A new era

Besides film celebrities, DIFF 2006 also brought to Dubai senior representatives of major film production companies. Among them was Ronnie Screwvala, founder and CEO of the UTV Group, whose latest co-production, The Namesake, was screened at the festival.

The Indian company, founded in 1990, is a public-listed, pan-Asian media company with a leadership position in television, motion pictures, broadcasting and new media spanning gaming and animation. Screwvala participated, along with Oliver Stone and other filmmakers, in a discussion at DIFF on "bridging cultures".

"I have been tracking DIFF for some time now and have seen it grow in size and profile every year and am happy to be here and be part of this interesting discussion," he said.

Screwvala, who is also the president of The Film and Television Producers Guild of India spoke to tabloid! about the Indian film industry and its prospects of collaborating with Dubai.

What do India and Dubai have to offer each other in the field of filmmaking?
For Indian films Dubai is the third largest market outside India and has the potential to grow much bigger. Rather than looking only at a South Asian audience, we need to think out of the box in terms of marketing and expanding the base to all the nationalities that live in Dubai. That is the challenge of this market and also the opportunity. The Dubai government has been extremely proactive in encouraging Indian filmmakers to make films here and we want to make use of the locations in Dubai and shoot in this country because there is good support from the government and the infrastructure is world class.

UTV is already working with Dubai-based companies on an animation project and we have tie-ups for distribution here and will definitely shoot a film here if it suits the script.

UTV has tie-ups with several international companies. How do these work and why are they important?
In terms of storylines and content Asia is as good or superior to Hollywood but our biggest challenge is to mount it on the same scale. Our basic vision and mission is to put the big budget distribution and marketing machinery of the West behind Asian projects.

We currently have four international partnerships. We are co-producing Mira Nair's The Namesake and another film starring Chris Rock along with 20th Century Fox. We are doing one animation and one live action film for Will Smith's production company, Overbrook.

We collaborate with Sony Pictures for the distribution of our films and the Walt Disney Company has recently acquired a 15 per cent stake in UTV, which should lead to animation work for them in the future.

To help our movies breakout and be seen by the West we are also looking at overseas casting. For example, Rangoon Express, out next film with Vishal Bharadwaj is set in Myanmar in 1945 and has an international star as the leading lady.

Is Hollywood so important for Indian films?
Hollywood is not the be all and end all, but we believe that the business done by Indian movies in the US and UK can be tripled by collaborating with the studios that know how to market the films to a wider audience. I do not expect our typical masala films to have universal appeal, but now we also have a new genre of films such as Rang De Basanti and Lage Raho Munnabhai. The fabulous part is that there is a change in the mindset and filmmakers are thinking in a progressive manner.

How do you choose the scripts?
We look for something that grabs us in terms of dialogue, characterisation or issues, because good marketing and a huge star cast can get you a good opening but the success of a film depends on the script and good story telling. Indian filmmakers have realised this now and we get about 50 scripts a month when two years ago there were none.
You have successfully pioneered the studio model in India.

How does that work?
The studio model can work if a company has the conviction to create its own content, say no when the script is not right and be able to market and distribute its own movies worldwide rather than worry about the demands of distributors for a big star cast or popular formula. It is also important to work with many directors and have a slate of movies with proper forward planning.

UTV hits

Among the hits produced by UTV last year were Rang De Basanti, Chup Chup Ke, Taxi No 9211 and Khosla Ka Ghosla. Upcoming releases include The Namesake, Akbar Jodha, Metro, Goal, Hattrick and Fashion. Future projects include Delhi 6 and Panch Kaurav with Rakeysh Mehra, Vishal Bharadwaj's Rangoon Express, Hook Ya Crook with David Dhawan, I Think I Love My Wife starring Chris Rock, two films with Will Smith and three animation films for India with international directors.