entertainment
patriot
Beyond the mainstream
THE ARRIVAL OF STREAMING GIANTS, NETFLIX AND AMAZON PRIME VIDEO, IN THE INDIAN MARKET LAST YEAR
TURNED OUT TO BE GREAT NEWS — NOT ONLY FOR VIEWERS LOOKING FOR QUALITY VIDEO CONTENT, BUT
ALSO FOR INDIE FILMMAKERS, WHO HAVE TO COMPETE WITH COMMERCIAL BIG-BUDGET FILMS
Karishma Sehgal
INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS in
India don’t have it easy. We are a
country where majority of the audi-
ence still looks at cinema as a medi-
um synonymous with celebrity
culture. Investors are usually wary
of putting their money into such
projects that have little chances of
breaking even, let alone earning
profits. Invariably, Indie filmmakers
have to bear the brunt of limitations
in financing, production, scope,
and distribution. More often than
not, the screening of such films is
restricted to film festivals. Even if
these films do manage getting the-
atrical releases, after receiving tre-
mendous flak from the Central
Board of Film Certification, they
rarely catch the attention of the
quintessential moviegoer, perhaps
due to their offbeat starcast, small
marketing budgets, and limited
releases.
Where most mainstream film-
makers in India continue to opt for
formulaic storytelling — the tried
and tested route, indie filmmakers
who delve into unconventional
moviemaking styles and subjects
are increasingly garnering eyeballs
from a more evolved audience
longing to see novel and meaning-
ful content. That said, for Indie
films, the problem of reaching out
to a widespread audience contin-
ues to loom large. Enter SVOD (sub-
scription video-on-demand) big-
gies like Netflix and Amazon Prime
Video that made their debut in the
Indian market last year, in an
attempt to offer the discerning
viewer quality content, and inde-
pendent filmmakers, a platform to
showcase their work.
THE VOD DISTRIBUTION ROUTE
Until a few years ago, Indie film-
makers looked at film festivals as
the only outlet to pitch content to
sales agents and distribution com-
panies who, they’d hope, would
help their films eventually get the-
atrical and DVD releases. The rise
of VOD platforms in the recent past
has changed the dynamics of film
distribution, particularly in favour
of the indies.
Ad-Supported VOD (AVOD) plat-
forms like YouTube that offer video
content free of charge to the audi-
ence (but with ads) have been
around for over a decade. The
recent emergence of Transactional
VOD (TVOD) platforms — where
the audience pays for individual
videos, like TVF InBox Office,
Vimeo, iTunes and Google Play, and
Subscription VOD (SVOD) plat-
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INDIE TALES: A Death in the Gunj is a story about a shy university student visitng his relatives
forms like Netflix and Amazon
Prime Video, that require the audi-
ence to pay a monthly subscription
fee to access video content, is what
Indie filmmakers are increasingly
cashing on.
Although for Indie filmmakers
wanting to release their films digi-
tally, especially on SVOD platforms,
the help of aggregators may be
required to prepare a pitch and
strike a deal with a given platform.
Alternatively, for filmmakers who
wish to do away with middlemen
completely, there are forums like
Distrify that allow direct distribu-
tion of content to audiences, usu-
ally on a TVOD basis.
PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION
In the digital age, crowdfunding
is turning out to be an effective
strategy for Indie filmmakers to
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NEW DELHI | THURSDAY|14-20 SEPTEMBER|2017
CHARTING NEW TERRIORITY: Brahman Naman became the first Indian
Netflix original to premiere on the platform PHOTO: SUNDANCE INSTITUTE
raise funds for their projects.
Recently, renowned actor-director
and a popular face in the Indian
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PHOTO: A DEATH IN THE GUNJ
parallel cinema circuit, Rajat
Kapoor, known for creating critical-
ly-acclaimed films such as Aankhon
PATEL KI PUNJABI SHAADI
Starring: Vir Das and Rishi
Kapoor
13
Dekhi, announced a partnership
with Crowdera, a US-headquartered
crowdfunding platform, in an
attempt to raise `2.5 crore for his
upcoming film, RK/R Kay. “I have
been trying to raise money through
conventional sources for the last
three years, and that has not
worked. But that does not mean
that I won’t make a film. I will, only
the funds will not be raised through
conventional means,” Kapoor said
in his campaign statement. While
Kapoor is still a well-known figure
in the fraternity, crowdfunding has
equally helped newbies like Pawan
Kumar, who used crowdfunding to
finance his award-winning 2013
Kannada sci-fi drama named Lucia.
This method of funding, along
with the relative ease of digital dis-
tribution can provide a much need-
ed fillip to independent filmmakers
apprehensive to enter the movie-
making rat-race.
DIGITAL SHOW-STEALERS
Netflix’s first Indian original was
a sex-comedy called Brahman
Naman directed by Qaushiq
Mukherjee, a.k.a. Q. The company
had bought worldwide SVOD rights
to the film at the Sundance Film
Festival, last year. The film never
had a theatrical release and was
premiered exclusively on Netflix on
July 7, 2016, worldwide.
Earlier this year, Amazon Prime
Video partnered with C
International Sales, a subsidiary of
Cinestaan Film Company for the
unlimited streaming of Dev Bhoomi
and Konkona Sen Sharma’s directo-
rial debut, A Death in the Gunj. The
films were among the list of Toronto
International Film Festival’s official
selection of Indian films last year.
Additionally, Amazon Prime Video
also bagged the exclusive streaming
rights to The Hungry, an interna-
tional co-production between
Cinestaan and Film London, and
recently, Alankrita Srivastava’s
Lipstick Under My Burkha. The film
that opened the recently-conclud-
e d In d i a n Fi l m Fe s t i va l o f
Melbourne (IFFM) 2017, ran into
trouble with the Censor Board
before it could get its theatrical
release in July.
Other critically-acclaimed Indie
films like Masaan, M Cream and
Chauranga (all available for stream-
ing on Netflix), despite having
reached the silver screens, generated
no more than a ripple of interest
amongst the average moviegoers.
The arrival of Netflix and Amazon
Prime Video offers a glimmer of hope
to makers of Indian indies and film
connoisseurs alike. n
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