Wannabe metros warm up to world cinema

By and large even today Marathi films do not have a state-wide release in Maharashtra. The ‘first-day-first-show’ of Marathi films at times is delayed at least by a week or two for Nagpurians.

Shwaas, which had bagged a national award and Oscar nomination, too was released only after it was sent for the Academy awards.

In such a scenario it is heartening to see that more and more Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are warming up to world cinema. Ardent movie buffs there are now increasingly opting for movies from around the world.

They are looking beyond Bollywood and Hollywood. Names like (Ingmar) Bergman and (Fedrico) Fellini are no longer Latin and Greek. They are taken in the same breadth as KJo (Karan Johar) and LJo (Jennifer Lopez).

“It all started with setting up of the Nirzar Film Society in Nagpur in 2007. Two years later, we started hosting film festivals and new doors opened for cine-goers,” says Samir Nafde, Joint Secretary of Maharashtra chapter of Film Societies of India (FSI).

“We have had three film festivals in as many years in the Orange City. While one was dedicated to Marathi, two were international film festivals where in four movies were screened daily for a week,” he said.

Interestingly, there is no problem for us to source the movies, Nafde said adding still we are not screening contemporary world cinema.

“In my opinion, people here still might not be ready to stomach a movie like Anti-Christ. As of now we have stuck to the tried and tested ones, the classics which have already garnered critical acclaim and are generally and easily available.” Also, the backlog needs to be cleared, he quipped.

More or less the scene is same in Kolhapur, considered to be the birthplace of cinema in India. While the membership of Kalamaharshi Baburao Painter Film Society too is soaring, last two years witnessed as many film festivals also. While one was international, another was Asian. Country focus and competition for Marathi movies too has been a static feature.

“This year again the festival would be held from December 22 to 29,” Dilip Bapat, vice-president of Maharashtra chapter of FSI said. On the composition of audience, Bapat said, it’s a good representation of all walks of life.

Completely divorced from this trend, an experiment of sorts is going on in Gaya, a small town in Bihar. Sanjay Sahay, Producer of Patang, national award for best feature film in 1994, is screenings world cinema there.

“We show these movies in our cultural centre on Blue Ray or DVD formats. Screenings are generally followed by discussion by the audience who are local people. Slowly they are developing an interest for meaningful cinema,” he said.

However, he admitted it is hard to find audience for movies of (Jean-Luc) Godard and (Francois) Truffaunt and the numbers are dwindling. “But after all it is Gaya and not Delhi,” he said.