More than any of the corporate production houses, big Bollywood studios like Yash Raj Films, and Disney-UTV, and red carpet walking stars, it is the art-house banner led by Anurag Kashyap that is going all out to create a kind of ‘hawa’ and buzz about Indian cinema at the 65th Festival de Cannes like never before. The AKP contingent has almost 50 members including the star cast, crew, and marketing team of their films PEDDLERS, and GANGS OF WASSEYPUR PART 1 & 2, attending the most important film festival of the world.
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| view ANURAG KASHYAP AT JAMESON CULT FILM CLUB PARTY – photo gallery |
It has employed an international publicist, appointed a global sales agent, and is well supported in these efforts by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Eros International, two leading distributors of Indian content today. Unlike what happened in 2010 when the lack of publicity and marketing push did not get the kind of mileage they should have received for UDAAN, an Un Certain Regard selection, they are going all out this time and following everything in the book to make a big splash here.
Their initiative involves special media and trade screenings of GANGS OF WASSEYPUR and PEDDLERS, a lunch and cocktail party hosted by Viacom18 Motion Pictures at the NFDC India Pavilion, and a debate forum on Bollywood’s changing place within Indian cinema.
(Rajesh Kumar Singh is Editorial Consultant for Festivals and Markets for BollywoodTrade.com. He is a filmmaker, critic and market analyst)
