Opinion Mainstream indie

Please spot the anomaly in that last sentence. Yes,it’s the word “release”. Independent or indie films like Ship Of Theseus,with their esoteric titles,their decidedly non-starry cast and the stated absence of Bollywood staples,do not usually get a theatrical release. Derisively dubbed “festival-type films”,these movies usually travel from one festival to another,gather acclaim on foreign shores and wilt sadly thereafter. Ship Of Theseus has managed to break that barrier. It has got into the big metro multiplex,even if in limited shows,and has drawn viewers. That makes it poised to become the first Indian “mainstream independent” film.

“Mainstream” and “independent” have traditionally been on opposite sides of the spectrum. By definition,indies do not fit comfortably into the sort of marketable niche that mainstream cinema lives by. In Hollywood,a middle ground was created by giant studios that launched subsidiary companies to produce and distribute this other content. Independent producers like Miramax sprang up to mentor this cinema. And film festivals like Sundance came up to showcase such movies,made by people with minimal funds and maximum out-of-the-box ideas.

But the power of big money is so strong that these voices have either been silenced or tamped down. New Line Cinema of Warner Bros was merged with the parent company a few years ago. Harvey Weinstein of Miramax,the big daddy of the non-studio-type American films,has,over the years,shifted much more to the centre. Sundance regulars have been complaining that the festival has become much more a home for the comfortably different,rather than the disturbingly different: difference itself has become a trope.

Bollywood has had very few experiments of a similar nature. Most production houses have noble intentions,but quickly revert to type when it comes to bad box office. A UTV Motion Pictures division,UTV Spotboy,had begun with great fanfare,but it is now much more middle-of-the-road: from the edgy Dev D in 2009,it has moved to being credited for the much more populist Anybody Can Dance in 2013. There is still some hope in Phantom Films,helmed by Anurag Kashyap and three partners,which produced films that are strong on content and storytelling: its first outing was Lootera.

But these films are not really independent in the truest sense of the word. These are films that are not,quite simply,attached to a supersize Khan or Khanna. Their performers may not be A-list,but they are all faces that are known,and the films themselves are glossed-up products created by the quantum of cash that only big studios can provide. Even a Paan Singh Tomar,a UTV film,had familiar faces,and a fan base that would go to see an Irrfan movie.

Ship Of Theseus is a real indie. Its very spirit is independent. It tells a story that deals with the big issues of life. It has unknown faces (except for producer Sohum Shah,who came on board when director Anand Gandhi was finding funds a no go and has done some acting),it revels in its intelligence,its conversations,in the connections it makes and invites viewers to make: it is uncompromising in its vision. There is no pandering.

How do you market such a movie? How do you make sure it gets a mainstream release? Perhaps its only chance of success was the enthusiastic support of Kiran Rao. By virtue of being uniquely positioned — wife of a superstar Khan (Aamir),who is also a marketing whiz,and therefore with access to a big studio and its machinery (UTV keeps redeeming itself with its slate and needs to be lauded for picking up Ship of Theseus) — Rao has helped Ship Of Theseus get out there. Rao’s own sensibility is indie,as evident from her debut film Dhobhi Ghat,but her reach brings her straight into the mainstream.

Could this be the start of something new and welcome? Non-star films,star-supporters? There is news that Karan Johar will help debutant Ritesh Batra’s much-feted-in-Cannes Lunch Box get a desi release in a couple of months. The film has Irrfan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui,stars in their own right,but it is not an easy film to market because it is not your average potboiler by any stretch. With Karan Johar behind it,though,it will get propelled into theatres.

Please welcome,the mainstream indie.

shubhra.gupta@expressindia.com