Many Bollywood actors and filmmakers believe that regional cinema get fair power and push for the representation at the international film festivals. Among these international festivals, Oscars also count. While some believe that Oscars give appropriate validations to films others don’t agree with the statement. But, most of them believe that regional cinema gets proper international representation. Below are statements of many actors and filmmakers on the same matter.
Filmmakers and Actors Opine on Regional Cinema:
Actor Adil Hussain:
“It totally depends on the board that chooses these films. It is about their taste, calibre and idea, or lack of idea of cinema.”
He added, “It is not a strategy that only Bollywood films are represented. The film should merit it. Oscars do give a sense of validation to films.”
Actor Tannishtha Chatterjee:
“I don’t think Oscars should be the ultimate validation for our films, because culturally, they look at things in a very clichéd way when it comes to India. But having said that, regional cinema has a very good international representation. International forums are far more equal. But regional cinema also has to be of that level, and the audience also has to evolve. This is true for every form of art.”
Hussain:
“Unfortunately, Indian government doesn’t support the films as much as it should. So if the producers are unable to fund the screenings, then hiring venues, creating a buzz, treating the jury members to a preview becomes difficult.”
Filmmaker Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury:
“When a film is sent to the Oscars, it has to be promoted well and that requires money. Regional cinema – not Malayalam, Tamil or Telugu – doesn’t have that kind of money.”
Filmmaker Rajesh Mapuskar:
“They are big stars, and have so many fans. There is more PR hype and media gives more coverage to them. So there will always be that noise around such films,” he says, adding, “It also depends on the muscle the producer has.”
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