Indian cinema is branded as Bollywood the world over: Bappaditya Bandopadhyay

Bappaditya Bandopadhyay on the external forces that influence the film industry
Are you happy with the selection of the Gujarati film The Good Road as India���s entry to the Oscars this year? Like a lot is spoken about the National Award committee every year, there���s always some controversy or the other about the Oscar committee in India. For long, it was dominated by renowned filmmakers from Mumbai.And Hindi films would go abroad. Today, Indian cinema is branded as Bollywood the world over. That apart, independent cinema like The Lunchbox or Miss Lovely is fast gaining ground. Also, there are other issues. You need Rs 50 crore to promote the film abroad. The movie will need to have a theatrical release in America and you have to pay from your pocket to screen the film for the jury members. I can���t remember if a Bengali film was ever considered by the Oscar committee though Satyajit Ray was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy. Though many of us have grown up on American films, Oscars is ultimately a Hollywood award. For me, winning a Palme d���Or is more important than getting selected for the Oscars.
And what���s the status of Bengali films?
Over the years, Bengali cinema has become marginalized in the international circuit. It had achieved a great height of popularity once, but that���s not there anymore. The directors make political films, there���s always a fear that they might land in deep trouble. Add to that, the deep-rooted desire to make feel-good films. We are only concerned about a few Bangali babus who go to the multiplexes. We refuse to see beyond. But there are people like Anurag Kashyap, who are looking beyond.
Coming to your film, why did you choose to call it Nayika Sangbad? In essence, is there a similarity with the Uttam Kumar-Anjana Bhowmick starrer?
The Uttam-Anjana classic has a great nostalgic value and I wanted to celebrate that. That film was influenced by The Roman Holiday, yet it held the mirror to the time in which it was made ��� late ���60s. In my film, the heroine fights for a life of glitz and glamour. Somewhere, there���s a connect. I���ve also reflected on the darkness beneath glamour. Now, media, politics have all got involved in cinema. It wasn���t so before. While there were film magazines, now even the first page of a newspaper has entertainment headlines.
How different is Nayika Sangbad from Madhur Bhandarkar���s Heroine?
My film was shot before the release of Madhur���s film. I wasn���t aware of the film, but saw it later. See, a heroine���s life cannot be very different, but the story bears no resemblance. I have used cinema as a metaphor, it could have been any other field. There are many who asked me why a film like Nayika Sangbadafter Elar Char Adhyay. But I have always tried to change myself. After Houseful, this is my second film on the film industry.
Nayika Sangbad, produced by Dreamz Movies and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, releases on September 27.