Anurag Kashyap explores different platforms of film-making and exhibition with Amit Masurkar and Bardroy Barretto at the Knowledge Series 2015 at Film Bazaar‏

Day three of the Film Bazaar’s NFDC Knowledge Series had an interesting line up. The day’s second session was New Voices: Pushing Boundaries in Creation, Marketing, and Monetization which was moderated by filmmaker Anurag Kashyap while directors Amit Masurkar (Sulemani Keeda) and Bardroy Barretto (Nachoaea Kumpasar) shared insights on making and releasing their films.

Amit’s contemporary indie-classic Sulemani Keeda had a small theatrical release to garner good reviews and then it was released online on theviralfever.com. Amit said, “I made the film in 8.5 lacs because everyone worked for free and then we needed another 20 lacs to release the film. I didn’t go into crowd-funding because I didn’t’ want that obligation. We have had many people who championed the cause of the film.”

He added, “PVR Director’s Rare attached our trailer to all the big films. Theviralfever.com streamed the film a week after its release for hundred rupees per viewing and forty thousand people watched it. This model worked for our film. People have seen it even in small towns. However, I wouldn’t release my movie straight to internet because then people wouldn’t take it so seriously.”

Bardroy Barretto of Nachoaea Kumpasar which is a musical about the star-crossed romance between Goan musician Chris Perry and singer Lorna Cordeiro has made the movie over ten years and for the last year he has been distributing the 3-hor-long Konkani film. He said, “The movie is running for 1 year in one screen in Goa now and we volunteer at the screenings. We are banking on word-of-mouth publicity and I’m taking it to different platforms and cities, at our own pace. We did crowd-funding and within 4 years we expect to break even, repay our producers, and make more money.”

He added, “A multiplex release was not an option for me because of the language and duration of the film. Goan people like three-long movies and my movie is for the people of my hometown.”

Anurag Kashyap said that there are many ways to exhibit a movie and people need drive. “We must not run to distributors and exhibitors. We must let them come to us. Web series are a great option for us right now. Netflix has released Gangs of Wasseypur as a web-series now. The other advantage of a web series is that we do not need to deal with obnoxious censorship and we have creative freedom.”

He added, “If you have the drive to recover your money, you can make it happen. Guneet Monga, for example, took her movie from school to school in order to break-even.”