The most radical of creative efforts are often the quietest. Like the first edition of a pioneering creative producing lab for South Asian documentary filmmakers, Doc Producing South, that took place in early September in Delhi.
Co-founded by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan, the makers of Sundance-winning Nocturnes, it aims to nurture young documentary talent through peer-driven mentorship. Eight selected projects went through an intensive workshop that covered the gamut—proposal development, budgeting, financing, distribution strategies, contracts and rights negotiation—with guidance from celebrated documentary names like Shaunak Sen (All That Breathes, Cities of Sleep), and Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh (Writing With Fire). The collective also includes Payal Kapadia, cinematographer Ranabir Das, filmmakers Arya Rothe and Arun Bhattarai, and producer and programmer Anu Rangachar.
“It’s like how in academics you send a paper for peer review,” says Dutta of the model that is all about sharing, supporting, and generosity. “The established makers came with an open heart, to give back whatever they had got from their journeys,” he says. “There is space for everyone, and there is power in the collective,” adds Srinivasan.
Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga Kapoor came up with a similar significant initiative at Cannes this May. Three rising women producers—Tillotama Shome, Rucha Pathak, and Dimpy Agarwal—were chosen for the fellowship programme Women in Film’s India chapter, which took them to Cannes to access the Producers Network at the film market. The idea was to provide them mentorship and networking opportunities, to make them understand the global financing and co-production scenario. In a similar collaboration between Women in Film India, the ministry of information and broadcasting’s WAVES Bazaar, and the National Film Development Corporation, six film projects with women in key roles were taken to Toronto International Film Festival in September.
When it comes to championing young, independent filmmakers, few individuals have been as consistent as the enfant terrible of Hindi cinema, Anurag Kashyap. In the past few months, along with Ranjan Singh of Flip Films, Kashyap has put his might behind diverse movies. Two remarkable debuts—Anuparna Roy’s Venice winner Songs of Forgotten Trees and Varsha Bharath’s Tamil language Rotterdam champ Bad Girl—and two sophomore films—Raam Reddy’s Jugnuma and Natesh’s Hegde’s Kannada language Vaghachipani (Tiger’s Pond), both platformed in Berlin.
Aranya Sahay’s debut feature, Humans in the Loop, resonated with Kiran Rao in “how it explored the intersection of technology, labour, and the knowledge systems we risk losing in our rush toward progress”. Supporting the film then didn’t just feel meaningful, but necessary.
In much the same way, Vikramaditya Motwane, Nikkhil Advani, Nagraj Manjule and Sai Tamhankar came together to back Rohan Kanawade’s Marathi language Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) before its India release. Now Mira Nair is presenting it for its North American release with a heartfelt endorsement coming from Payal Kapadia.
“It helps a film get instant visibility and credibility, outlets get to cover it, and OTTs also connect with it more effectively,” says Neeraj Churi, one of the film’s producers.
Joining Humans as an executive producer, Rao helped it get a push before the theatrical release, amplifying the marketing and hosting screenings. She also facilitated conversations for finding a potential streaming partner. She had similarly stepped in for Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus (2012) and Karan Tejpal’s Stolen (2023). For Sahay, it wasn’t just about taking the film to enthusiasts, but Rao’s larger hands-on approach. “People like her, who have turned producers from being directors, understand the starting out challenges and help navigate a world we may not understand as first-timers,” he says.
Baksho Bondi (Shadowbox), Tanushree Das and Saumyananda Sahi’s debut Bengali feature, had a record 23 people from the film community getting together to produce it. “Independent filmmaking can be quite challenging, and filmmaking in its essence, is extremely expensive. If we spread that risk, that expense across so many people, then suddenly it's not such a difficult thing to do,” said one of the producers, composer Naren Chandavarkar. Besides chipping in with money, the producers can also give creative feedback, provide post-production support, help get distribution, and reach out to a wider audience.
For Ranjan Singh, encouraging new talent is not about altruism but common sense. “How else can a creative business sustain itself? Where will the next Kashyap or Motwane come from?” he asks. And it’s not a one-off engagement either. He has stood behind several films down the years—documentaries like Faiza Khan’s Supermen of Malegaon, Jaideep Verma’s Leaving Home—the Life and Music of Indian Ocean (2010), Deepti Kakkar and Fahad Mustafa’s Katiyabaaz (2013), Prateek Vats’ Eeb Allay Ooo! (2019) and Vinod Kamble’s Marathi film Kasturi (2019).
It has been happening in Hollywood for a while and gaining ground in India now. Martin Scorsese, for instance, has presented several films from across the globe as executive producer, including Neeraj Ghaywan’s Oscar-bound Homebound. Sony Pictures backs the Spiderman universe as well as The Lunchbox, a model Singh thinks Indian production houses need to follow. “The journeys of mainstream and independent films might be different, but at the end of the day, the hit-and-miss ratio is the same on both sides of the divide,” he says.
Rao also thinks that collective support is important not just for independent films, but for the cinema business at large as it creates a healthier ecosystem. Says she: “Cinema can still be a space for conscience and community.”
Read all columns by Namrata Joshi
Namrata Joshi
Consulting Editor
Follow her on X @Namrata_Joshi
