Bollywood gaining presence at Toronto film festival

Bollywood gaining presence at Toronto film festival
By Gurmukh Singh

Toronto, Sep 1 (IANS) Bollywood is no more just an item number at the
Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). It is fast becoming the
flavour of the world's premier film show, says a top organiser.

This year's festival, being held here Sep 4-13, will premiere Nandita
Das' "Firaaq" and Priyadarshan's "Kanchivaram", says festival
co-director Cameron Bailey.

Anees Bazmee's "Singh is Kinng" will also have its gala premiere, with
Akshay and Katrina Kaif in attendance.

"We have been premiering a big Bollywood film for the past three
years. And in the coming years, we will showcase a lot more Bollwyood
films here," Bailey told IANS in an interview.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: Considering that you are screening more than 300 films at the
festival, why are you not screening more from Bollywood which is the
world's largest film industry?

A: No, we have quite a powerful representation of Bollywood at every
festival. For the past three years we have been doing gala screening
of a major Bollywood film.

This year, we have Nandita Das' directorial debut "Firaaq", a powerful
drama set in Gujarat after the 2002 riots. We are getting Akshay and
Katrina for the gala premiere of "Singh is Kinng". I am also very
excited about Priyadarshan's "Kanchivaram" - it is the story of silk
workers in Tamil Nadu.

I have personally been doing selection from India for years and go
there twice a year to meet top Bollywood banners.

It is a fair guess that you will see more and more Bollywood films
here in the coming years. In fact, I am already in talks with a big
Bollywood banner to bring their film for premiere here in 2009.

Q: How is the festival different this year - your first as co-director?

A: We have films from more countries this year - 64 against 55 last
year. Then most of the films being screened are comedies. We didn't go
out there looking for comedies, but most of the 4,200 entries were in
that category. For example, we have a funny romantic comedy called
"Tultan" from Kazakhstan. People will love it - it shows how humour
works there.

Q: You have been associated with the festival since the early 1990s.
How has it changed over the years?

A: We are a lot bigger now and getting films from all parts of the
world. More films make their world premiere in Toronto now. When I
started here in early 1990s, it was hard to get a film for premiere
here - but now film makers want their premiere here. We are better
known in India now, and Bollywood wants to bring their films to us
first.

Q: How do you rate TIFF vis-à-vis Cannes and the Berlin film festival?

A: We are the leading film festival in the world now. But one of the
biggest differences between us and Cannes is that they are an industry
festival where business related to the industry is done. We are as
much about the film industry as the audience. In fact, we are a
people's film festival which sells more than 300,000 tickets each
year.

Q: But why has not the festival helped the Canadian film industry grow?

A: There is not so much money in the film industry here as compared to
Hollywood and Bollywood. Our film industry is very small, but the
festival has launched so many names who became very big later. We
premiered Deepa Mehta's "Sam & Me" in 1991 when nobody knew her, and
today she is world renowned.

This year, we are introducing outdoor performances as part of the festival.

-- 
FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org
Blog: http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com
Tech links from South Asia: http://twitter.com/fn

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