'No Indian film at Cannes due to poor marketing'

CHENNAI: Their faces might have kicked off several ad campaigns, but Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor are not selling Indian movies at Cannes by walking the red carpet. What might help Indian movies is a full-fledged marketing strategy by the government at one of the biggest film festivals in the world, said director K Hariharan.
“National Film Development Corporation which set up a stall at this year’s Cannes festival should have taken efforts to educate the European audience about Indian cinema,” said Hariharan at a discussion on the film fest held at Alliance Francaise on Thursday.Only a sustained awareness campaign could make foreigners appreciate the cultural identity of India, said Hariharan, who is also the director of L V Prasad Film & TV Academy. Entrepreneur Sudhir Rao, who has been to Cannes twice, said the fest is an “unbelievable medley of effort by 400 people for 12 days”. The officials cover not just the ticketing section and upcoming actors but even monitor screenings.
This year, at the Marche du Film (film market), there were 9,826 participants from 103 countries. More than 800 movies were screened. “The whole city was abuzz with activity,” said Rao.
But Indian movies have not made a mark at the festival because nobody has bothered to take the effort, said Hariharan. “Bollywood is not Indian cinema. What we need to do is create awareness about the aesthetics of post-colonial cinema and the place of melodrama in our movies,” he said.
Tamil movies such as ‘Paruthiveeran’ and ‘Naan Kadavul’ were screened because of individual efforts. “We need people there to represent all our regional language movies as we grow as a powerful country. It is not about winning awards but having a cultural exchange which will nurture budding film-makers from India,” he said.