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Sairat goes five ways Fandry director Nagraj Manjule’s Marathi feature Sairat is set for remakes in multiple Indian languages. Producer Zee Studios has partnered with White Hill for a Punjabi remake and with Rockline Venkatesh for remakes in all four South Indian languages. Pankaj Batra will direct the Punjabi remake, to shoot from December. The Kannada version is underway with Rinku Rajguru reprising her role. “The Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam versions of Sairat will follow. We are in discussion for a Hindi remake,” said Akash Chawla, executive vicepresident and business head of Zee Studios. In addition to a strong Marathi line up, Zee is now ramping up Punjabi film production and is backing Hindi-language films including Tadka, directed by Prakash Raj; and Tanuja Chandra’s as-yet-untitled romantic comedy starring Irrfan Khan. Harnessing its reach worldwide, Zee is moving into the overseas distribution space. “We already have distribution teams in the major markets like the UK, US, Middle East, Germany and Latin America. We have the expertise for those markets and are looking to leverage all distribution platforms — theatrical, digital, SVoD, cable and satellite,” said Chawla. Udita Jhunjhunwala
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Mehta plans Delhi pair BY WENDY MITCHELL
Siddharth and India In A Day director Richie Mehta is planning two projects to shoot in Delhi; financing will decide which shoots first. Feature A Last Life has Sienna Films (Canada) and Vivek Kajaria’s Holy Basil (India) producing, and backing from Telefilm Canada. The original script is about an elite family in Delhi whose heiress daughter has a relationship with the cook’s son, who is involved in an attack that further complicates their situation. To prove his innocence, she has to journey through parts of Delhi that open her eyes. “She goes from the mansion to the garbage dump, and she finally understands
Richie Mehta
where he comes from,” writer-director Mehta said. A Last Life will be in the style of 1950s and 1960s Indian musicals, he added. The film will be in English and Hindi, with the songs in languages including Hindi and Urdu. The other project is a TV series, as yet untitled, about police officers in Delhi. Mehta likens it to an Indian version of The Wire.
“It’s looking at law and order and understanding it from their point of view,” Mehta told Screen. “We have seen corruption stories; I want to tell the opposite.” New York-based Sleeping Giant Films is producing the series and the team is seeking an Indian co-producer. Mehta is collaborating with the Delhi police to base the scripts on real cases. The film-maker, who was born in Canada and lives in London, presented a masterclass at IFFI yesterday, and also screened India In A Day at the festival. That film — a collaboration between Scott Free, Google and Anurag Kashyap — is streaming for free on YouTube in India from today.
Sherwin Crasto
Chatterjee slams female stereotypes
Tannishtha Chatterjee on the Knowledge Series panel
Speaking on a panel on the changing dynamics of women protagonists in Indian cinema, actress Tannishtha Chatterjee (Parched ), emphasised the need for stories that break stereotypes. “We have to constantly tell stories that break patriarchal mindsets. One film alone will not revolutionise thoughts and ideas. It’s not just about the portrayal of women but also the way male characters view situations with women,” she said. Udita Jhunjhunwala
TODAY
VoD opportunities, page 14
PROFILES Hot projects Co-Production Market projects including a Taliban story and an animated folk tale » Page 10
FEATURE Demanding audience Indian video-on-demand is finally set for take-off » Page 14
International suitors court Boyfriend BY UDITA JHUNJHUNWALA
Miss Lovely director Ashim Ahluwalia’s next film, The Boyfriend, has attracted a crop of new co-producers: Mehernaz Lentin at Industry Pictures (Canada), Anand Ramayya at Karma Film (Canada), Laurent Lavolé at Gloria Films (France) and Jan van der Zanden and Ineke Kanters at Film Kitchen (Netherlands). “We have closed co-producers and it looks exciting. Pinaki Chatterjee and Anu Rangachar will be the Indian producers through Future East. I’m hoping we can start shooting in mid-2017,” said writer-director Ahluwalia, who is also finishing his Hindi-language film Daddy. The Boyfriend, which was at the Screenwriters’ Lab in 2014, is based on a book by R Raj Rao, about two social outcasts who embark on a forbidden love affair. Daddy, now in post, is about the life of notorious Mumbai gangster Arun Gawli. The cast features Arjun Rampal, Farhan Akhtar and Aishwarya Rajesh. “I was offered Daddy because of my somewhat gritty interests,” Ahluwalia said.
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Humara takes step into features Mumbai-based short-film platform HumaraMovie is moving into production of feature-length films, starting with comedydrama Reincarnation, written and directed by Gaurav Bakshi. Based on Bakshi’s 2012 short film of the same name, the feature tells the story of an old man who becomes famous when his fellow villagers think he is the reincarnation of Mahatma Gandhi. In addition to making short films, Bakshi worked as an assistant director on features including Love Khichdi. He is in talks with cast for his debut feature, which is scheduled to start shooting in early 2017. HumaraMovie head of operations Abhishek Gautam is attending Film Bazaar to find partners for the film. Founded in 2012 by Preety Ali, Pallavi Rohatgi and Vinay Mishra, HumaraMovie has produced around 400 shorts, which have attracted more than 100,000 subscribers and 50 million views. Its latest omnibus, Shor Se Shuruaat, includes segments mentored by Mira Nair, Shyam Benegal and Imtiaz Ali; it will be released theatrically on December 16. Gautam described HumaraMovie as a talent development initiative as well as a production company: “The intention was to make shorts with young directors to see what their styles and sensibilities are. Then we can grow together in this space.” Liz Shackleton
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Azmi: ‘Woo actors with the right roles’ BY LIZ SHACKLETON
When first-time directors a p p ro a c h e s t a b l i s h e d actors, they must convince them that they are right for the role and not just bringing finance or kudos to the project, actress Shabana Azmi said at the Producers’ Lab here at Film Bazaar yesterday. Azmi recently took the plunge with first-time feature director Piyush Panjuani for Idgah, an adaptation of Munshi Premchand’s short story, which is screening in Film Bazaar Recommends. She added the fact she knew the source material also helped. “I wasn’t convinced in the beginning but he persuaded me that he wanted me as an actor,” Azmi said. “Also he saw something that I could bring to the role that I hadn’t seen myself. The script has to be right but you also need perseverance.”
Shabana Azmi addresses the Producers’ Lab
Panjuani, who has a background in theatre and advertising, said it took him about five months to persuade Azmi to star in the film, which revolves around the relationship between a grandmother and her grandchild: “It’s important to give an actor time. She was very clear that she needed to see herself in the role.” Azmi said she was also convinced when Panjuani set up a “look test” to try out costumes and make-up, as well as taking her to see
locations for the Kashmirset tale. “I’m curious to work with new film-makers because I want to learn about the language of cinema as it’s being done today,” Azmi added. “The way it’s being shot, the mise-en-scene, is very different to the time when I was doing a lot of work.” Equus Films produced Idgah, which was selected for the Co-Production Market at Film Bazaar in 2010 and took part in the NFDC’s National Script Lab in 2014-15.
Anil Kapoor in Amazon’s New Things As Amazon prepares to launch Amazon Prime Video in India by the end of the year, the company has announced plans to shoot an original pilot based on Michel Faber’s The Book Of Strange New Things. The story follows a priest who is sent into space to help found a colony, Oasis, and finds his faith is tested. Anil Kapoor — the Indian superstar best known internationally for Slumdog Millionaire and 24 — will play the head of the base. Kevin Macdonald (The Last King Of Scotland ) will direct the one-hour pilot, which Matt Charman (Bridge Of Spies) will write and executive produce. The pilot is a co-production of Amazon Studios and the UK’s Left Bank Pictures. Andy Harries and Lila Rawlings of Left Bank are producing. Wendy Mitchell
FFO: Fundamentals first, then incentives BY WENDY MITCHELL
India should not rush into the ultra competitive world of film finance incentives, experts said at a Film Facilitation Office (FFO) workshop yesterday. “We’re not thinking about incentives right now, you’ve got to get the ground beneath your feet first,” said Vikramjit Roy, head of the recently launched FFO. “Once we create a film-friendly environment, the second step will be incentives. We don’t want to rush things.” Uday Singh, MD of the India chapter of the MPAA bemoaned the fact that even
Uday Singh
some Indian productions were leaving the country because “it’s cheaper to make films abroad”. In another example, UK TV show Indian Summers shot in Malaysia because of the country’s 30% incentive.
“It’s a competitive market,” Singh added, noting that India would never be able to match something like Fiji’s 47% rebate on local production spend. But Singh agreed with Roy that financial incentives are not everything. “There will always be locations that can offer a bigger incentive, but that’s fine. We can’t compete on incentive-based projects but we have every possible locale in this country, world-class crews and strong infrastructure.” Hong Kong-based producer and financier Philip Lee, who worked on The
Dark Knight and The Revenant, emphasised that “a rebate can be so important”. However he said even without a national incentive, “I have a good feeling about India; it’s the locations. There’s a certain kind of excitement about India for me to explore.” Swedish producer Malte Forssell, who recently shot in Delhi for SVT’s three-part TV mini-series The Most Beautiful Hands In Delhi, said that creative appeal was more important than incentives. “Content always decides where we can end up, that’s important.”
November 23, 2016 Screen International 5
Photographs by Sherwin Crasto
NEWS
EVENTS WEDNESDAY 23 10:30 KNOWLEDGE SERIES INVESTORS PITCH — FILM BAZAAR RECOMMENDS PART 2 Duration 2 hours Location Ballroom, Goa Marriott Resort The second set of 16 film-makers in Film Bazaar Recommends pitch their film trailers. 12:45 KNOWLEDGE SERIES OWNERSHIP OF THE FILM: THE CHAIN OF DOCUMENTS THAT A FINISHED FILM MUST HAVE Duration 45mins Location Ballroom
Goa Marriott Resort A film is both a creative and a financial collaboration. This session explores the process and legal documentation around content ownership. Speakers Madhu Gadodia, equity partner, Naik Naik & Company; Datta Dave, partner, Tulsea Pictures; Michael Henrichs, producer 13:00 LUNCH Duration 2 hours Location Waterfront,
Goa Marriott Resort Hosts Tamil Nadu Tourism and Filmcity Mumbai
6 Screen International at Film Bazaar November 23, 2016
14:00 KNOWLEDGE SERIES TECHNOLOGY CHANGING PRODUCTION LANDSCAPES Duration 30mins Location Ballroom, Marriott Goa Resort Cloud computing is revolutionising the industry. This session covers how film-makers can best manage dailies and post-production workflows. Speaker Ankur Jain, VP and head of salesAPAC, Prime Focus 14:45 KNOWLEDGE SERIES TECHNOLOGY IN
STORYTELLING FOR CINEMA Duration 30mins Location Ballroom, Marriott Goa Resort How immersive technology will shape the future of films. Speaker Avinash Changa, founder and CEO, WeMakeVR 15:30 KNOWLEDGE SERIES AANAND L RAI: SPICING UP THE URBANSCAPE IN MAINSTREAM FILMS Duration 1 hour Location Ballroom, Marriott Goa Resort A conversation with independent filmmaker Aanand L Rai. Speaker Aanand L Rai
16:45 KNOWLEDGE SERIES STORIES THAT ARE BEING TOLD IN REGIONAL AND SMALL-TOWN INDIA Duration 45mins Indian film-makers talk about their local stories — set in Maharashtra, Assam and Karnataka — that can connect with a larger audience. Speakers Filmmakers Nagraj Manjule, Bhaskar Hazarika and Raam Reddy 17:45 KNOWLEDGE SERIES CRAFTING THE LIVEIN-VR EXPERIENCE
Duration 45mins Location Ballroom,
Goa Marriott Resort Famed composer AR Rahman talks about his first foray into virtual reality with the Vande Mataram ‘Livein-VR’ Experience, and his further plans for immersive technology. Speakers AR Rahman, composer and producer; Nasreen Munni Kabir, author and film-maker 19:00 COCKTAILS Location North
Central Lawns, Goa Marriott Hosts QubeWire and Karnataka Chalachitra Academy
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SCREENINGS Edited by Paul Lindsell
» Screening times and venues are correct at the time of going to press but subject to alteration.
paullindsell@gmail.com
have on the children who witness them?
WEDNESDAY 23 09:45 HALF TICKET
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See box, right
SUNRISE (ARUNODAY) (India) 95mins. Dir: Partho SenGupta. Key cast: Adil Hussain, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Gulnaaz Ansari. Language: Marathi. A policeman searches for his kidnapped daughter in the seedy world of child trafficking.
SAIRAT (India) 174mins. Dir: Nagraj Manjule. Key cast: Rinku Rajguru, Akash Thosar, Arbaz Shaikh. Language: Marathi. College friends Archi and Parshya, a fisherman’s son and a local politician’s daughter, fall in love against the restrictions of caste hierarchy. Qube 2
10:00 AND WE CALL THIS LOVE (SATYAVATI) (India) 82mins. Dir: Deepthi Tadanki. Key cast: Sira Ushapp, Shwetha Gupta, Iti Acharya. Language: Hindi. A father’s love for his daughter is put to the test when he mistakenly thinks she is a lesbian. Qube 1
12:00 A FAR AFTERNOON: A PAINTED SAGA BY KRISHEN KHANNA (India) 71mins. Dir: Sruti Harihara Subramaniam. Key cast: Krishen Khanna, Ashvin Rajagopalan.
Editorial office Room 170 Goa Marriott Resort & Spa
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Qube 1
16:45
09:45 HALF TICKET (India) 114mins. Dir: Samit Kakkad. Key cast: Shubham More, Vinayak Potdar, Priyanka Bose. Language: Marathi. A story of the ‘have nots’ who struggle to survive in a world of ‘haves’. Qube 3
Language: English. Krishen Khanna is one of the most prolific painters in Indian art. Here is a film-maker’s attempt to memorialise the artistic process.
Qube 3
14:00
WITHIN (PAROKSH) (India) 12mins. Dir: Ganesh Shetty. Key cast: Amit Sial, Pooja Naik. Language: Tulu. A man’s simple forgetfulness leaves a family in horror.
CHHOTA BHEEM HIMALAYAN ADVENTURE (India) 96mins. Dir: Rajiv Chilaka. Key cast: Chhota Bheem, Chutki, Kalia, Dholu and Bholu, Jagu, Raju. Language: Hindi. Chhota Bheem is going to Manali with his friends, after Princess Indumati plans a trip of snow-filled fun.
Qube 1
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Asia editor Liz Shackleton lizshackleton@gmail.com Dailies news editor Wendy Mitchell wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com Reporter Udita Jhunjhunwala uditaj@gmail.com Production editor Mark Mowbray mark.mowbray@screendaily.com
MY POT OF GOLD (India) 56mins. Dir: Priyanka Tanwar. Key cast: Bharati Jaffrey, Sudeepta Singh, Srishti Rindani Ganguly. Languages: English, Hindi. A love triangle with a difference.
WHAT MAKES ALBERT PINTO ANGRY? (ALBERT PINTO KO GUSSA KYUN AATA HAI?) (India) 93mins. Dir: Soumitra Ranade. Key cast: Manav Kaul, Nandita Das, Saurabh Shukla. Language: Hindi. Albert epitomises the anger felt by the common man. He is angry with the ruling classes but he also
blames himself for being so powerless. Qube 2
15:00 WOYZECK (BOICHEK) (India) 85mins. Dir: Santosh Sivan. Key cast: Rupesh Tillu, Rajpal Yadav, Brijendra Kalra. Language: Hindi. A soldier is left powerless by society and cuckolded by his wife. Qube 3 Invitation only
16:00 RAINBOW FIELDS (XHOIXOBOTE DHEMALITE) (India) 89mins. Dir: Bidyut Kotoky. Key cast: Victor Banerjee, Nakul Vaid. Language: Assamese. What impact will riots
Photographer Sherwin Crasto sherwin@solarisimages.com Advertising Ingrid Hammond ingridhammond@mac.com Printer Anitha Art Printers, 29-30 Oasis Industrial Estate, Santacruz (East), Mumbai — 55 2665 2970, 2665 2954 printing@anitaprinters.com
NIMMO (India) 90mins. Dir: Rahul Shanklya. Key cast: Karan Dave, Anjali Patil, Aryan Mishra, Jinal Belani. Language: Hindi. A boy tries to become a man so his love for a girl is taken seriously. Qube 3
17:45 A BILLION COLOUR STORY (India) 115mins. Dir: Padmakumar Narasimhamurthy. Key cast: Gaurav Sharma, Vasuki Sunkavalli, Dhruva Padmakumar. Language: Hindi. A series of incidents test Little Hari Aziz’s faith in the secular fabric of India. Qube 2
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November 23, 2016 Screen International at Film Bazaar 7
Film Bazaar meet & greet Where Film Bazaar When November 21-22, 2016 Why Knowledge Series and cocktails courtesy of Telangana Tourism
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GUEST LIST
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Satya Raghavan of YouTube India at the Knowledge Series session ‘Google YouTube — Building Communities and Icons’
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Orly Ravid of The Film Collaborative takes part in the Knowledge Series session ‘VoD as the key distribution platform for Indies’
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Queen producer Vivek Agrawal during the Knowledge Series session ‘Queen’s Journey — Filming in the Netherlands’
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Marten Rabarts, Eye International and Meenakshi Shedde, consultant to the Berlinale, at Film Bazaar cocktails hosted by Telangana Tourism
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Rohena Gera and Brice Poisson, Inkpot Films; Thierry Lenouvel, Ciné-Sud Promotion; and editor Jacques Comets
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Piyush Panjuani and Dhruv Panjuani, Equus; and film-maker Gyan Correa
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Thouly Dosios, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, and film-maker Shikha Makan
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Petr Keller, Starlite Pictures, and Shona Urvashi, PLA Entertainment
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Nasreen Munni Kabir, Hyphen Films, and Marco Müller, festival organiser
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10 Damon D’Oliveira, Conquering Lion Productions; Judy Holm, Markham Street Films; and Richie Mehta, film-maker 11
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Kaizad Gustad, Adda Media; Sanjay Bhutiani, Red Carpet Moving Images; and Trisha Gupta, journalist
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November 23, 2016 Screen International at Film Bazaar 9
Sherwin Crasto
FILM BAZAAR IN PICTURES
PROJECT PROFILES CO-PRODUCTION MARKET
CO-PRODUCTION MARKET
Bhonsle (India)
The Cineaste (Netherlands)
Director Devashish Makhija
Director Aboozar Amini
Language Hindi
Language Farsi
Writer-director Devashish Makhija is again exploring the character of a policeman in his feature project Bhonsle, following his short film Taandav, which starred Manoj Bajpayee as a cop. The actor is lined up to star in this feature, which follows a policeman who pines to get his job back despite facing retirement, failing health and a sociopolitical controversy that threatens to disrupt the tenement building where he lives. “What makes Bhonsle stand out is the political background of the migrant conflict that plagues a cosmopolitan city like Mumbai. It focuses on a sense of justice and dignity,” says producer Piiyush Singh. The film will be produced by VoD platform Muvizz.com and Bajpayee’s production outfit Manoj Bajpayee Productions, which jointly produced Taandav. Muvizz. com, which was launched by Bajpayee, Singh and Singapore-based entrepreneur Abhayanand Singh,
curates and streams classic and new independent films, and also produces features and shorts. Makhija began his career as a researcher and assistant on Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday and has written several screenplays, including Avik Mukherjee’s Bhoomi and Anurag Kashyap’s Doga. In addition to Tandaav, he has written and directed shorts Don’t Cry for Rahim Le Cock, El’ayichi, Agli Baar and Absent, as well as Hindi and Oriyalanguage feature Oonga (2013). Bhonsle is currently being cast and is scheduled to shoot in Pune and Mumbai during monsoon season. “We are seeking funding and resources from other co-producers at Film Bazaar,” says Singh. Muvizz.com has also produced Hindi feature Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai, documentaries and web series for digital platforms. Manoj Bajpayee Productions coproduced feature Missing. Udita Jhunjhunwala
The Cineaste tells the story of a man who goes against the Taliban’s ban on arts and culture by operating a screening room to show films from his collection. When he is caught, the Taliban let him live, under one condition: that he must show them a new film every day. The story takes place near Afghanistan’s Buddhas of Bamiyan, where director Aboozar Amini was born. “The film asks the question about what we have achieved with the huge amount of investment and the lives of soldiers sent to Afghanistan,” Amini says. “Would Afghanistan become a better place if the money and manpower were invested in culture? Can the power of cinema change the Taliban and history? The film is an ode to human civilisation.” The story is based on the novel The Cineaste Of The Silver Town by Danish-Afghan writer Asef Soltanzadeh, who is co-writing the screenplay with Amini. The project
was picked for Locarno’s Open Doors earlier this year. Amini divides his time between Kabul and Amsterdam, and his Afghan origin plays an important role in his work despite having moved to the Netherlands at a young age. KabulTehranKabul, his graduation film at Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, won a Documentary Wildcard award from the Dutch Film Fund in 2010. Angelus Novus, his MA graduation film at The London Film School, premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam last year (the festival commissioned his latest short, Where Is Kurdistan?). His short films were all produced by China-born Dutch producer Jia Zhao, who co-founded Silk Road Film Salon with Amini. Dutch producer Joost de Vries, the co-founder of Lemming Film, is also on board this new project. Silvia Wong
Bhonsle
The Cineaste
Producer Piiyush Singh Production companies Muvizz.com, Manoj Bajpayee Productions Budget $606,000 ($151,500 raised to date) Contact Piiyush Singh piiyushemail@gmail.com, piiyush@muvizz.com
Producer Jia Zhao, Joost de Vries Production company Silk Road Film Salon Budget $1.6m ($320,000 raised to date) Contact Jia Zhao jia@silkroadfilmsalon.com
10 Screen International at Film Bazaar November 23, 2016
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» Bhonsle p10 » The Cineaste p10 » Man From Kabul p11
CO-PRODUCTION MARKET
» The Dragonfly p11 » Season Of Dragonflies p12 » Punyakoti p12
CO-PRODUCTION MARKET
Man From Kabul (India)
The Dragonfly (India)
Director Soumitra Ranade
Director Bishnu Dev Halder
Language Hindi
Language Hindi
Man From Kabul (Kabuliwala) is based on celebrated Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore’s short story about a young girl and her unlikely friendship with an Afghan dry-fruit seller who is also a refugee. Circumstances separate the pair for 15 years but the girl learns about his tragic life when they reunite. “Although written in 1892, the story is extremely relevant today. That’s why we thought of remaking it and are presenting it primarily as a children’s film,” says director Soumitra Ranade. The animated film will be the second adaptation of the story produced by Sunil Doshi’s Handmade Films, following liveaction feature The Bioscopewala, directed by Deb Medhekar, which is in post and selected for Film Bazaar Recommends. “The themes of the story, including loss of identity and displacement, are as relevant today as they were then. More so with the current refugee crisis around the world,” says Doshi.
Ranade, who lived in Kabul as a teenager, adds: “When we address an entirely new audience, we have to make sure it is contemporary, not just in thought and context but also in the way the story is told. That’s why we decided to make it an animation. It also allows us to reach a level of fantasy and magic that elevates the viewing experience.” Ranade’s production company Paperboat Design Studios will lead the animation process. He directed and produced children’s feature Jajantaram Mamantaram (2003), as well as several children’s TV series. Ranade also directed liveaction remake Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai. In pre-production, Kabuliwala won a $15,500 script development award from the Asia Pacific Screen Awards Academy Children’s Film Fund in 2014 and was selected for NFDC Children’s Screenwriters’ Lab in 2015. Udita Jhunjhunwala
Documentary film-maker Bishnu Dev Halder has chosen a subject he knows well for his first narrative film The Dragonfly (Ram Ji Ka Ghoda), which he says “depicts real-life experiences from my childhood”. The coming-of-age story follows a free-spirited 10-year-old village boy who finds himself in the confinement of a regimental military boarding school following his mother’s death and his father’s remarriage. The story is set in east India, and the filming locations include Jharkhand, Bengal and Odisha, where Halder himself attended a military boarding school. Manish Chaudhari will play a strict hostel superintendent. The project was selected for the second edition of the DrishyamSundance Screenwriters’ Lab, which was held in Rajasthan in April, as well as for Cinekid’s Junior Co-production Market in Amsterdam in October. It will be
produced by Halder’s Mumbaibased production company Courtyard Entertainment (formerly Bee Pee Motion Pictures). Halder’s credits include several documentaries. He says all of these, like his debut feature, are “character-driven, with personal stories from the time and lives around me, subjects that are well known to me”. Bagher Bachcha, the student documentary he made while studying at Kolkata’s Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, won a National Film Award for best nonfeature film on social issues in 2007. His first feature documentary I Was Born In Delhi, a co-production with Japan’s NHK, was nominated for best first appearance at IDFA in 2011. Further credits include documentary Blocks Of Green, which was the recipient of the 2010 UK Environment Film Fellowship, documentary The Diary Of A Refugee and short Pratyabartan. Silvia Wong
Man From Kabul
The Dragonfly
Producer Sunil Doshi Production company Handmade Films Budget $2.5m ($450,000 raised to date) Contact Sunil Doshi sunil.doshi@mac.com
Producer Bishnu Dev Halder Production company Courtyard Entertainment Budget $550,000 ($150,000 raised to date) Contact Bishnu Dev Halder bishnu@courtyard.net.in
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November 23, 2016 Screen International at Film Bazaar 11
PROFILES CO-PRODUCTION MARKET
CO-PRODUCTION MARKET
CO-PRODUCTION MARKET
Season Of Dragonflies (Nepal)
Punyakoti (India)
Director Abinash Bikram Shah
Director Ravi Shankar
Languages Nepali, Newari
Language Sanskrit
Kathmandu-based writer and director Abinash Bikram Shah has written feature films including Deepak Rauniyar’s Highway (2012) and Min Bahadur Bham’s The Black Hen (2015). He has also participated in Busan’s Asian Film Academy and the Berlinale Talent Campus and directed short films such as Time Is… Perhaps and I Am Happy. He describes his latest directorial project, Season Of Dragonflies (Jhyalincha), as a deeply personal story inspired by the experiences of a female cousin and his concerns for the status of women in Nepali society. “I wanted to understand the definition of a ‘woman’ in contemporary Nepali society; to examine the predesigned roles she is expected to play,” explains Shah. “But beyond that, I also wanted to explore my cousin’s yearning, angst, confusion, flaws and her rediscovery. Because of that, Season Of Dragonflies is an emotional
tale of hope, acceptance and awakening.” The film revolves around a strong and lively woman who has survived breast cancer. Living in a make-do shelter after a devastating earthquake, she is faced with a dilemma: use her savings to build a house for her family or get a breast implant to win back her estranged husband. The Black Hen, which took the best film prize in Critics’ Week at Venice in 2015, was produced by Nepal-based Shooney Films and France’s Catherine Dussart Productions. Both companies are on board Season Of Dragonflies, along with Nepal-based Icefall Productions and Germany’s Die Gesellschaft DGS, which will co-produce. The film is at the script development and funding stage. Shah hopes to find Indian, Chinese and US producers, as well as to meet festival delegates and distributors at Film Bazaar. Udita Jhunjhunwala
Season Of Dragonflies Prods Ram Krishna Pokharel, Min Bahadur Bham, Catherine Dussart, Michael Henrichs Prod companies Icefall Productions, Shooney Films, Catherine Dussart Productions, Die Gesellschaft DGS Budget $490,000 ($142,000 raised to date) Contact Ram Krishna Pokharel rkpnepal75@gmail.com
12 Screen International at Film Bazaar November 23, 2016
Ravi Shankar is a pioneer in the animation and multimedia arena, having made the first Indian folklore CD-ROM in 1995. He is also a children’s picture-book author, with writing credits including Punyakoti, on which his animated film of the same name is based. Punyakoti, a rare animation project at Film Bazaar, is about a hungry tiger and a gentle cow named Punyakoti that speaks the truth at all times. The tale is derived from a popular folk song in south India. “I have imagined the circumstances leading to the encounter of the animals and interwoven it with a message about conserving natural habitats,” says Shankar of his first film project. He has chosen to use the ancient Sanskrit language for the feature. “It’s one of the most scientifically structured languages and the mother of all Indo-Germanic languages including English. It con-
nects us with the deeper levels of our own culture spanning over 5,000 years,” says Shankar. “Punyakoti is a small contribution to the next generation who may want to discover Sanskrit as a language not confined to intellectual or philosophical discourses.” The voice cast includes Roger Narayan, SR Leela and multipleNational Award winner Revathi Menon, who will voice Punyakoti. Crew includes award-winning editor Manoj Kannoth and music maestro Ilaiyaraaja, who was honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the International Film Festival of India in Goa last year. Punyakoti has been in production since April and the film-makers will have a first clip ready for viewing here at Film Bazaar. Producer Puppetica Media is a new Chennai-based production outfit established by Shankar and his wife Sindhu SK. Silvia Wong
Punyakoti Producer Sindhu SK Production company Puppetica Media Budget TBC ($80,000 raised to date) Contact Sindhu SK sindhuweb@gmail.com
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VOD SPOTLIGHT
India
on demand
India is on the brink of a streaming revolution, with international players joining a host of local platforms. But can anyone make money in this complex and crowded market? Liz Shackleton reports
O
n September 5, India entered a new stage in its digital evolution with the launch of Reliance Jio, a 4G mobile internet service that bundles calls, data and video content in one of the cheapest packages that Indian consumers have ever seen. Launched by Mukesh Ambani (brother of Amblin Partners backer Anil Ambani) with investment of $22bn, the service promises to bring affordable data plans and a wide range of content — including movies, music, catch-up TV and live sports — to a mass audience in a market that has been lagging behind in the streaming revolution because of its slow internet speeds. Speaking at the FICCI Frames conference in Mumbai in March, Ambani observed that India ranks 150 out of 230 countries in terms of mobile internet connectivity. “We have a responsibility to digitally empower India, to end this digital poverty,” Ambani said in a
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rousing speech. “1.3 billion Indians cannot be left behind as the world enters a new era.” Of course, Ambani is not the only person attempting to end India’s digital poverty. Prime minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India campaign is designed to increase broadband and mobile connectivity across the country, including in rural areas, while Jio’s telco rivals Airtel, Vodafone and Idea are also rolling out 4G services and exploring content offerings. As a result, the country’s digital infrastructure is slowly improving; but as most Indians access the internet through low-cost smartphones rather than computers, the future of streaming is likely to be mobile. By 2020, India will have 825 million internet users, compared to 330 million in 2015, according to the annual KPMG-FICCI report, but more than 790 million of those connections will be wireless.
As most users will be glued to smaller screens, rather than smart TVs in the living room, this will influence the kind of content they consume.
Streaming giants
‘We have thousands of movies on YouTube being played every day’ Satya Raghavan, YouTube India
It’s into this evolving but complex landscape that both Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are plunging headfirst this year. Netflix made its Indian debut in January, as part of a rollout in 130 countries, and has been buying up Bollywood films and indie content, including Q’s Sundance title Brahman Naman. It is also producing a TV series adapted from Vikram Chandra’s novel Sacred Games with Mumbai-based Phantom Films, and recently hired Indian producer Swati Shetty to oversee production and acquisition of original content, based out of Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Amazon recently announced a slew of licensing deals with Bollywood producers Dharma »
November 23, 2016 Screen International at Film Bazaar 13
and ahead of their TV premiere. India’s satellite broadcasters are powerful and tend to buy out ancillary rights to Indian movies on a global basis. But according to the KPMG-FICCI report: “For films, digital rights are currently sold bundled with the TV rights — however digital is expected to soon emerge as an independent revenue stream.”
Converting to pay
Reliance Jio is one of India’s cheapest ever 4G mobile internet services
Productions and T-Series, the Hyderabad-based creators of the Baahubali franchise, Arka Mediaworks, and kids content producers Green Gold Animation, ahead of the launch of Amazon Prime Video, later this year. The deal with Karan Johar’s Dharma covers library titles and news films such as Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Ranbir Kapoor, while the T-Series deal includes 17 new titles from hot directors such as Anubhav Sinha and Hansal Mehta, and also featuring a host of Bollywood stars. As always with Amazon, video streaming is only part of the picture — it’s already one of India’s biggest e - c o m m e rc e o p e ra to r s a n d launched membership service Amazon Prime, minus the video component, in 100 Indian cities in July. With its huge population and appetite for entertainment, India seems an obvious target for the US streaming giants, but they are by no means entering a clear field. The past few years has seen a rapid proliferation of VoD platforms in India, launched by local, US and Asian companies, undeterred by the market’s many complexities — from slow internet speeds and high levels of piracy, to creaky online payment systems and the apparent unwillingness of Indian audiences to pay for content online. Some of these platforms are VoD
start-ups (Spuul, YuppTV, Viu and HOOQ), while others have been launched by Bollywood studios (Eros International’s ErosNow and Reliance Entertainment’s BigFlix). All the major Indian broadcasters have now launched over-the-top (OTT) services (Star’s Hotstar, Sony’s LIV, Viacom18’s VOOT and Zee Entertainment’s Ditto and Ozee) and Chinese tech giants Alibaba and LeEco are also eyeing the market. “People have different agendas for entering this space — for some it’s about stock market valuation while others are hoping to eat into the ad dollars that are currently going to Google,” says Ashish Patil, head of Yash Raj Films’ Y-Films, which operates one of India’s most popular YouTube channels. “The networks are giving a lot of their content to YouTube, where they’re only getting 35%-40% of ad revenue, so they thought, ‘Why not create our own platform?’ But that costs a chunk of money, even if you already own the content.”
Breaking windows Google’s YouTube platform is already a dominant player in India’s online video market — its total viewing time grew by 80% over the past year — and Indian audiences are not just watching cat videos. “We have thousands of movies on YouTube and they’re being
‘US cable charges $80-$100 per month. In India you have a massive number of channels for $3’ Akash Banerji, VOOT
played every day,” says YouTube India head of content operations Satya Raghavan. Earlier this year, Yash Raj Films released Shah Rukh Khan’s latest blockbuster Fan through YouTube’s rental service, Google Play, and other TVoD platforms, six weeks after its theatrical release and three months before it played on satellite TV. Other studios are experimenting with windows — Fox Star Studios streamed Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet on its affiliate AVoD platform Hotstar before it played on satellite, and Eros has streamed several films on ErosNow before satellite. Amazon has scored a major coup with the T-Series titles, which it will stream a few weeks after theatrical release
While films such as Fan suggest a TVoD window is opening, the SVoD model has been slower to take off in India. Most local platforms rely on advertising revenue and are fighting over a relatively small pie, most of which has already been eaten by Google. According to KPMG-FICCI, online video advertising was only worth $179m in 2015, although it’s estimated to grow to around $1bn by 2020. Streaming platforms have been experimenting with pay models, including the hybrid ‘freemium’ concept, but as in China, it’s a struggle getting audiences to pay. The industry discussed this problem at length at a FICCI Knowledge Series forum in Mumbai in July, where speakers outlined a series of issues, including the fact Indian consumers already pay high rates for mobile data, so feel they shouldn’t have to pay extra for content. They’ve also had years of access to free content online, both legal and pirated, along with some of the world’s cheapest packages for cable TV. “The reason SVoD has grown so fast in the US is due to price arbitrage,” said VOOT head of marketing and partnerships Akash Banerji. “US cable networks charge $80-$100 for monthly packages, while in India you get access to a massive amount of channels, including movies and sports, for RUP200 [$3] a month.” But nobody is waiting to see which business model works before entering the fray — almost all traditional media companies are already locked in a digital land grab. “Nobody has the answers, and it takes time and money to get into the SVoD space, but we just wanted to go there and build a subscriber base quickly,” said Ditto TV business head Archana Anand, speaking at the FICCI forum. With so many players and so little revenue, a
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
14 Screen International at Film Bazaar November 23, 2016
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VOD SPOTLIGHT
Shah Rukh Khan’s Fan was on TVoD platforms six weeks after its theatrical release
bloodbath, or at least a period of consolidation, is inevitable over the next few years.
Occupying a niche If the new landscape is challenging for local companies, foreign entrants like Netflix and Amazon face an even tougher job, as they don’t have the same volume of Indian-language content across multiple genres and languages. They’ll also find it difficult to compete on price. Net-
flix monthly subscriptions are priced at $7.50-$12 ( RUP 500RUP800) in India, compared to ErosNow’s basic premium ad-free tier for $0.75 (RUP50) a month. Netflix has not released subscription figures for India, but they are thought to be lower than expected, especially as the streaming giant missed its target on international subscribers in the second quarter of 2016. Even if they pick up, foreign streamers are likely to occupy a
niche in the Indian market — targeting an upscale, English-speaking demographic in the major cities. However, in a market with a population of 1.3 billion, an affluent niche may be all you need. The local industry is hoping the aggressive acquisitions and marketing strategy of Amazon and Netflix will convince middle-class consumers to embrace SVoD, a rising tide that could lift all boats. YouTube’s Raghavan says that
although it’s difficult to get paid services off the ground in India, the growth of e-commerce suggests more potential. “Indians have only learned to pay online in the last few years and yet there’s already an e-commerce revolution. Around 75 million people have used e-commerce platforms in India, which is not negligible,” Raghavan says. India will also continue to draw foreign players simply because it’s a potentially huge market that is open to outsiders. Although China has better internet and online payment infrastructure, foreign VoD platforms are not allowed to enter the market, and since streaming quotas were introduced in April 2015, the volume of foreign content on Chinese streaming sites has been substantially reduced. China has also banned foreign tech giants such as Google and Facebook, which are already deeply entrenched in India. The question now is how big the spoils will eventually grow in India and which victor will take them — global tech titans, SVoD players, local content owners or plucky start-ups. And with Amazon entering the market so aggressively, will Netflix be forced to change course? At present, as Indians turn en masse to their mobile phones for entertainment, s everything is still up for grabs. ■
WHAT DOES INDIA’S VoD BOOM MEAN FOR INTERNATIONAL SALES AGENTS? India has always been a difficult market for international sales agents to sell into as the territory is underscreened and dominated by local product. “Theatrical, DVD and even TV sales are tough for smaller films in India,” says Magnolia Pictures vice-president of international sales Scott Veltri. “VoD offers a new platform with low upfront risk for Indian distributors that provides widespread access to indie films.” Digital aggregator FilmKaravan is working with both Magnolia and Vision Films on exploiting their titles in India — it recently licensed Magnolia’s Tangerine to iTunes — and also handles marketing and the certification process. “The fanbase for Tangerine foreign films in India is
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growing and we intend to reach audiences through platforms like iTunes and Google Play; there is also demand across DTH [direct-to-home] and SVoD platforms,” says FilmKaravan head of original productions and partnerships Apoorva Bakshi. Suri Gopalan, CEO of aggregator Vista India, says: “India has a large English-speaking population and they’ve had limited content available on broadcast, so we expect more international content to be available through OTT operators.” With Amazon and Netflix entering the market, SVoD is becoming the major digital revenue stream for sales agents and distributors in India — and both are open to acquiring India-only SVoD rights to foreign product. TVoD and DTH platforms, such as Tata Sky, are also buying foreign films and TV dramas. Indian SVoD and AVoD platforms tend to focus on local product, although some are owned
‘VoD offers a new platform with low upfront risk for Indian distributors’ Scott Veltri, Magnolia Pictures by US media groups so also offer English-language content. Some also acquire English product but so far have focused on mainstream action films. It’s still early days, the players are new and local SVoD platforms are not paying high prices, but sales agents see potential in the market. “We mostly sell VoD in all-rights deals to our usual Indian theatrical buyers, but we also sell directly to platforms like Tata Sky,” says Wild Bunch’s Olivier Barbier. “We’re doing deals on our classics, animation and genre titles. Most kinds of movies can sell, except those with too much sexual content.”
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