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Open for Business Written by Shubhra Gupta | New Delhi | Updated: December 3, 2016 9:28 am

Before the red carpet rolls: AR Rahman was one of the prominent attendees at the Film Bazaar this year If there’s one event on the Indian film festival calendar I hate missing it is the Film Bazaar run by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).

This year, I almost didn’t make it because of a continuous press of deadlines. But it was the 10th year of the Bazaar, a significant number for an event that began on the sidelines of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which takes place annually in Goa. A decade deserves to be marked, especially because I happened to be in on it from its beginning.

I remember wandering into the Marriott (a few kilometres from the main venues of IFFI) in Goa years ago just to check out what the NFDC was up to. I had gone in expecting nothing, given its then abysmal state: I left with a sense of cautious optimism.

After producing a slate of terrific films in the ’70s and ’80s (Uski Roti, Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastan, 27 Down, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Mirch Masala, Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro, Ardh Satya, Party, Om-Dar-B-Dar, amongst so many others), and helping such filmmakers as Kundan Shah, Shyam Benegal, Ketan Mehta, Govind Nihalani get their films out, the NFDC had gone into a deep sarkari slump, where nothing seemed to work.

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Open for Business

Would this new step, a bazaar, inspired by some of the most productive film marts in the world, be the way forward?

In an ante-chamber, I found the newly-minted NFDC managing director Nina Lath Gupta deep in conversation with a small team. In the time it took me to corral her for a conversation, some of the prepping was already in place: stalls for participants, a registration desk which actually had people manning it, and a clear flow which showed what was to come in the next few days.

This clarity and speed, which came as a pleasant surprise to me — as a long-time trawler of film festivals in the country, I was resigned to the fact that something as basic as an accreditation badge could take a full day if you could find the people who were meant to issue it, in the first place — became something I came to take for granted in the following years.

More from the world of Entertainment: From a handful of participants 10 years ago, scattered on the back lawns of the Marriott, the Bazaar has now become a bustling, vast beehive of activity, where every inch of the space is taken over by directors, producers, sales agents, proponents of new technology (this year, the Virtual Reality room was an add-on), in the hope of lucking into the right person to take their project to the next level.

What the Bazaar does for anyone interested or involved in independent cinema in India and south Asia, is to offer them a platform which connects the various stakeholders. If you have a script, or a work-in-progress film, or a nearly-finished film that needs post-production funds, or you are looking for a co-producer who can help open up new markets, you may be able to find a match: in the labs which are mentored by top Indian and global talent, in the pitching sessions where you call attention to your project, in the Viewing Room where you can showcase your film to visiting agents and film festival programmers, in the makeshift theatres lined up next to the pool area, or simply listen in to the gyaan being dispensed during the panel discussions held daily. The networking spills over into the evening cocktails: why stop when you don’t have to?

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Film Spotting: A still from Sexy Durga That “development” is key to the creation of good cinema is something that’s easily forgotten, especially when we are surrounded by mainstream Bollywood, much of which seems to have sprouted from no or little thought. Some of the recent films which have caught attention and traction globally — Thithi, Court, Titli, The Lunchbox, Miss Lovely, Ship of Theseus, Qissa, Anhey Ghode Da Daan, Chauthi Koot — have all come out of the Film Bazaar at various points of their journey.

What I really look forward to —apart from meeting my band of passionate filmwallahs — is to get a peek into promising films which are ready, or almost ready, looking for release. And not necessarily in theatres: feisty young filmmakers like Sandeep Mohan (Hola Venky and Love, Wrinkle-Free) have taken their films directly to audiences in India and abroad, bypassing traditional distribution systems and stringent censorship. Or to the internet, the new Mecca for new cinema, via Amazon and Netflix.

Being able to spot exciting new cinematic voices is a big part of the attraction of the Film Bazaar. For me, this year’s pick is Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s disturbing and immersive Sexy Durga, about a couple on the run in the dead of night. It leaves us wondering, thinking, like all good films should.

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