We're a cinematic minority: Rituparno
Making his presence felt among the Indian delegates at the Cannes Film Festival is filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh. The filmmaker is showcasing his film Dosar at the Cinema of the World section at the festival.
CNN-IBN Entertainment Editor Rajeev Masand caught up with Ghosh who expressed his cynicism about the perception of Indian films making a mark at Cannes.
Rituparno Ghosh: I feel deeply grateful on behalf of Indian cinema to get an official showcasing package and that, too, for seven films which in a way represents Indian cinema. Also, Indian cinema is so varied that it is not done to bring it done to numbers. It's fairly representive and interesting.
Rajeev Masand: Does it irk you perhaps that with actresses on the red carpet or with few Bollywood films being sold in the market place people are saying that India is at Cannes. But India has been at international film festivals for years especially with regional films, which have been in competition as well.
Rituparno Ghosh: Look at it globally, it is a collage of directorial names here but not a single Indian directorial name is mentioned and I feel sorry for that. I feel sorry for the fact that Mira (Nair) won an award here, (Satyajit) Ray too won an award here. There is a deep connection and it triggered off the new wave cinema in India. But now Cannes doesn't remember that history.
All that Cannes has become now is a glamour platform. Let us not get obsessed by the fact that we are seeing Ash, Preity, John and Bipasha on the red carpet. So it's not that they have come and so our presence is felt. That is a misconception and once we come here we realise what sort of a cinematic minority we have become. Let us not fool ourselves anymore by saying big things and have big screening of our films and think that all is well.
