You can’t make a dhoom-dhadaka, maar-peet film for a global audience: Ramesh Meer

Industry insiders would vouch how, not so long back, filmmakers and stars would use the word “different” to distinguish their film. This reflected an industry trend of the time when serious cinema and entertainment were seen, crudely, as two distinct paths. One could entertain, but to be taken seriously, one had to change the lane. This tension between the market and the content has been an ongoing struggle for filmmakers, both in domestic as well as international markets.

While film festivals have always been a nurturing ground for small and independent films, the lines between small and big, mainstream and peripheral, commerce and art are blurring. In 2018, the success of high-concept films like Andhadhun, Badhai Ho, and October and the failure of star-driven films like Zero and Thugs Of Hindustan have muddied these long-held distinctions in a more pronounced manner.

In a session on post-production at the Diorama International Film Festival & Market (DIFF), industry expert Ramesh Meer, CEO, FX Factory advocated for a content focused film as opposed to a star-studded success formula of the past. “We’re in a global marketplace but we’re not Hollywood. We can’t afford to spend 50-60% of our budget on marketing. You have to be different. You can’t make a dhoom-dhadaka, maar-peet film for global audience,” argued Meer.

In the session, Meer further discussed the role of post-production in making small films more polished for a broad audience beyond Indian cinema’s global market share of 4.6%. He argued, as Indian cinema expands its global presence, there is 95.4% of market share outside its territory that needs to be mobilized.

The session focused on the role of small budget films and the industry insiders, including several filmmakers, producers, and distributors at the festival attested to the fact that a new global market is emerging for small filmmakers and the language of difference is no more a distinguishing quality, but rather a new industry norm.