National award winning Bollywood filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia has urged the young filmmakers to look for digital platforms to survive against the big budget films like ‘Bahubali’ and Hollywood films.
Taking part at the first Guwahati International Film Festival (GIFF), the ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ director also pitched for unity among the film fraternity for survival of regional cinema.
He said that the smaller units with lesser budget films have also yielded good results.
“We have to cut down on costs by opting for smaller units. Otherwise Hollywood will kill us. We have to start off with making films on smaller budgets and continue doing so. In the long run, only Bahubalis and Hollywood movies will dominate the theatres. The rest have to look for digital platforms to sustain,” Dhulia, who has also acted in several memorable roles, including Gangs of Wasseypur, said in Guwahati on Wednesday.
Citing his own example while making national award winning ‘Paan Singh Tomar’, he said despite of drastic cut in the budget, they continued with the film.
“We continued with whatever budget we had in hand. It was screened in very limited screens. And the rest is history,” said Dhulia who directed the Kenny Basumatary-starrer Raag Desh.
On regional films failing to take market with competition from higher budget films, Dhulia urged regional film-makers to explore the digital platforms more vibrantly. “And also if the film fraternity and the well-wishers are stand united, we can create a political pressure which will help in reviving regional cinema,” he added.
On the digital filmmaking process, he highlighted some negatives which impact on the creativity of the filmmaker.
“Technology has helped and killed cinema at the same time. Digital technology has killed creativity. It has made us lazy. We do not do our homework anymore,” said Dhulia.
But the merits of the digital platform for cinema viewing as the next big thing to happen, he added.
