Glad that regional filmmakers are being celebrated more now: Abhishek Jain

Abhishek Jain, whose upcoming Gujarati film Maaran (starring Yash Soni and Deeksha Joshi in lead roles) was recently screened at the Kalinga Global Film Festival in Bhubaneswar, is “glad that regional filmmakers are being celebrated more than mainstream directors now.” The filmmaker tells us, “There were filmmakers from other regional industries like Odia, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali and Assamese at the festival. I think it’s a big deal that a lot of regional films are being screened at prestigious film festivals now. One of the biggest takeaways for me from this entire experience was that regional films are now getting their due and being celebrated more than the mainstream movies.”

‘Sometimes, we underestimate our audiences’

Abhishek adds, “I also feel that sometimes, we tend to underestimate our audiences. We have this perception that they are not ready for certain subjects. But one of my biggest learnings in recent times has been that they are ready for all kinds of subjects. If you keep offering them stereotypical content, it won’t work. If they are not going to the theatres, it’s not because they don’t want to go. You have to give them something that moves them. A lot of people have told me that they loved Kaashi Raaghav. That’s the kind of film that needs to be made.”

‘It was wonderful to screen Maaran in front of thousands of tribal kids’

Maaran, which won the Best Feature Film (jury) award at the 15th edition of the Chicago South Asian Film Festival (CSAFF), has created quite a buzz. Talking about the screening in Bhubaneswar, Abhishek tells us, “Himansu Sekhar Khatua (popular filmmaker and academician), who was also a jury member at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), had watched Maaran and he had told me that it needed to be screened at the Kalinga Global Film Festival and I must attend it too. The film is a social thriller that explores a dark theme and primarily, it is about women’s captivity in our society at large. He said that the tribal kids would relate to the story and it was a wonderful experience to screen the film at a stadium for them. There were thousands of kids at the screening and their cold reactions stunned me. Later, while interacting, a couple of them asked me if I had faced anything like what was shown in the film.”




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