Commercial films should be added in Film Festivals: Aishwarya Dhanush

“Commercial films with great artistic values should be added along with parallel films in film festivals”, says Aishwarya Dhanush, director of Tamil film ‘3’. She was quoted saying this in the press meet of fifth day in the 17^th International Film Festival of Kerala.  

Aishwarya, who made it clear that she is new to film festivals, expressed her happiness on selecting her film for the special screening in the festival, which has international reputation. The special screening of the film in IFFK was at Nishagandhi Open Air auditorium, on the fifth day evening. The film being her directorial debut, is very close to her heart, Aishwarya added.  ‘Three’ was a viral hit, even before its release, thanks for its song, “Why this Kolaveri Di!”

Ballad of Rustom’s director and Oscar nominee Ajita Suchitra Veera expressed her doubts on the marketing problems faced by the parallel films, as these are not getting good distributors or enough space on screens. Ajita opposing the idea of branding films as commercial and art ones, made her view that cinema is to be treated as cinema only. She was also attending the press meet. Expressing her love towards IFFK, Suchitra said that here in the festival we have a film literate audience. Being the writer-director-producer of the film, Suchitra Veera, added that, she feels lucky to have her film included in IFFK.

On a question to both the women directors on the matter of budget and funding for their films, Aishwarya replied that producers only invest their money if they feel sure about the director’s talent. While Suchitra answered that, it is a herculean task to distribute and market films that are said to be ‘non-commercial ones’.

The press meet was also attended by Gajendra Ahire and Trupti Bhoir, the director and producer of the film, Touring Talkies. The film is on the life and challenges of a girl, who owns and runs a touring talkie. Trupti Bhoir added that this type of screening is now almost extinct in India and such talkies are now only seen in rural areas of Maharashtra. This film is a step forward for the revival of this method of screening.