On the big screen

Spread over three weekends, one of the up-and-coming alternate performing spaces in the city, Harkat Studio, is attempting to revisit Hindi classics that have influenced three different generations of filmmakers. The film festival, hosted in association with NFDC (National Film Development Corporation), will screen films such as Mammo, Dharavi, Salaam Bombay, Gaman, the cult classic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron and Raghu Romeo among others.

Michaela Strobel, who runs the studio along with her husband Karan Talwar, says that although they were keen on hosting a film festival for a long time, the opportunity only presented itself with the NFDC’s Film Aaj-Kal Festival. “With the growing influence of culture spaces, NFDC decided against hosting the fest in a multiplex, opting for a live performing space like ours instead. The space, they thought, does justice to the films since we provide an alternate setting than a PVR,” she says.

The idea of the film festival was to juxtapose old classics with today’s scene, says Anupama Bose, consultant for festivals at NFDC. “We took two similar films but with a different filmmaking process.” For instance, the studio picked up Gaman, which is the ’70s New Wave film starring Farooq Shaikh and Smita Patil. “The classic is juxtaposed with Taxi No 9211, which has tongue in cheek humour — so you see, a different filmmaking process,” she explains, adding that they have picked films by directors who have no just made indie films but have grown to contribute to conventional mainstream cinema as well — Sudhir Mishra, Mira Nair, among others.

After the screenings, each film also includes a question-answer session with the audiences. “These are also some of the most iconic films of all times, and in so way, they are an intense reflection of the lives we live in,” explains Michaela. When asked about the curation process behind the films, Karan lists the criteria. “While the films to be screened were decided by NFDC itself, there were certain pointers when picking the films. We checked how politically important the film was and the quality of conversation it would allow. And then, we picked up films whose writers or directors were available for a chat with the audiences,” he clarifies.

Nazhat Shaikh, director of finance at NFDC, elaborates on why the film body didn’t go for the quintessential theatre or multiplex. “At NFDC, the idea of development is not limited to developing talent only. We would like to enable mainstream and indie films to co-exist. To meet this objective, we are constantly striving to develop audiences and alternate viewing spaces for the filmmaking and film viewing community.”

What emboldens the survival of alternate spaces in the city is participation of the community. “It is very easy to go to a multiplex, get some popcorn and watch a film. But, at NFDC, we feel that it is in these interactive community sessions with like-minded people that one can get a deeper understanding and expand the audience base,” says Anupama, adding, “We want people to get together and discover new films, start conversations about existing good films and get to know the behind-the-scenes through the directors — this ensures a healthy to and fro of information, enabling people to really grow as an audience,” she concludes.

The film festival will start from July 15, 7 pm onwards. At Harkat Studios, Bungalow No. 75, JP Road, Aram Nagar Part 2, Versova, Andheri (W), Contact 9819682673