Rahul Bose: A question of size

In an interview with tabloid!, Rahul Bose was vocal about his stand on blockbusters as parallel cinema, saying, "everyone and everything has space in life".

tabloid! put the same question to Indian indie filmmakers at the Dubai International Film Festival, asking whether the presence of the Bollywood battalion, including Shah Rukh Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Priyanka Chopra, Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh, eclipsed their presence at Diff.

The Kshay (Corrode) team — actors Rasika Dugal, Alekh Sanghal, director Karan Gour and producer Shaan Vyaas — brought their film, a Hindi feature about a woman's obsession with a sculpture. Here's a team that seems to have borne the brunt of the perennially popular Bollywood films. On the night of the premiere of the romantic comedy Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl last Thursday, their relatively small feature was being screened at the Mall of the Emirates. While Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl saw a packed house with Bollywood enthusiasts scrambling for premiere invites at Madinat Arena, Kshay had six people at the end of their film.

Even the hands-on marketing — where a bunch of twenty-somethings stood outside the box-office at Madinat Jumeirah handing out flyer invites and brandishing the catalogue with their film's synopsis — didn't really help. However, they are not disillusioned by it.

"This is how things stand in the industry," said Sanghal, adding that their previous screenings at festivals in New York and Chicago saw full houses.

"Also, remember Tom Cruise has been working for 25 years and Shah Rukh for 15 years and Ranveer [Singh] is working with a banner that has been around for 25 years. Look at it this way: Tom was on the first day of the fest, Shah Rukh on the second day and Kshay on the third day. That's not too bad," said Sangal.

Ticket sales don't matter

Gour, who took four years to complete his debut feature, says it all boils down to economics.

"In a fest, we don't give a s*** about ticket sales, we are in it to show our movie. Give us the advertising budget that a Ricky Bahl had, and we will match that crowd," said Gour.

Like in the rest of the world, there's a strong divide in India between art-house cinema and Bollywood "masala" entertainers.

"If we take our film to any of the established distributors they will just say it's not their cup of tea. But we are okay with that," added Gour.

Sanghal, who was seen in supporting roles in films such as Summer 2007 ("I was that student who was scared of dying a virgin," he says), points out another fact.

"Go for a Bodyguard or Ready on a Monday — you will have six people watching... I challenge you — this is how it works after the first four days of release."

And when you are in it for your love for the movie-making craft, nothing else matters. "I don't care how many people watch our film. If there's one person who will ask five question at the end of the movie, our purpose is met," said Dugal, who plays the lead in the film.

Shalini Usha Nair isn't too worried about the presence of Hollywood or Bollywood heavyweights at Diff. This Prague Film School alumnus is showcasing her Malayalam feature, Akam, about a man who believes that his wife is a yakshi (demon). She feels there's a strong audience for her supernatural thriller and the question of overcrowding doesn't arise.

"This is a well-attended film festival. Even if they [the viewers] were to watch an MI4, they will definitely come for Akam too. I am confident that the right audience will find their way into an audience hall," said Nair.

Her debut feature, shot in Thiruvananthapuram in South Kerala, was her pet project and took five years to complete.

"It's sometimes disappointing when you have to compete with heavyweights. I don't know if it's good or bad. There is a reason why things happen the way they do. There is no point in fighting or feeling disappointed," she added.