In a fireside chat at the India International Film Tourism Conclave 2022 promoted by Harshad Bhagwat producer Siddharth Roy Kapur gave out his success mantra to a discerning audience consisting of twenty countries who had come to pitch their locations to Indian filmmakers – ‘Follow your gut’.
In a discussion with Mikael Svensson, Head – the South Sweden Film Commission and Co-President of the European Film Commission Network the founder and MD of Roy Kapur Films said that he has always been in love with the story before he decided to produce it. Commenting on the occasion he said, “When we decided to produce ‘Rang De Basanti’ in 2005 many people warned us that the film may not work well as in the ending the (lead) cast dies, but we followed our gut. The success of the film paved the way for many more such projects and newcomers in the industry. Ronnie Screwvala backed talent whose stories we loved, irrespective of what the market or trade pundits might think.”
Answering a question by Mikael on his favorite film as a producer Siddharth answered ‘The Last Film Show’ without batting an eyelid. Continuing the conversation he said, “The last film show is one of my favourite films as it makes the viewers fall in love with the cinemas. An Indian Oscar is long due and all of us are keeping our fingers crossed. We Indians have a special grammar in our films unlike others, namely the song and dance sequences. Many people might not like them, but I strongly feel that they should survive. Our country has space for both international cinema, regional cinema, and Hindi language cinema – due to the large audience size and the large Indian diaspora spread globally, whenever we start a film, it is primarily the Indian audiences that we keep in mind.”
Commenting on the South Indian Film industry Siddharth said, “The south Indian cinema is having its renaissance moment. The audiences have started accepting and appreciating such films.”
On what goes behind in choosing a shoot location for the film, the 48-year-old filmmaker revealed saying, “We as filmmakers want to be true to the script and hence prefer to shoot at the actual locations as in the script. However, budget sometimes plays a role and if we get something that may not look like a force fit and still be in our budgets, then we select that location.”
Mikael also told the audience a lesser-known fact about the ex-President of the Producers Guild of India, he used to love acting in school and college and was the head of his college Dramatics Society.
Siddharth laughingly said, “Producers are acting all the time. I enjoyed acting in school and college days but being an actor professionally is different. I realized the differences early on and became a producer as I believe it suited me more as a person.”
There was also a round table discussion on the formula for cross-border collaborations with Sigmund Elias Holm, Film Commissioner, Western Norway Film Commission, Sameer Al Jaberi – Head of Locations & Government Resources Abu Dhabi Film Commission, and Emin Guliyev, Head of Film Production, Filming Azerbaijan. They were joined by producer Gaurav Bose, Director, The Vermillion World, Chitra Subramaniam, Sr. VP Creative & Production, Reliance Entertainment, and Himanshu Dhanuka, Director at Eskay Movies. The session was moderated by Dr. Bhuvan Lall, celebrated Author, Filmmaker, Entrepreneur, and Biographer of Subhas Bose, Har Dayal, Sardar Patel, and Gautam Buddha. The panel discussed a formula for forging strong partnerships. The role of film commissions was also highlighted while selecting international locations. Both sides i.e., the film commissioners and the producers then shared some practical suggestions and actionable insights emerging from their past experiences.
The evening was the second day of the 3-day mega film tourism event featuring over 50 international companies from over 20 countries coming to Bollywood, Mumbai to woo Indian filmmakers. The event saw participation from countries including Azerbaijan, Abu Dhabi, Krakow, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, Norway, Oman, Panama, Poland, Sri Lanka, Sweden, and Yas Island to name a few.