All festival films needn’t have a theatrical release: Sruthi Hariharan

Selvamani Selvaraj’s Nila, which featured Sruthi Hariharan in the lead, was picked up by several film festivals, including Raindance Film Festival in London, last year. With many people raving about the project and Sruthi’s performance, did Sruthi feel that the film’s theatrical release here would have been better? “Of course not. I was among the primary people who constantly supported Selva in showing the film to a select audience.When you watch certain films, you will know that it will cater only to a certain sensibility. It is better that fewer of people watch it and appreciate it than showing it to a larger mass and probably have it criticised. You know that the narrative is such that it is not made for family entertainment. There are films like this and that’s why we call them a ‘festival film’. All festival films don’t find a theatrical release as all cannot be a Kaaka Muttai. Nila, too, was one such that required a select market. I am glad that this film was not out there to do with as they wish,” says Sruthi.