 5, will screen in TIFF’s Special Presentations section. The other three Indian films on show in Toronto 2014 are an off-mainstream Tamil-language film (Kaakaa Muttai) about two slum boys desperate to buy a pizza that they cannot afford; a deeply personal take on the inspirational efforts of a girl with cerebral palsy to beat her disability (Margarita, With a Straw); and an international thriller (Tigers) directed by an Oscar winner and featuring popular Mumbai star Emraan Hashmi. All the three titles are in the Contemporary World Cinema section and are expected to generate a fair bit of interest among audiences in Toronto. M. Manikandan’s Kaakaa Muttai (The Crow’s Egg) is an unconventional Tamil entertainer produced by the lead actor (Dhanush) and director (Vetrimaran) of the acclaimed 2011 drama (Aadukalam) that scooped up half a dozen prizes at India’s National Awards, including the big ones for acting and directing. The Crow’s Egg revolves around the adventures of a couple of feisty slum boys who, after losing their playground to a new pizza parlour, are desperate to taste LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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TIGERS

NEWBORNS

Devastated when he discovers the effects of the cheap, locally - made drugs he peddles for a Pakistani pharmaceuticals ﬁrm, a young salesman challenges the system and the powers that be, in this based - on - fact drama from Academy Award winning director Danis Tanovic´ (No Man’s Land ). Director: Danis Tanovic | Production Company: Cinemorphic Pvt Ltd, Sikhya Entertainment, A.S.A.P. Films | International Sales: The Match Factory

Newborns attempts to provide a lens to the survivors of acid violence, to look forward and gaze back. They take us through the ennui of their domestic and public spaces in a nameless dystopian city, its factories, houses and motels, and its promises, never honoured. Featuring Laxmi, Nasreen and Sapna. Director: Megha Ramaswamy Production Company: Recyclewala Labs

a pizza for themselves. But there is a small matter that gets in their way: one pizza costs more than what their family makes in an entire month. So the two boys have no option but to devise ways to make more money. But that is obviously easier said than done. The Crow’s Egg is the third Tamil film to make the TIFF cut after Mani Ratnam’s Kannathil Muthamittal (A Peck on the Cheek, 2002) and Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai (Azhagarsami’s Horse, 2011). Shonali Bose’s second feature film, Margarita, With a Straw, also portrays an intense struggle, but one that is marked by greater interiority. It plays out in the body, heart and mind of a rebellious young woman in a wheelchair whose innermost desires and aspirations push her towards a passionate search for true happiness. The cast of Margarita, With a Straw is headed by Kalki Koechlin, who last seen in TIFF when Anurag Kashyap’s That Girl in Yellow Boots was screened here in 2010. Margarita, With a Straw also marks director Bose’s second appearance in Toronto. Her debut film, Amu, was screened in the festival in 2005. Tigers, written and directed by Danis Tanovic, maker of No Man’s Land, the 2002 winner of the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film, will be of special interest to Bollywood watchers. It stars Emraan Hashmi alongside English actress Maryam d’Abo and German actor Heino Ferch. Other Indian actors in the cast of Tigers include Geetanjali Thapa and Adil Hussain

Hashmi, star of films like Murder and Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, had a key role in Dibakar Banerjee’s Shanghai, which was part of the City to City Mumbai package unveiled here in 2012. Another Indian director in TIFF this year is the experimental film artist Shambhavi Kaul. Her latest short film, Night Noon, is part of the festival’s Wavelengths programme. Night Noon, a US-Mexico co-production, is Kaul’s third film in a row in Toronto. Her Chitrakoot 21 and Mount Song, both nine-minute films, were in the same TIFF section is 2012 and 2013 respectively.

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Omung Kumar’s extensive and award-winning body of work as an art director includes the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Mary Kom marks his feature directorial debut. Shonali Bose was raised in Calcutta, Mumbai, and Delhi. She made her feature debut as writer-director with Amu, which played the Festival, and co-wrote the feature Chittagong. Margarita, with a Straw is her latest ﬁlm. M. Manikandan was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He directed the short ﬁlm Wind. The Crow’s Egg is his feature debut.

Danis Tanovic’s feature films include No Man’s Land, which won Best Screenplay at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, which won the Silver Bear at Berlin. Tigers is his latest film. Megha Ramaswamy is a Mumbai-based screenwriter and director. She wrote the screenplay for the feature film Shaitan and wrote and directed the short films Bunny and Newborns.

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Priyanka Chopra Plays Real Mary Kom

Mary Kom World boxing champion

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MEET THE REAL MARY

World boxing champion Mary Kom’s touching story been made into a biopic, with Priyanka Chopra in the lead. It will be the opening nite ﬁlm at Toronto “Go away. You don’t belong here,” said Leishangthem Ibomcha Singh, the former boxer. “You are too small. And you look like you sleep too much,” he told Mary Kom in 1999 to test her credentials. Inspired by fellow Manipuri Dingko Singh’s Gold at the 1998 Asiad, the 18-year-old had decided to move from athletics to boxing. Later in an interview, she laughed about what happened. “He (Ibomcha) was just joking. He was trying to test if I really wanted to learn boxing.” What followed that was a rigorous training schedule of six hours a day – in two shifts -- 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. But Mary would just not stop training. It was common to catch her doing push-ups, hours after the training had gotten over. Mary’s life is one giant of a story-- of sheer determination, struggle -- and ultimately overcoming them all to come out a winner. She had never been the kind to stay at home as a child. Up to 12 years, she dressed like a girl but after she turned 13, she started dressing like a boy. She would always be running around. It was difﬁcult to stop her from training, according to N. Tonpa Mangte, Mary’s father who calls her Sanahan. Sana, in the Kom dialect his family speaks, means gold. Ahan means the eldest. In 1999, struggling with money problems Mangte was unsure whether he would be able to afford Mary’s training. He decided to raise the issue with her. “I told her, ‘Are you sure you want to do this? I have so many people to take care of. I don’t

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know if I can afford your boxing’. She looked at me and said, ‘Don’t ask me to drop boxing, father. I will spend a tenth of what everyone else in the family spends. I will manage somehow but don’t ask me to drop the sport,’” he later recalled in an interview after her eldest daughter took a bronze at the London Olympics. Two years later, he was at the airport. There was a big crowd of people there. So, he sneaked out and stood under a tree. Suddenly there was a lot of noise. He realised that her daughter had arrived. It was hard to believe. Was this a dream? He thought to himself. Mary was returning home after winning a Silver at the World Boxing Championships in the US. He saw her from a distance. He was crying and didn’t want Mary to see him. On August 5, 2012, a few minutes after Mary Kom won against Karolina Michalczuk of Poland in her first Olympic bout (women’s 51kg) and the second women’s boxing match ever witnessed at the Olympics, the doting mother of twins, said: “Today is very emotional,” in response to a question by a reporter. It was the fifth birthday of her twins Khupneivar and Rechungvar. She had to fight like the five-time world champion she is to grind out a 19–14 win against Michalczuk. Right then she was missing her tin-roofed house and her fiveyear-old twins whom she wanted to dedicate the victory to. Before her first bout at the London Olympics, she called Ibomcha and said her opponent was so big, she looked like a man.

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Mary’s life is one giant of a story-- of sheer determination, struggle -- and ultimately overcoming them all to come out a winner “I asked her to focus on her strengths and that, if she fought to her potential, she would win,” Ibomcha recalls. She won that bout and the next and guaranteed herself a bronze. In the semifinal she would come up against a taller, faster, stronger and younger opponent, Nicola Adams of Great Britain. Adams, the local favourite, won 11–6 and went on to take the gold. “I never get nervous before bouts but that day I don’t know what was happening to me,” Mary later said. “I can’t even explain it. I was not attacking as much and maybe it was the crowd also which was cheering Nicola on. I generally don’t get affected by how the crowd is behaving but probably in the semifinals, it affected me.” It didn’t matter. Her bronze could outshine almost every other medal won at the Games. Manipur has bitter memories of boxing. The state, torn by insurgency, hosted an exhibition bout involving boxers from West Bengal in the 1950s. When the state’s representatives got a thrashing at the Polo Ground, the spectators stormed the field and wreaked havoc. Boxing was

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banned until 1980. But the likes of Mary and Dingko Singh are now serving as inspirations for hundreds of boxer from this insurgency-hit state in India’s northeast. Mary herself has been deeply affected by the strife in this picturesque state. Her father-in-law was murdered by one of the insurgent groups soon after she married Onler Kom in 2005. “It was a great setback. I respected him immensely. I thought hard about whether I should continue. But I did. And the medals feels like it really belongs to him,” she once said in an interview. “Women are scared to walk in public on their own in India,” feels Mary Kom. Without just expressing her feelings in words, the sportsperson is also jumping into action, as she is setting up womenonly self-defense camps and an SMS service to provide safety tips for women across India, with Vodafone’s support. No matter how the future of Manipur unfolds, it is for sure that champions like Mary Kom have given a new direction to its youths and permanently altered the future of women’s boxing in the state and the country. LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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Cameron Bailey Artistic Director, TIFF

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Pickle profiles TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey who has created Toronto as a base camp for the Oscars. By religiously visiting India every year, he has been spearheading Indian cinema in the global arena by picking Indian films for Toronto. A profile by Saibal Chatterjee

CAMERON BAILEY C

ameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, has been personally handpicking South Asian films for TIFF for over a decade now. In this period North America’s premier film festival has grown steadily. So has the international appeal of a much wider variety of Indian films than ever before. In both the above developments, Bailey, who took over as TIFF’s principal programmer, has had a key role to play.

shuttling between London and Barbados as a boy before settling in Toronto in his pre-teen years, has been witness to a period of profound change in the moviemaking scenario in the world’s most prolific film-producing nation. His Indian picks for TIFF, especially those made in the past five or six years, have reected the unfolding transformation.

Besides sourcing cinema from South Asia, Bailey selects ﬁlms from Western Europe, the USA and the Caribbean as well. The modalities of the festival’s City to City sidebar have also been part of his portfolio since it was introduced in 2009.

Bailey told this writer two years ago, weeks ahead of the announcement of TIFF’s decision to devote its City to City program to Mumbai filmmakers: “In my initial years here, I would select only Indian arthouse films, especially from Kolkata and Kerala. A film like Ashim Ahluwalia’s John & Jan e would be rare. But that has now changed.”

In his capacity as a TIFF programmer of ﬁlms from India, Bailey, who grew up

That has certainly paved the way for a more varied, and therefore more excit-

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ing, slate of Indian films. In 2008, when he programmed the Bollywood potboiler Singh is Kinng here well after the film had gone into distribution, Bailey had said: “Audiences in Toronto have been consistently exposed to regional language films from India. It is therefore important to bring to them the song and dance extravaganzas too.” Bailey’s aim since then has been to seek to re ect the dynamism and energy of Indian cinema. “Indian cinema,” he has said elsewhere, “has amazing diversity. We can hope to capture only a fraction of it.’ In this endeavour, what he has been able to is open up of the North American market, if only to a limited extent thus far, for independent-spirited commercial Hindi cinema. Last year, TIFF hosted a Gala screening of Maneesh Sharma’s Shuddh Desi Romance (Random Desi Romance), starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Parineeti Chopra. The film was positioned by the festival as another significant example of the output of a new generation of commercial Mumbai filmmakers who seek to blend the spirit of independent cinema with the need to be commercial viable. At the same time, Bailey himself engaged Irrfan Khan, lead actor of the globally feted Indian film, The Lunchbox, in a formal conversation as part of the festival’s Mavericks series. The Ritesh Batra-directed film, too, had a Gala screening at TIFF last year. Irrfan is of course the most visible standard bearer among Indian screen actors who have a thriving career outside the mainstream star-driven Mumbai movies.

Even as Bailey has in recent years selected big banner Bollywood films such as Singh is Kinng and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, he has lost no opportunity to push the kind of realistic Indian cinema that stands a chance of finding takers in the West. The idea behind featuring Mumbai in the 2012 City to City section, in Bailey’s own words, was “to introduce the new generation of India’s independent filmmakers to audiences and buyers in Toronto and to help create a platform for them in North America”. While some eyebrows might be raised now and then when a big Bollywood film is premiered in Toronto, it cannot be denied that this city, in addition to the expatriate moviegoers who wait eagerly from regional language titles from India, has a sizeable and enthusiastic audience for commercial Hindi cinema. Bailey tapped into that demand. He has successfully struck a balance between the two ends of the Indian cinema spectrum and also joined the many dots that exist in between. In the long run, TIFF’s continuing support to the whole gamut of Indian films has proved to be beneficial to a bunch of young filmmakers on both sides of the divide. Bailey’s association with cinema began in his days at the University of Western Ontario, where he wrote on entertainment for the school newspaper. A cinema studies course in York University, which he did not complete, set him up for a career as a film critic in the late 1980s. In 1990, within a year of beginning to review films professionally, he joined the TIFF programming team. After devot-

Cameron has successfully struck a balance between the two ends of the Indian cinema spectrum and also joined the many dots that exist in between 20

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CAMERON SPEAK Innovation is happening considerably. For me the most interesting and striking about innovation is that the business and ﬁlmmaking art is becoming more global.

I am very optimistic about the future of cinema. Nothing can replace that. In-cinema experience is unparallel. Technology has changed and films are made available in so many ways. I find it something special watching a film in a cinema with an audience and group of people rather than your own with headphones on. It is a very different experience. There is something social about a movie.

What I found in Mumbai is the effect of the independent filmmakers who have been doing such strong work in the last several years. Independent filmmakers are making some exciting and challenging work and they are also influencing the commercial filmmakers.

The entire global ﬁlm industry is open to each others’ viewpoint. Our success will lie on how well we can work together in cross borders. The days of localised parochial ﬁlm industries are over or should be over soon. The future for all of us lies in all of us working together.

ing five years to the selection of Canadian films for the festival, Bailey, in 1995, launched Planet Africa, the TIFF section that showcased Films from Africa and the African Diaspora. Bailey ran Planet Africa with great success for an entire decade until African cinema eventually got dovetailed into the festival mainstream. In the years that he has devoted to developing a profile for Indian cinema at TIFF, Bailey has been just as effective.

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That fact is borne out as much by the packed houses that greet ﬁlms from the subcontinent here as by the unbridled enthusiasm evinced by a growing tribe of Indian ﬁlmmakers for the Toronto International Film Festival. Thanks to Bailey’s strategy to promote all kinds of cinema – which, incidentally is extended to the festival as a whole – Irrfan Khan’s star power on the TIFF red carpet today is no less than that of Shahrukh Khan or an Amitabh Bachchan.

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INDIA PIC(K)S @ TORONTO

TIFF’S INDIA STORY The world’s most proliﬁc movie industry has rarely been found wanting in North America’s premier ﬁlm festival

he Toronto International Film Festival’s engagement with India’s multilingual cinema is as wideranging as it is deep-rooted. TIFF has over the years celebrated works of all hues from the South Asian nation’s diverse movie-making traditions. At one end of the spectrum have been titles like Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Anees Bazmee’s Singh is Kinng, both of which had Gala screenings in the cavernous Roy Thomson Hall in 2006 and 2008 respectively. At the other, the festival has regularly brought to its audiences the acclaimed ﬁlms of Indian regional language directors such as Kerala’s Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Bengal’s Buddhadeb Dasgupta as part of its Masters sidebar as well as unique features and documentaries made outside of the Mumbai movie mainstream. The year that the Akshay Kumar blockbuster Singh is Kinng played in Toronto, the festival also premiered Priyadarshan’s Tamil-language Kanjivaram and Nandita Das’ Firaaq, which explored the impact of sectarian violence on ordinary lives. Kanjivaram, an intense drama about a silk weaver who does not have the means to buy the saris he creates, went on to win India’s National Award for the Best Film in 2009, and its male lead, Prakash Raj, was adjudged the Best Male Actor of the year. Indian-origin Canadian director Deepa Mehta, who lives and works in Toronto, plays a key role in keeping the festival’s interest in Indian stories alive ever since

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Fire, the first part of her ‘Elements’ trilogy, premiered here in 1996. The final segment of the acclaimed cinematic triptych, Water, was TIFF’s opening night film in 2005. In 2008, Mehta’s Heaven on Earth, starring Preity Zinta as an abused wife of a Punjabi Canadian, was among the Indiathemed films unveiled at the festival. In 2012, the director’s eagerly awaited adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight Children was premiered here in 2012. The year 2008 was especially significant from the Indian point of view owing to the enthusiastic popular reception accorded here to Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, which provided a major fillip to the global showbiz focus on the country. Nandita Das’ association with TIFF also goes back a long way. In 2003, the Fire star was in Toronto with Mani Ratnam’s Kannathil Muthamittal, in 2006 with Chitra Palekar’s Maati Maay, and in 2007 with a brace of titles, Adoor’s Naalu Pennungal and Santosh Sivan’s Before the Rains. In 2012, the fourth year of its City to City program, TIFF presented a package of ten films made and set in Mumbai, among which were world premiere titles like Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus and Hansal Mehta’s Shahid. Both subsequently won major prizes at the National Awards in India. The other films in the 2012 Mumbai line-up were Anurag Kashyap’s two-part Gangs of Wasseypur, Dibakar Banerjee’s Shanghai, Habib Faisal’s Ishaqzaade, Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely, Manjeet Singh’s Mumbai Cha Raja, Vasan Bala’s Peddlers and Mohit Takalkar’s The Bright Day.

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Toronto is driven by public audience, with a population 50 times that of Cannes (Cannes Film Festival attracts 40,000 people a year).Toronto International Film Festival is perhaps the only international festival that has consistently selected a large number of Indian films. The festival attracts people from all segments of the global entertainment industry In 2012, TIFF also hosted the world premieres of Gauri Shinde’s Sridevi-starrer English Vinglish and Mira Nair’s adaptation of Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. So, it was Indian cinema’s most active year ever in Toronto. Indian cinema had a particularly fruitful run in Toronto last year too, with Anup Singh’s Qissa, Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox, Pan Nalin’s lively Kumbh Mela documentary Faith Connections and Canadian ﬁlmmaker Richie Mehta’s Delhiset Siddharth generating sustained buzz here. Also in the TIFF program last year was a Gala screening of the youthful love story Shuddh Desi Romance, starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Parineeti Chopra. But it isn’t as if TIFF’s selectors have never gone amiss with their judgment of Indian ﬁlms. In 2009, the festival premiered two Bollywood potboilers that simply

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did not belong here – Dil Bole Hadippa, featuring Rani Mukherjee and Shahid Kapoor, and What’s Your Raashee?, an Ashurosh Gowariker film starring Priyanka Chopra. The three other Indian entries that year – Dilip Mehta’s Cooking with Stella, Dev Benegal’s Road, Movie and Laxmikant Shetgaonkar’s The Man beyond the Bridge – did make amends to a certain extent. The last named title, which was part of the festival’s Discovery section, won the FIPRESCI Prize. The 2009 Indian misfires probably forced TIFF to return to the basics in 2010 – the festival opted for titles like Kiran Rao’s debut film Dhobi Ghat, Anurag Kashyap’s That Girl in Yellow Boots, Siddharth Srinivasan’s Pairon Talle and Aamir Bashir’s Harud, rather than any tentpole Bollywood productions.

Saibal Chatterjee

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TORONTO 2014

THE JUDGE

WHIPLASH

GOOD LIE

EQUALIZER

In the past 15 years, since 1999’s American Beauty, seven of the People’s Choice awardees in TIFF earned Best Picture Oscar nominations

FOX CATCHEK 24

WILD

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OSCAR BUZZ

BEGINS AT TIFF As always, many of the key films in Toronto this year are in with a chance of emerging as Academy Award contenders. Saibal Chatterjee takes a Pickle peek at the films from Toronto International film festival

ariety is the essence of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), one of the world’s most dynamic events in terms of high-profile premieres, star footfalls on the red-carpet and buying and selling activity. In addition to the fact that TIFF is the globe’s largest publicly attended film festival, it is known for triggering pre-Oscar enthusiasm for big star-studded studio films as well as more personal independent cinematic efforts. But by no means is the tantalizing exercise to identify the Oscar contenders the only talking point during the festival that is held in Toronto over eleven days every September. Nor, one reckons, is it on the minds of the festival’s film selectors. This sprawling multi-cultural city in Ontario is a huge melting pot and the festival’s 20-odd programmers necessarily have to keep a wide range of cinematic predilections in mind when they travel around the world to cherry pick the right films for TIFF. Yet for TIFF regulars who have their sights on the upcoming award season, the festival is an important stop. For them, talk of the Oscars and the other major film awards is inevitable.

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It is in Toronto that they get a reliable sense of which American and British titles are most likely to hold sway when the Oscar nominations are announced at the start of the year ahead. At the other major film festivals of the world – notably Cannes, Berlin or Venice – handpicked juries made up of noted industry professionals are charged with the task of choosing the award winners. In Toronto, it is the film-going public that decides the fate of the films that they watch over a period of 11 days. Much interest hinges on the People’s Choice Award at TIFF because for at least 15 years now the title that has won audience support in Toronto has gone on to bag the Best Picture Oscar as well. In the past 15 years, since 1999’s American Beauty, seven of the People’s Choice awardees in TIFF earned Best Picture Oscar nominations. Four of these films – American Beauty, Slumdog Millionaire, The King’s Speech and 12 Years a Slave – went on to win the Best Picture statuette. To expand the TIFF-Oscar linkage a little more, the last seven Best Picture Oscar winners – No Country for Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire, The Hurt Locker, The King’s Speech, The Artist, Argo and 12

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IMITATION GAME

A LITTLE CHAOS

LOVE & MERCY

MR. TURNER

BLACK AND WHITE

NIGHTCRAWLER

Years a Slave – were all feted at TIFF before they came up trumps on Hollywood’s biggest night. In 2008, Slumdog Millionaire literally swept all the major awards – Golden Globes, Oscars, BAFTAs – after being voted the most popular ﬁlm at TIFF. Two years later, The King’s Speech mopped up four Oscars and seven BAFTAs. Last year’s TIFF People’s Choice Award winner, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, bagged three Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is easy to see why big-ticket Oscar aspirants make a beeline for TIFF. Although 1981’s People’s Choice Award winner, Hugh Hudson’s Chariots of Fire, made a major mark at the Oscars, it was with 1999’s American Beauty and 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that TIFF’s reputation as an Oscar bellwether began to taken formal shape. The People’s Choice Award, instituted in 1978, is as old as the festival itself, which began in 1976, and has of late justiﬁably earned the reputation of a near-foolproof Oscar predictor. Thus far, over two dozen of the TIFF Peo-

ple’s Choice Award winners have gone on to figure prominently in the Academy Awards, with as many as ten of them winning Best Picture, Best Foreign Language Film or Best Documentary. Besides the much loved films mentioned above, other notable titles that have famously won the People’s Choice Award and bagged Oscar nominations/awards on the back of it are Paul Haggis’ Crash, David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises, Lee Daniels’ Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire, and David O Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook. This year, to emphasize its now widely acknowledged Oscar buzz-generating power, TIFF has decided that only fresh-off-the oven titles, in other words world or North American premieres will play on the festival’s first weekend. This move is in response to the fact that many of the top Toronto films were first seen by the North American press at the Telluride Film Festival, which precedes TIFF by a few days. The 39th edition of TIFF will also in all likelihood throw up its own slate of Oscar favourites and those in the forecast game will have a field day.

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

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THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU There are several titles that could jump into Oscar contention, include David Dobkin’s The Judge, Shawn Levy’s This Is Where I Leave You, Philippe Falardeau’s The Good Lie and Bill Pohlad’s Love & Mercy, all which will be premiering in Toronto. In the acting sweepstakes will be a couple of films that were unveiled in Cannes this year – Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher and Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner. Steve Carell and Tatum Channing will lead the charge for Foxcatcher, while Timothy Spall’s impressive impersonation of JMW Turner in the Leigh film is also being tipped for Oscar glory. Mike Binder’s Black and White, starring Kevin Costner, is also expected to be part of Oscar chatter once the film is unveiled in Toronto. Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler, featuring Jake Gyllenhaal in a role for which the actor had to lose a lot of weight, and Liv Ullmann’s Miss Julie, in which Jessica Chastain is reported to have turned in another performance that is worthy of an Academy Award nomination, are also been seen as films that could gather a fair

amount of traction in the run-up to the Oscars. By the time the 39th TIFF winds up on September 14, ﬁlm lovers and award trackers will have no dearth of ﬁlms and performances to enthuse over.

BY THE TIME THE 39TH TIFF WINDS UP ON SEPTEMBER 14, FILM LOVERS AND AWARD TRACKERS WILL HAVE NO DEARTH OF FILMS AND PERFORMANCES TO ENTHUSE OVER

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IFFI at Toronto

IT’S for

he 45th International Film Festival of India (November 20 to 30, 2014) promises to be just as exciting and wide-ranging as any of the editions that have gone before. On the programming side, IFFI not only unveils the best films from around the multilingual country, it also puts together a remarkable slate of brand new world cinema titles. This year China has been chosen as the festival’s Focus Country and delegates can expect a full-fledged spread of films from the world’s most populous nation. IFFI also hosts many retrospectives, tributes, master classes and special sections, which enhance the variety and depth of the event. The master classes have emerged as a highlight of the festival, especially from the standpoint of film school students who converge in Goa during the ten-day event. This year IFFI is to be formally represented in the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) by its Director, Shankar Mohan, and two senior DFF functionaries.

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INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF INDIA

IFFI MATTERS

Given its vintage and scope, the International Film Festival of India is steeped in history to an extent that no other Asian festival can match. IFFI is at Toronto International Film Festival. Visit India Pavilion at the Industry Centre, Regency Ballroom

he International Film Festival of India (IFFI), by far the oldest event of its kind in Asia, has over the years witnessed numerous alterations in character, nomenclature, location, dates and duration. It has, however, remained steadfast in its strong emphasis on showcasing the diversity of Indian cinema as well as in its commitment to the celebration of excellence across moviemaking genres. Over the past two decades, several other international ﬁlm festivals have sprung up across India, notably in Kolkata, Kerala and Mumbai, and they all contribute meaningfully to the collective task of taking quality cinema to a people weaned principally on a staple diet of star-driven, song and dance extravaganzas. But IFFI continues to retain its preeminent position owing to its size, scope and vintage. Not just in the Indian context but also in relation to the other major Asian ﬁlm festivals, IFFI matters. And this is despite all the inevitable ups and downs that it has seen over the years. All the other major Asian festivals – Tokyo, Busan and Shanghai – are of far more recent origin and therefore lack the

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history that is associated with IFFI. The festival in Tokyo was launched in 1985, the one in Shanghai began in 1993 and the Busan Film Festival came into being in 1996. The central government-mandated Indian festival, which was hitherto held under the aegis of the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), a wing of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, has acquired fresh momentum since the introduction of signiﬁcant changes in 2011, including the setting up of an IFFI Directorate tasked speciﬁcally with the conduct of the event.

The annual festival now hands out prize money to the tune of US$ 200,000. The winner of the Golden Peacock for the best ﬁlm takes home $80,000. That apart, the best director and the Special Jury Prize winner bag $30,000 each, while the two acting prizes come with a cash component of $20,000 each. IFFI also confers two Lifetime Achievement Awards – one to an international ﬁlm personality, the other to an Indian great. In 2013, these awards went to Czech LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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The prize money of 2,00,000 USD is one of the biggest attractions for IFFI. It is higher than the money given away at Busan, Tokyo and other signiﬁcant ﬁlm festivals of Asia.

IFFI promotes entries from countries where making a ﬁlm is a huge challenge due to the nonexistence of a ﬁlm industry: places like Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Palestine, etc

In 2011, IFFI revived the Lifetime Achievement Award which was last given during 34th IFFI.

The focus on regular Master Classes by key technicians has been the norm at IFFI since 2011. Some of the personalities who conducted the master classes are Agnieszka Holland (One of Poland’s most eminent ﬁlmmakers), Jacek Patrycki (BAFTA winner), Susan Sarandon (Academy Award winner), Hugh Welchman (Academy Award winner), Franz Pagot (Member of the Guild of British Camera Technicians), Susanne Bier (Oscar Winner), Max Howard, Milcho Manchevski (Oscar Nominee), etc.

An IFFI logo ﬁlm was made in 2D as well as 3D.

For the ﬁrst time, an eminent art director like Thotta Tharani designed the entire creatives of IFFI (2011). This has successfully been repeated with different art directors in subsequent Festivals.

New sections were added in 2011 like Festival Kaleidoscope, Documentaries, 3D, Animation. During 44th IFFI, “Focus North East Cinema” was added to put the spotlight on regional ﬁlms.

IFFI has been constantly engaging ﬁlm and media students from Pune, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi in professionally and creatively organizing the festival.

Since 2011, the presence of world renowned ﬁlm personalities has risen appreciably. In the last three years, IFFI has been graced by Hugh Welchman, Luc Besson, Phil Noyce, Krzysztof Zanussi, Kim Ki Duk, Paul Cox, Michael Winterbottom, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Yeoh, Atiq Rahimi, Jiri Menzel and even Majid Majidi.

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IFFI is the most happening event on the Indian calendar. The long time period gives filmmakers and film enthusiasts the opportunity to engage in cinema and filmmaking for a considerable amount of time every year.

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Could any ﬁlm festival venue be more inviting than salubrious Goa? No two ways about it: the hospitable Indian state with some of the world’s ﬁnest beaches is the place to entertainment be on thebizlast www.picklemag.in 34 pickle guidedays of November LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

auteur Jiri Menzel and veteran Indian actress Waheeda Rehman. This year IFFI will be formally represented in the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) by its Director, Shankar Mohan, and two senior DFF functionaries. They will man the official Indian booth in the Toronto Film Market. The moves to push IFFI up a few notches have unfolded since the coastal state of Goa became its permanent venue in 2004. IFFI now has a far more settled feel than ever before, with each improvement in terms of infrastructure and programming initiatives adding value to both the event and the location. On the programming side, IFFI not only unveils the best films from around the multilingual country with the aim of providing a glimpse of the sheer range and dynamism of Indian cinema, it also puts together a remarkable slate of brand new world cinema titles. IFFI also hosts many retrospectives, tributes, master classes and special sections, which enhance the variety and depth of the event. The master classes have emerged as a highlight of the festival, especially from the standpoint of film school students who converge in Goa during the ten-day event. The upcoming 45th International Film Festival of India (November 20 to 30, 2014) promises to be just as exciting and wide-ranging as any of the editions that have gone before. This year China has been chosen as the festival’s Focus Country and delegates can expect a full- edged spread of films from the world’s most populous nation that is also currently as exciting a filmmaking center as any other. India’s first international film festival was organized within five years of the nation attaining Independence. It was a noncompetitive event held in 1952 in Bombay (Now Mumbai). A special feature of the inaugural function was the screening of the first film screened in India in 1896 by the Lumiere brothers. Frank Capra was part of the American delegation that at-

tended the festival. After a fortnight-long run in Bombay, the festival travelled to Calcutta (now Kolkata), Madras (now Chennai) and Delhi. The first international film festival of India is rightfully credited with triggering a burst of creativity in Indian cinema by exposing young Indian filmmakers to the best from around the world, especially to Italian neo-realism. It isn’t without significance that Satyajit Ray’s first film, Pather Panchali, was completed in 1955, and Bimal Roy’s classic Hindi film, Do Bigha Zameen, was released in 1953. IFFI continues to provide a useful platform to young Indian filmmakers who work outside the mainstream distribution and exhibition system and in languages that do not have access to the panIndian market that Hindi cinema has. The Indian Panorama, a section that is made up of both features and nonfeatures, opens global avenues for films made by veterans and newcomers alike. It wasn’t until 1961 that the second edition of the festival, also non-competitive and hosted by Delhi, was mounted, but the idea of an itinerant festival had been sown. In 1965, the year of its third edition, the festival secured ‘A’ category grading from the Paris-based FIAPF (Federation Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films), which brought it on par with the world’s biggest festivals in Venice, Cannes, Berlin, Moscow and Karlovy Vary. For three decades from the mid-1970s, the festival was held every alternate year in the national capital of Delhi, with other Indian cities – Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram – taking turns to host the event every other year. IFFI now has a permanent home. Could any film festival venue be more inviting than salubrious Goa? No two ways about it: the hospitable Indian state with some of the world’s finest beaches is the place to be on the last days of November.

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IFFI IS POISED TO MAKE A BIG LEAP Shankar Mohan, in his fourth year as Director, International Film Festival of India, spells out the salient features that make Asia’s oldest film festival tick Shankar Mohan Director, DFF & IFFI What to your mind is the unique selling proposition of IFFI in relation to the other major film festivals in Asia – Busan, Tokyo, Hong Kong etc? What is it that sets it apart? Since 1952 International Film Festival of India has been a pioneer in Asia in celebrating and awarding excellence in the craft of cinema. With more than four decades of experience, IFFI has played a major role in shaping the film scenario and the industry in not only India but in the whole of Asia. To keep up with the challenging times, IFFI transformed itself in the year 2011. The approach and the vision were to make the festival much more accessible, people-friendly and popular. The foundation was already laid; the time was perfect to take IFFI a step further in making it a world-class film festival. As the Director of IFFI, what is it that you look for in the films that you select? The search for breakthrough films in the idiom of cinema and its technology: that’s the challenge each year, and that’s

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the angst for all of us at the festival. The nature of movies is all about visually narrating your story. But in life, if we look around us, a fresh screenplay unfolds each day. And what the movies do is replicate that, or innovate upon that. But the whole point here is how well it is done. And that’s where the style or manner of narration matters, followed by the technology that is used for that narration. Our search therefore, every year, is to find the most amazing stories presented in the most engrossing, exciting and unusual manner. To what extent does IFFI collaborate with TIFF, Cannes, Berlin and the other major film festivals of the world, especially in terms of titles and film packages? Being in the film festival arena, it’s essential to update oneself on the major and important film festivals of the world. Berlin and Cannes both take place before IFFI and through them we get a lot of information on the upcoming crop of World cinema. This results in curating some of the key films for IFFI through our cura-

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What steps does IFFI adopt on an annual basis to retain its preeminent position among film festivals on the Asian continent? π The primary goal of IFFI is to constantly make every edition better and more enriching than the previous one. All attempts are made to ensure that the quality of films showcased in the festival are of premium value. The selection procedure for the awards is done on the highest of benchmarks by a jury of film professionals and technicians. π IFFI places a lot of emphasis on the various regional cinemas within India and promotes outstanding films, documentaries, technical master classes and new cinematic technologies, young filmmakers and independent films. For many filmmakers, it is the first ight forward into the dizzy heights of international cinema. π Each year, IFFI is setting new parameters with regard to its technical standards of sound and projection and the entire experience of watching a movie. π Above all, the infrastructure of IFFI in Goa has constantly been upgraded. The popularity of IFFI can be gauged by the sudden and consistent increase of delegates each year who attend the festival.

tors who are spread all over the world and are in touch with these major ﬁlm festivals. Can we expect any major changes in terms of overall approach and programming in the upcoming edition of IFFI? The overall programming of the festival is very organized and in spite of the challenges posed by digital technology, we fortunately have not had any mishap or ﬁlm cancellations. The pattern for IFFI 2014

The cast and crew of Afghanistan Film A Man’s Desire for Fifth Wife on the Red carpet at the 44th India International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2013). The Director, International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Shri Shankar Mohan is also seen

will be very much like the previous edition. There has also been introspection on reducing the number of films owing to the growing number of delegates which necessarily demands repeat screenings of the films particularly in the competition and non-competition sections. Also we will focus more on having a wider participation from the international directors, will also have famous and credible people for the master classes. We are expecting more attendees from the last time and upgrading the infrastructure for a great experience. What are the major retrospectives that you are planning this year? It is too early to declare as we are right now in the initial stages of film selection. But as China is our Country Focus this year, you can expect some of the finest modern films from the neighboring country. Are you in a position to reveal the names of the major international personalities that you are planning to invite this year? This is also too early to declare as we are in the initial stages of finalizing the festival details. We want to invite some of the great film personalities this year but a lot depends on their availability. So we won’t be able to say anything on this right now. But let me just say that you will be in for some really good surprises.

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We chose Goa as the permanent place for IFFI in 2004. This year is the 10th year and the experience has been very good so far. Goa is a fun and a happening place to be and we wanted cinephiles to not only enjoy the films but also the serene atmosphere of the location Indian Panorama has for long been, particularly for foreign delegates, the centerpiece of IFFI. Is there any move afoot to make it even more relevant and rewarding for those that come to India looking for good cinema from the subcontinent? Indian Panorama showcases the finest upcoming Indian films, which generates a lot of interest among cinephiles from the sub-continent. As Indian films are screened throughout the world, foreign delegates too are keen to see these films. Hence the Panorama is not only for the foreign delegates. This year the Panorama films travelled to six cities in India where independent Panorama festivals were conducted and they were hugely popular. The filmmakers themselves were surprised at the huge popularity the Panorama films were commanding and the scope of the cities varied from Shillong in the North East to Trivandrum in Kerala. What is your take on the viability of Goa as the venue of IFFI? We chose Goa as the permanent place for IFFI in 2004. This year is the 10th year and the experience has been very good so far. Goa is a fun and a happening place to be and we wanted cinephiles to not only enjoy the films but also the serene atmosphere of the location. Above all the co-

operation from the Goa Govt. has been immense in making IFFI a hit year after year. It is because of their determined efforts that we manage this huge event with ease. The focus of many of the major international film festivals these days seems to be on star-studded Bollywood titles. Do you think IFFI can play a role in swinging the balance back a little to the work of non-mainstream Indian filmmakers, both established and new? IFFI has always focused on good cinema, in fact on excellence in cinematic arts. Whether the film is mainstream or non-mainstream we try our best to include it in the festival if it’s a significant film. IFFI has not been a populist film festival by trying to focus only on Bollywood. Bollywood is a part of our festival but we have always given importance and space to new, independent and non-mainstream filmmakers. What will be the focus countries at IFFI this year? Great, cult, outstanding cinema from all the over the world will be a part of IFFI 2014. But China will be our Country-InFocus for this year.

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My impressions of IFFI were simply wonderful! The whole event was very rich and extremely well organized, and I felt very lucky and grateful to be there. This is a truly big festival with amazing choice of films, but although large in size it feels intimate and it is very easy to «navigate». The location is great and the fact that everything is in the same place makes it easy to attend screenings and meet people, and I relished that feeling of being part of it, belonging to IFFI. I had the chance to see some excellent and rare films, and indeed many Asian films, including Indian, which I don’t get to see back home.

You had a broad selection of movies and trying to watch 3 movies per day I enjoyed many of them. It was a big number of movies you played out and I missed a lot though, I can’t imagine what you went through to organize all this... –Zaphiris Epaminondas, DoP Greece

–-Andrew Worsdale, Filmmaker, South Africa

IFFI Delegate Voices I had a wonderful time at IFFI in Goa. The friendly atmosphere and generous hospitality made it one of my best festival experiences ever. One important aspect is that it was easy to meet other guests and delegates, at the festival center, at the hotel or at the many well-organized parties. The ﬁlm screenings were technically very good and well attended.

Although there are many international ﬁlm festivals of India now, IFFI still retains its pre-eminent status. It has set up the benchmark –Anil Zankar, Film Academician, India

–Max Andersson, Filmmaker, Animator, Sweden

The venue was ﬁlled with engaging seminars and information. Goan hospitality is no exaggeration and I felt honoured and valued as a ﬁlm artist by the royal treatment I received. –Calvin Climie Filmmaker

Goa as the venue of the event is a very impressive combination in terms of quality and uniqueness. In my view, the indescribable harmony, professional approach, positive attitude and high quality services are concentrated there. –Naira Margaryan Jury, Vasudha Award Competition Armenia

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It was a very special and memorable experience for us, of course, as we won the best ﬁlm award. It was a great honour to win at IFFI which has such a long history –Luigi Acquisto, Filmmaker, Australia, East Timor

IFFI Goa is the most prestigious festival in India. The whole objective is to encourage a new outlook, to help enterprise and, overall, provide an exciting experience. IIFI is a festival which takes place keeping in mind the local ﬂavour. India is a major ﬁlm producing country -A K Bir, Filmmaker I had the most wond e r f u l time at your festival. It was truly a highlight of my year and one of the best festivals I have been to yet.

Goa film Festival is probably the strongest experience I had as a jury member, as a film maker showing one of my film with terrible shyness and as a person meeting other persons in this extremely interesting part of India not like ordinary tourists but as part of the Cinema of the world –Claire Denis, Filmmaker, France

–Ariana Delawari, Filmmaker, Musician, USA

The small enclave of Goa is a hub that blends ideas (and architecture) from many cultures – Indian, European and others. That makes it an ideal platform for staging an international ﬁlm festival. –Michael Buckley Filmmaker Canada

I have always loved India. This country was just as beautiful, interesting and sensuous as I had imagined. I am incredibly grateful to this festival for inviting ‘In a Better World’. Thank you to the jury for the Best Director award. I could not be more honoured, happy and proud. –Susanne Bier Filmmaker Denmark

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Buddhadeb Dasgupta Filmmaker

IFFI promotes a wide variety of Indian cinema

he International Film Festival of India has been serving its principal purpose with great distinction. It does a great deal to promote a wide variety of Indian cinema. This has been happening from day one – it helps our films attract international attention. If not enough Indian films are being programmed by the major festivals of the world, I do not think the fault lies with IFFI. It is just that the non-mainstream films that are being made in India these days are not of the greatest quality. Mediocrity has taken over Indian cinema. There is nothing that IFFI can do about it. The festival can only showcase the films that are available. Not enough good work is happening in Indian cinema. The government policy on cinema is still not clear. No concerted attempt is made to promote Indian cinema at international events. Look at the way Iran, Taiwan, Turkey and China promote their cinema at festivals. They go all out. I can give you an example. When Jafar Panahi’s Dayereh (The Circle) won the Golden Lion at the 57th Venice Film Festival 2000, my film Uttara (The Wrestlers) won the Special Director Prize. While the Iranians went all out to felicitate their filmmaker for the win, there were no officials from India to celebrate my prize. That is how it has always been. Indian filmmakers are largely left to their own devices to find their way around.

who has both commitment and understanding. That makes a difference. IFFI is doing a great job of providing a platform especially to Indian filmmakers who need support to get their films seen by a wider audience. In the climate that non-Bollywood directors operate today, IFFI’s contribution to the cause of cinema that isn’t produced only to make profits cannot be overestimated.

IFFI IS DOING A GREAT JOB OF PROVIDING A PLATFORM ESPECIALLY TO INDIAN FILMMAKERS WHO NEED SUPPORT TO GET THEIR FILMS SEEN BY A WIDER AUDIENCE

IFFI plays a very important role in making amends. Today, it is headed by a man

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Shaji Karun Filmmaker

The aim of IFFI is to empower ﬁlm-makers and to help them identify who they are and what they want to do.

ilmmakers like me have great faith in the International Film Festival of India. We take it very seriously because it is the only event of its kind that brings together all the states of India and captures the diversity of the country. In the past, the festival used to be headed by bureaucrats but for the last few years it is in the hands of a professional who understands the medium and recognizes what the principal purpose of IFFI is. When IFFI isn’t run on the right lines, non-mainstream filmmakers like us are the ones that are worst affected. Cinema is one medium that binds India and that is what IFFI should be re ecting. Its focus should never be on the stars but on the makers of films, especially the younger ones, the ones that need support in order to reach out. More money should be allocated to IFFI so that it can invite more foreign delegates. This will help Indian cinema – it is important to improve the global visibility of all kinds of films made in this country. Only when more and more programmers and critics from abroad attend the event will more Indian films be picked up for international festivals with greater regularity. At the moment, there are two watertight compartments – IFFI and Film Bazaar. There needs to be synergy between the two. This will lead to a more meaningful exchange of buyers and journalists. The Busan Film Festival, which isn’t half as old as IFFI, has already achieved this goal.

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One step that is absolutely essential is the setting up of a full- edged festival complex in Goa, the permanent venue of IFFI. Besides bringing a wide variety of world cinema to audiences in India, IFFI’s principal focus should be on the Indian Panorama. The section serves to remind the world that Indian cinema isn’t just Mumbai cinema. Unfortunately, in recent years, the National Film Development Corporation has pushed Bollywood to the forefront at the expense of ﬁlmmakers from other parts of India. If you do not make ﬁlms in Hindi, you do not stand a chance of being promoted. This scenario needs to change.

WE HAVE SEEN A LOT OF FOREIGN TOURISTS COMING TO INDIA AS THEY ARE ATTRACTED TOWARDS THE RICH CULTURE OF THE COUNTRY. OUR AIM IS TO SPREAD THAT MESSAGE LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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ADOOR GOPALAKRISHNAN Filmmaker

The festival has improved perceptibly over the past three years, reversing two decades of decline. IFFI now looks truly international. The quality of the ﬁlms has got better and the prestige and proﬁle of the festival is on the rise.

GIRISH KASARAVALLI Filmmaker

IFFI serves a crucial purpose -- it brings together cinema from every corner of India. In the normal course, it would be difﬁcult to grasp the complexity of Indian ﬁlms because there is so much variety on show. Kannada cinema is distinct from Manipuri cinema. Similarly, Marathi cinema has little in common with Malayalam cinema. Only at IFFI can one savour the entire range and make some sense of what is going on in the different cinemas of India. 44

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PIC(K)S FROM INDIA

CONTENT BUYS FROM INDIA Buyers and distributors - check out these ﬁlm for sales and syndication at Toronto International Film Festival’s Industry Centre

HAIDER

SINGHAM RETURNS

DR CABBIE

Director: Vishal Bharadwaj International Sales: neha.kaul@disney.com

Director: Rohit Shetty International Sales: ken.naz@erosintl.com

Director: Jean-Francois Pouliot International Sales: ken.naz@erosintl.com

WHAT’S IT ABOUT UTV Motion Picture’s Haider is an upcoming Hindi ﬁlm written and directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. The ﬁlm is based on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and is set in Kashmir. It is the third installment of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Shakespearean trilogy after Maqbool (Macbeth) and Omkara (Othello). Shahid Kapoor is coproducing Haider along with Bhardwaj and UTV.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT Rohit Shetty’s Ajay Devgn starring ‘Singham Returns’ has become the second most successful film of the year 2014. The sequel to the 2011 film Singham, actor Ajay Devgan reprises his role from the previous film, as well as co-producing the project, while Kareena Kapoor Khan plays the female lead.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT Dr. Cabbie ﬁlm is directed by Jean-Francois Pouliot and co-produced by Bollywood actor Salman Khan.The story revolves around a newly arrived immigrant doctor in Canada who cannot get a job and is forced to become a taxi driver. He becomes a local hero when he converts his taxi into a mobile medical clinic.

DISNEY UTV INDIA

EROS INTERNATIONAL

BOMBAY VELVET Director: Anurag Kashyap International Sales: kanika.vasudeva@in.foxstarstudios.com

WHAT’S IT ABOUT Set against the jazz age of Mumbai, the story spans a period from the late 1940’s through to the 1970’s. Bombay Velvet is the story of the rise and fall of one boy Balraj who transforms into Karan, a gangster in Mumbai post Independence and on the verge of becoming a metropolis.

FOX STAR STUDIOS 46

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BANG BANG Director: Siddharth Anand International Sales: kanika.vasudeva@ in.foxstarstudios.com

WHAT’S IT ABOUT An unassuming bank receptionist Harleen Sahni’s (Katrina Kaif) simple, sedate life changes forever when she ﬁnds herself unwittingly involved in the affairs of Rajveer Nanda, a charming yet mysterious stranger after a chance encounter with him.

FOX STAR STUDIOS

DAAWAT-E-ISHQ (RECIPE FOR LOVE) Director: Habib Faisal International Sales: avtar@yashrajﬁlms.com WHAT’S IT ABOUT A deliciously romantic coming together of Gulrez ‘Gullu’ Qadir (Parineeti Chopra) a Hyderabadi shoe-sales girl disillusioned with love because of her encounters with dowryseeking men; and Tariq ‘Taru’ Haidar (Aditya Roy Kapoor) a Lucknowi cook who can charm anybody with the aroma and ﬂavours of his biryani and kebabs.

YASH RAJ FILMS

HAPPY NEW YEAR Director: Farah Khan Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani, Sonu Sood, Vivaan Shah Producer: Gauri Khan and Karim Morani (Red Chillies Entertainments Pvt Ltd) International Sales: avtar@yashrajﬁlms.com

MARDAANI (FEARLESS) Director: Pradeep Sarkar International Sales: avtar@yashrajﬁlms.com

WHAT’S IT ABOUT An action-packed musical heist

WHAT’S IT ABOUT Shivani Shivaji Roy is an astute cop working in a Mumbai Crime Branch unit. Deft at picking up hidden clues and fearless in confronting hardened criminals, Shivani stumbles on a case that will change her life forever.

YASH RAJ FILMS

FINDING FANNY FERNANDES Director: Homi Adajania International Sales: kanika.vasudeva@ in.foxstarstudios.com WHAT’S IT ABOUT Finding Fanny is an off the cuff, comical story about a bunch of oddballs who

venture out to ﬁnd Stefanie Fernandes (Fanny); in the process, they discover a strange sense of solace and love amongst each other, and end up seeing a point to their previously pointless lives.

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