As the red carpets roll down at the French Riviera on Wednesday for Festival de Cannes, Kerala’s claim to fame at the Cannes, filmmaker Shaji N Karun, points at the lack of better representation of Indian cinema. Shaji, who won the Camera D’or in 1989 for his debut movie ‘Piravi’, feels there’s a gradual decline of Indian representation at Cannes. And the veteran filmmaker feels the onus lies on the lack of authenticity of films made these days.
“The primary reason why films from the Far East and Oriental movies get prominence at these festivals is that such movies reflect their culture and heritage. They consider their movies a platform for the same, while Indian movies are reluctant to do so. The western ways have largely inspired our movies; our movies do not necessarily reflect our rich tradition and vast cultural background,” he feels.
Shaji highlights the importance of such film festivals and how they leave a mark on budding filmmakers. “I got my first breakthrough through festivals like Cannes and throughout my life I’ll remember these platforms. Likewise, any filmmaker can easily capitalise on the avenues that these festivals provide. Once their movie is screened and recognised at festivals like Cannes, they’ll always be known for that fete,” Shaji adds.
The ace filmmaker also stresses on the need for regional film industries to take the centre stage. He comes down heavily on the trend of Indian films being termed as Bollywood. “Internationally, Indian film industries are known as Bollywood industry. For me, I consider it shameful that Indian filmdom is being represented by the Bollywood industry. It’s for the national cultural movement to recognise these small budget regional movies which are so rich in content,” he adds.
Shaji certainly has his hopes high on the future of Indian movies reaching international film festivals; but for this to happen things have to change immediately. “The young filmmakers certainly have the talent and the skill to make movies worthy of Cannes, but then what they lack is the endurance and the dedication. I’m sure otherwise, the current breed of filmmakers can bring laurels to Indian cinema,” he quips.
The only cinema representation for India this year is ‘Titli’, a film by debutante Kanu Behl which is screened in the ‘Uncertain Regard’ section. The presence of known faces from Bollywood like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor who will be joined by Uday Chopra, in his capacity as the producer of Nicole Kidman-starrer ‘Grace De Monaco’, which is also the opening movie this time, will add glitz to the fest.