Aided by tech and theatre, independent films charter own course

Independent filmmakers, whose works won wider acclaim at the 10th Bengaluru International Film Festival here, said advancing technology coupled with the experience in theatre is helping them explore subjects overlooked by mainstream cinema.

Talking to the media on the festival's concluding day, they said the society is slowly opening to discussions on issues like drugs and the problems faced by the transgender community.

Sridhar Ramagayan, whose 'Evening Shadows' looks at queer life in a conservative middle class family, said, "Theatres are controlled by a distribution system, which demands movies that either have stars or saleability. Technology has removed such strictures, allowing us to tell our stories."

Shah Nawaz, director of 'Candyflip' that deals with the drug menace in Goa, said digital spaces like YouTube, Netflix and Amazon have freed filmmakers from the dependency on theaters.

In Utpal Borpujari's 'Ishu', the world is shown from the eyes of a 10-year-old boy, enabling the filmmaker to shed light on the 'immature' world of adults lost in their vanity, egotism and rivalry. Perhaps, that is how independent filmmakers look at mainstream films.

"Mainstream cinema and even media has to cater to the urban masses. We (also) have such pressures to an extent. Since we are aware of those limitations, we remind ourselves to break such barriers and explore issues that did not find space in our work," Borpujari said.

Kerala director Deepesh T said while independent filmmakers are free to explore subjects like communal tension, it will not be without risks.

"We live in a society where communal tension is fanned by the government and people are afraid of speaking up. Writers and journalists talking against such issues have been killed for expressing their opinion. Independent filmmakers are not immune to such threats," he said.