A film journalist makes a journey between two film sets when he is in Panaji in the third week of November. INOX and Kala Academy deck up as the set of a vintage film where the aesthetics and craft of world cinema still rule, where change doesn’t come rolling on the wheels of the market. Words like industry, commerce, returns don’t cloud your mind. And then there is Film Bazaar, reminiscent of the set of a studio backed film. Where every creative move is measured against the returns it can ensure, where ideas and wine flow side by side. Here you wake up to the commercial reality of cinema.
In its eighth year, the National Film Development Corporation’s Film Bazaar has emerged as the meeting point of the stakeholders in cinema from across the world. Its screenwriters’ and work-in-progress labs have churned out films like The Lunchbox , Miss Lovely , Killa , Court and Titli , which have given Indian cinema a new identity in film festivals across the world. Its co-production market has ensured talent like Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap don’t get suffocated in the corporate mainstream.
Nina Lath Gupta, seen as the person responsible for NFDC’s facelift, says, she understands the intangible nature of the film business. “Here a lot depends on relationships and trust. Every institution needs to reinvent itself with time. We did internal restructuring both in terms of personnel and finances. Then we went back to our memorandum of association and restructured our vision statement. Film Bazaar came up as a result of that. We made development our agenda. Not many people in the industry were equipped with the development that we were aiming to do. So we had to consult our colleagues abroad to put Indian cinema on the world map. Practically every film that is travelling in the international market has emerged from Film Bazaar.”
Anurag Kashyap, who is in many ways a child of Film Bazaar, is now in a position to reflect. “Barring NFDC there is no government fund. Worldwide there are many cultural funds, but there are not as many filmmakers or markets to showcase films. So if we have a slight disadvantage, we have a bigger advantage as well. I have seen great filmmakers like Fatih Akin struggling to find money for six years. And when it came, it came out of a condition that it has to be in English and more universal. And that became the drawback of the film.”
Dibakar says over the last few years Film Bazaar has managed to bring the Indian film industry and raw talent face to face with representatives from the best of the festivals, markets, distributors, co producers, talent hunters from the world. Titli “An absolute rookie with his first script can sit across from the producer of an Oscar winning film and pitch!”
Dipti D’Cunha, the consultant for Work In Progress and Viewing Room at Film Bazaar, says one interesting feature that has been introduced is gap financing. “Many times first-time filmmakers consume all their money in shooting the film and there is none left for post-production, publicity and advertising. Here we help them find a partner who can pitch in to fill the gap.” This is exactly what Vinay Shukla and Khushboo Rakha needed for their documentary Proposition Or A Revolution , which captures the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party. By the end of the Bazaar the film was chosen as the best documentary at Work in Progress Lab. Then the Bazaar introduced genre-centric labs. This year there was one for romance and Gupta promises one for horror next year.
NFDC has traditionally been associated with film production but Gupta says that is not its sole goal. “NFDC was formed to facilitate the growth of the industry. In a country that makes 1000 films a year, I don’t think financing films by the NFDC is going to make any credible difference. We can play a better role by bringing together different stakeholders on a common platform and let them invest in films. This way we can bring more money.”
There is a flip side as well. Rajat Kapoor, whose Aankhon Dekhi was one of the two Hindi films chosen for the Indian Panorama this year, says, “For a shy person like me the place feels somehow odd. I don’t like the idea of everybody selling something like cinema. It just puts me off. It gives a vibe like Achcha apko pasand nahin aaya to aap kharid lijiye . What I like is the party every night. There I find so much good energy, young filmmakers, their dreams and aspirations. This is my third year of being part of that collective energy. Unfortunately out of 100 independent films attempted, only 2 or 3 are good.”
The Bazaar is a platform indeed. “The downside is if I want to sell a bad film there are some who are here to buy a bad film if there is commercial value in it. Also, because you are looking for an international eye, international co-producer, there is a certain kind of vision you adopt that will be easy on their eye. Subconsciously, aap handloom banana shuroo kar dete hain. Ye aapke ke yahaan achcha chalega ,” says the director who is considered a pioneer of crowd funding in the country.
