The London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) 2024 organised an industry meet to discuss the strengths and drawbacks of co-productions, where you might be based in one country and want to shoot in another; while India-UK business consultancy group EPG hosted a one-day Film Conclave, as part of its India week and one session was devoted to breaking through as a South Asian actor in the UK-India entertainment space…
THERE was a packed house as several filmmakers discussed co-productions – strengths and drawbacks – with the LIFF’s CEO Cary Rajinder Sawhney moderating.
India and the UK have signed a co-production treaty with benefits offered to filmmakers wanting to film in the other’s country and use local talent. Until quite recently, the benefits available to UK filmmakers was quite modest but the Indian government has extended advantages to productions up to a cap now of $3.6m (£2.8m).
and Neeraj Churi
While there are clear advantages in monetary terms, David Hamilton, who produces for director Deepa Mehta (‘Midnight’s Children’ – which was shot in Sri Lanka), said he tried as far as possible to avoid official co-productions “too much bureaucracy and too much time” and not to be dismissed quickly – also, possibly, too, the lens of politicians and civil servants on a creative project.
Producers shared their successes and woes with independent producer Neeraj Churi from Lotus Visual Productions talking about how he approached a western streamer about a production in the Indian language of Marathi.
Speaking at the BFI Southbank on Friday, June 28, Churi said: “About 120 million people speak Marathi but they were not interested and yet they commission productions from Iceland and other European countries where the populations are small. Why the difference? This has to stop.”
Western streaming services and others based in the west, he suggested, were not being fair and that there is no level playing field.
Many felt that distribtion was an issue and that theatrical releases were getting harder and streaming services were more selective and stingy than just after the lockdown period.
On Saturday (July 6) the industry conversation continued – at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in central London – about actor opportunities in the UK for those looking to break into Bollywood – there are – but having an agency or an agent who knows the landscape is essential and if you are South Asian, then knowing Hindi/Urdu well and speaking with a local accent, rather than British, will make you a strong candidate.
Vaibhav Anand gave the perspective from Mumbai – saying it was very difficult for outsiders to breakthrough into Hindi cinema – besides not having the right connections, language skills were often an issue. Speaking about his time in Hollywood, he said the West offered more equal opportunties, when it came to responding to raw talent.
All stressed that it was important to be able to master the main languages in India to make it there – whether it be Hindi/Urdu or Tamil or other South Indian tongues.
Earlier, attendees heard from ‘Heeramandi’ breakout star Taha Shah Badussha talking about streaming, acting and breaking through – look out for our interview with him in London coming to our Youtube channel shortly (subscribe and don’t miss). We interviewed him at the Cannes Film Festival in May and were there when he walked the Red Carpet.
*In May, the UK Asian Film Festival (May 2-12) also brought Indian and UK producers together also – due to its proximity to the Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25), we were not able to cover. Info is here.
On the panel at LIFF were: Alex King (‘Tight: The World of Indian Bodybuilding); David Hamilton (longtime Deepa Mehta producer); Anushka Shah (Civic Studios); Iram Parveen Bilal (writer-director); Pooja Chauhan (producer); Neeraj Churi, Lotus Visuals (producer)
At the EPG Film conclave – Screen Representation Across Borders: The UK actor pathway to Hindi Cinema and Indian Actors working in the West: Deep Rajah, head of current affairs Lyca Radio moderated; Vaibhav Anand, actor, and part of Hindi film family – Anand; Sudipto Sarkar, writer-director-producer (Netflix ‘Operation Mayfair’, ‘Victor’); Kavino Nagulendren (producer and director, Mya Media Production); Naila Mughal (casting director NM Entertainment).
All photographs ©BigTalentMedia
