Bollywood’s increasing presence in film festivals like IFFI through financial means is unfair to independent filmmakers who rely on government support and a platform to showcase their work, said veteran documentary filmmaker Arvind Sinha on Tuesday. Sinha, who leads the non-feature film section of Indian Panorama at the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI), made these remarks as the festival kickstarted on Monday evening in Panaji.
He said, “What is to be promoted (through IFFI) is good cinema. Bollywood has its own money, finance, muscle power, through all these things they are getting into these spaces”. The filmmaker added that it is not the fault of Bollywood and said that people “who are making the decision should have clarity that public taxpayers money should not be spent on filmmakers like Karan Johar” as he has a lot of money, as quoted by Indian Express.
“They (IFFI organisers) have to support the documentary filmmakers, feature filmmakers who need support. There are no rajas-maharajas to support the artists, the government should support any work of art…Why should these spaces be given to those who already have everything? They don’t need support from the government. What are they doing here? The film festival is not for them. The film festival should be for good cinema,” he said in reference to the heavy Bollywood presence at the ceremony on Monday.
The 54th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa kicked off with a star-studded opening ceremony, showcasing the grandeur of cinema. Headlined by Shahid Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit, the event was a mix of glamour and artistry, featuring stars like Shriya Saran, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Pankaj Tripathi, as well as musical maestros Shantanu Moitra, Shreya Ghoshal and Sukhwinder Singh. Aparshakti Khurana and Karishma Tanna are set to host the ceremony at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, marking the beginning of the film gala in Goa.
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