What's wrong in being desi, asks Bandit Queen producer

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">mumbai: bobby bedi, best known as the producer of bandit queen and fire, has just plunged into mainstream bollywood with saathiya. he is also the convenor of frames 2002, a global convention on the business of entertainment to be held by the federation of indian chambers of commerce and industry (ficci) on march 15-16.yet, this savvy producer, the md of kaleidoscope entertainment, thinks it’s fine if indian directors don’t look beyond the desi market. excerpts from an interview with times news network: <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">q:</span> as convenor of the ficci entertainment convention, what are your priorities? <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">a:</span> the industry is realising that with clean money and professionally made films, the chances of making better films, as well as profits, are higher. apart from institutions like industrial development bank of india, commercial banks like bank of india have earmarked funds for film finance. investment bankers and venture capitalists, who were hitherto chasing only it proposals, are now considering entertainment. apart from finance, another priority is piracy. the industry loses at least six to seven times its earnings to pirates. there is no alternative to faster prosecutions and tougher punishments. you need one guy in jail to start a clean-up operation. just as one guy arrested for his links to the underworld has seen clean money come in — from pantaloon, for instance. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">q:</span> how far will all this corporatisation take the industry, when hardly any directors have a global vision? <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">a:</span> corporatisation will not necessarily change the kind of films being made. in any case, it’s a myth that a film has to work with village, city, diaspora and white audiences. if dil chahta hai was sold as the designer film it is, and for a lower price in rural areas, it would have been a much wider hit. just as there are pears, lux and lifebuoy segments in soaps, the film market is large enough for everyone. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">q:</span> will lagaan’s oscar nomination significantly change the indian profile in world cinema? <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">a:</span> lagaan’s biggest handicap is its length. and its political correctness with a hindu, muslim and sardar loses all meaning in a country where we’re all seen as arabs! but i’m sure sony classics will spend a couple of million dollars to promote it, so if it gets seen and talked about, it will already have broken the barrier. yet, even if you consider manoj shyamalan, mira nair, deepa mehta and shekhar kapur, not all have made money abroad. and don’t forget that it was because shekhar kapur failed in bollywood — with his time machine and other projects — that he stuck out his neck with bandit queen. if he was successful here, he’d still be making bollywood films. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">q:</span> would you say we have had any genuine indian crossover films? <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">a:</span> we’ve had no crossovers since raj kapoor’s films, which worked in russia, china and iran. that’s because we have zero writing talent. javed akhtar’s last great film script was sholay in the 70s. now take sabrina dhawan who wrote monsoon wedding. she wove together four stories without missing a beat. but i think the mainstream indian director should stay in his cocoon. you can’t ignore the cocoon — it’s huge. our prime responsibility is our one-billion-strong market. you can’t thrust bollywood into the western psyche. if you’re successful in your niche, you don’t need to look beyond. in any case, only about three nri designer films work every year. you can’t raise the profile of indian cinema abroad with films called rhtdm, kkdd or some such. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">q:</span> with saathiya — (a hindi remake of mani rathnam’s tamil film alaipayuthe) — are you putting your money where your mouth is? <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">a:</span> absolutely. we finished the entire shoot in one month, quite something for a bollywood mainstream film. with sheer managerial skills, we cut production costs by 30 per cent. everyone was paid by cheque, including the light boys, and we were covered by insurance. in films like electric moon and bandit queen, i insisted that our insurance include political risks and producers’ errors and omissions, which covered me completely. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">q:</span> indian cinema is often dismissed overseas for its poor technical quality. is that improving? <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">a:</span> at the ficci convention, we will show a digital film with digital projection. we really need unity of digital content and delivery systems. as a beginning, kaleidoscope and its partners in delhi have started a school of convergence, offering a post-graduate programme on ‘content creation and management’ that stresses convergence. </div> </div>