Bollywood impresses French director

French director-actress duo Julien Leclerq and Marie Guillard   are amazed by our studios

They are here to celebrate French cinema in India, but the director-actress duo Julien Leclerq and Marie Guillard have shopping on their minds.

“We went to the Bandra market yesterday, and to the Gateway of India. We are going again this afternoon,” says Marie, who stars in Julien’s film Chrysalis, which is being screened as part of the French Film festival in the city.

The duo is not only impressed by the markets in Mumbai but also the way Indian films are made.

“You guys are very good workers,” says Julien, adding, “I went to Yash Raj studios and was impressed with the kind of technology and equipment they seemed to have. Plus, with the kind of colours, sets and props that most Indian films have, it must be a really good production team, which gets the job done. Also your theatres are great, much like the ones we have in France.”

So will more French film-makers bring their films to India then, given the improvement in facilities? “I hope to release my film in India at the end of March. Of course for us it’s a new market, but one that I think is worth exploring. Even Indian cinema can explore France as a market, because there is a lot of curiosity about Bollywood films,” replies Julien.

“It is only a matter of developing taste for each other’s cinema. We don’t have so much colour or songs in our films, but we have our own style. In fact, when I saw Devdas for the first time, I was blown away by the riot of colour and the huge sets. I didn’t even mind that it was three hours long,” smiles Marie.

“We hope that we do find a meeting point between French and Indian cinema, because right now, we only know the stars and a few films. We would like to get to know more such films,” they sign off.