The Virtual India Pavilion, as part of India at Cannes 2021, is organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in association with FICCI.
This session, moderated by Nitin Tej Ahuja of the Producers’ Guild of India, addresses the challenges producers face in making global films, in other words, projects of scale or of a certain aesthetic appeal. The session also aims to discover the challenges producers face in getting together the elements that make a film’s appeal truly global.
Smt. Neerja Sekhar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of I&B, in her keynote address said that while the entertainment that Indian cinema generates across all languages is extremely unique, there are many unexplored locations within India that are yet unexplored and can enhance the experience of Indian cinema.
Ms Sreyashi Sen, Founder and Managing Director of Darpan Global, observed that audiences have moved away from following big-budget films and are getting more and more interested in good content, while being language agnostic. “The plethora of stories that India has, gives us strength to explore this opportunity of language agnostic audiences that are evolving. There is immense power in exploring local stories about real people, but with a global edge,” she added.
“The last year at the box office has shown the world that Story is the real hero. A bridge exists between global and local cinema, but it is very fluid right now. It is in our hands to make the foundation of this bridge stronger with the quality of our stories.” Ms Sunita Tati, Founder and CEO, Guru Films said.
When it comes to budgets, producer Samudrika Arora said, “There is a lot more scope in terms of faith, trust, and interest from the financier’s side now and therefore a lot more money gets poured in. In light of these dynamic changes, there is a wonderful opportunity for producers to be bold.”
Mr. Samir Sarkar, CEO of Magic Hour Films, said that Indian studios have at their hands, the task of developing the taste of Indian audiences with changing times.
For more insights on the matter, view the video above.