Festivals allow us to celebrate arts for art's sake: Siddharth Roy Kapur

Film producer Siddharth Roy Kapur, one of the trustees of Jio MAMI 19th Mumbai Film Festival with Star, says film festivals create a platform where producers can keep the commercial aspect of a movie aside and celebrate "art for art's sake."

Kapur, who was present at the annual press conference of the festival on Thursday, 15 September, believes that this year film lovers can expect a wide platter of films, that are not only from world cinema, but also from the regional kitty.

Asked if a film festival gives filmmakers a chance to share movies with a wider audience without fearing the box office pressure, Kapur told IANS: "Well yes, I think as producers we have to keep various aspects in mind, what is the saleability of the film, will it play to a wider audience, which genre shall we put the film in and other marketing aspects. But here (at film festivals), it allows us to keep the commercial hat aside. I, personally look at a festival differently from commercial propositions. So, it is a celebration of art for art's sake... we enjoy the process of filmmaking and film watching."

Agreeing that film watching is also an art like filmmaking, Kapur said: "An initiative like MAMI gives the audience a chance to get exposed to a lot of films, specially ones that we do not get to watch even online. Once they (audience) get access to more and more cinema, they will get familiar with the different language of cinema from various parts of the world. Then it will be easier for them to appreciate more... MAMI is the celebration of cinema."

The taste of the audiences is changing radically, especially among the youngsters, owing to easy access to world entertainment. Did the festival curators select films keeping this aspect in mind?

"Yes, one of our festival directors Smriti Kiran worked thoroughly on that and she is working closely with the team of curators and making sure that the films are coming from multiple languages, multiple countries... films that will never be seen on screen here.Our team is working on the list of films that are as eclectic as possible," he said.

The festival starts with one of the earlier events of Movie Mela on 7 October, whereas, the main festival will be held from 12 -19 October, 2017.