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A WIDE OPEN FIELD 66TH BERLINALE COMPETITION

Films competing for honour at Berlinale will zero in on the social and inter-personal contradictions underlining human stories that go beyond the particular and embrace the universal.

By Saibal Chatterjee 6

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Fire at Sea

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he world as we know it, with its conflicts and scars, will be in full view in two top-draw documentaries competing for the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlinale: Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire at Sea and Alex Gibney’s Zero Days.

These two films, in turn, will probably set the tone for the rest of Competition lineup. As always, most of these contenders – 18 in all – will zero in on the social and inter-personal contradictions underlining human stories that go beyond the particular and embrace the universal.

Fire at Sea is a timely migrant crisis-themed film that explores the vicissitudes of life on the island of Lempedusa, which has been the landing place for migrants from Africa and the Middle East for two decades.

Rosi spent many months on the island located 200 km off Italy’s southern coast to understand the challenges that the 6000-strong community here faces amid its regular brushes with tragedy.

Many asylum-seekers, who set out in dangerous circumstances for this island in the hope of a better life in Europe virtually every month, end up dead on its shores.

The Italian-American filmmaker’s previous documentary ‘Sacra GRA’, which charted the lives of people along a long ring road that runs around the city of Rome, won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2013.

Oscar-winning documentarian Gibney’s Zero Days turns the spotlight on victims of cybercrime and internet surveillance.

The film that investigates the Stuxnet virus attack on Iran’s nuclear program by the US and Israel is a cautionary tale about the dangers inherent in the un-

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Zero Days

24 Weeks

Cross Current

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bridled exercise of technological and geopolitical power.

Fire at Sea and Zero Days would be the two contenders that the 16 other films in Competition will have to keep at bay as a jury headed by Hollywood star Meryl Streep assesses all of them before announcing the winners.

The composition of the seven-member main Competition jury is interesting in that it is dominated by actors. On it are Germany’s Lars Eidinger, Britain’s Clive Owen and Italy’s Alba Rohrwacher.

The only filmmaker in the jury this year is Poland’s Malgorzata Szumowska, whose last film Body won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 65th Berlin Film Festival.

In the Competition lineup of the 66th Berlinale are two first features. One of them has been made by British theatre veteran Michael Grandage. His film, Genius, celebrates the life and work of iconic New York literary editor Max Perkins, who worked with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe.

Genius, based on a book by A Scott Berg, has Colin Firth in the pivotal role in a cast that includes Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Guy Pearce.

The other debut feature in the running for the festival’s top prize is Tunisian director Mohamed Ben Attia’s Inhebbek Hedi.

It tells the story of a diffident young man who discovers his will to assert himself when he falls in love with a woman working in a Tunis resort.

The Berlin Competition has a host of other titles with the potential to emerge as frontrunners for the Golden Bear.

Watch out for Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s The Commune, his followup to the much applauded The Hunt, and Danis Tanovic’s Bosnian drama Death in Sarajevo, set in a hotel that is preparing to welcome a delegation of important diplomats on the centenary of the assassination that is considered to have sparked World War 1.

Filipino maverick Lav Diaz competes with the eight-hour-long A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery, which, like many of his films, delves into the history and present political realities of his country through loosely connected stories.

Septuagenarian French director Andre Techine’s Being 17 homes in on two bickering grammar schoolmates, a boy and a girl, who can barely stand each other.

Their lives take a turn when, on the invitation of the girl’s mother, the two have to live under the same roof.

A second Gallic film in the Berlin Competition is Mia Hansen-Love’s fifth feature Things to Come, starring Isabelle Huppert as a philosophy teacher in a Parisian grammar school who is forced to take stock of her life as unexpected changes

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Genius

Inhebbek Hedi sweep over it.

Other European films in the 2016 Competition are Anne Zohra’s Berached’s 24 Weeks (Germany), Iranian-born British director Rafi Pitts’ Soy Nero (Germany/France/ Mexico), Swiss actor-director Vincent Perez’s Alone in Berlin (Germany), Ivo M Ferreira’s Letters from War (Portugal) and Tomasz Wasilewski’s United States of Love (Poland).

A brace of films from Asia, Yang Chao’s Crosscurrent (China) and Mani Haghighi’s A Dragan Arrives! (Iran), could prove to be the dark horses.

The solitary American film in this mix is Jeff Nichols’ first-ever studio production Midnight Special, a sci-fi action thriller starring Adam Driver, Michael Shannon, Kirsten Dunst and Joel Edgerton.

North America is also represented in the Competition by Quebecois director Denis Cote’s Boris Without Beatrice, a relationship drama about a successful man grapples with his inner demons as his equally successful wife is down with depression.

While media attention is bound to be trained on the Competition, the big bangs could also be delivered by the five titles that will play out of competition.

Lee Tamahori’s Mahana (The Patriarch), the veteran filmmaker’s first Kiwi film in two decades, will keenly be watched.

Set in 1960s rural New Zealand, it focuses on two sheep-shearing families battling each other for supremacy as much in the shearing sheds as in their vexed personal lives.

The Patriarch reunites the team that created that unforgettable Kiwi classic, Once Were Warriors (1994) – actor Temuera Morrison, producer Robin Scholes and director Tamahori, who among other things helmed the 20th James Bond film, Die AnLIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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Lullaby

The Commune other Day. The Coen brothers’ Hail, Caesar, like their early 1990s comedy-drama Barton Fink, journeys back to Hollywood’s golden era – the 1950s – to tell a breezy tale about the making of a film within a film. This is one film that few in Berlin this year would want to miss.

Pretty much the same would be true of two other out-of-competition entries, German director Dominik Moll’s News from Planet Mars and Spike Lee’s already buzzed-about Chi-Raq. What about the other Berlinale sections this year? For this critic, the Panorama selection looks just as packed with riches as the complement of Competition films.

In here is the latest film by Germany’s Doris Dorrie’s Fukushima, Mon Amour, about a young German who woman and her unlikely bonding with the last geisha in catastrophe-struck Fukushima.

Also in Panorama are Rachid Bouchareb’s Road to Istanbul, a film about a Belgian mother who sets out across the Turkish border to look for her 20-year-old daughter who leaves to join the Islamic State terrorists.

At the other end of the spectrum is Brazilian filmmaker Anna Muylaert’s Don’t Call Me Son, an intense exploration of a mother-son relationship that seems destined to achieve the high of the director’s previous film, The Second Mother.

Saibal Chatterjee is an independent New Delhi-based film critic and writer who has worked on the staff of several leading publications, served on the editorial board of Encyclopaedia Britannica’s volume on Hindi cinema and authored a biography of poet-filmmaker Gulzar.

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INDIAN CINEMA IN BERLINALE GENERATION

CHILD’S PLAY PAYS OFF

This year’s Berlin Film Festival will see India being represented by two Generation films – Nagraj Manjule’s Sairat (Wild) in 14plus and Jayaraj’s Ottaal (The Trap) in Kplus. Both contenders have a strong chance of pulling off a win or two

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wo Indian films have made the Berlinale Generation cut this year. This brace comes on the heels of three other films from the country that have been showcased and applauded in the section in the recent past.

So, can the world’s most prolific film-producing nation now be regarded as a regular fixture in the Berlin Film Festival’s Generation program?

In 2007, at the 57th Berlinale, Rajnesh Domalpalli’s independent Telugu-language film Vanaja, which was screened in the Generation section, went on to win the festival’s ‘best first feature award’.

The film told the story of a 14-year-old daughter of a low-caste fisherman who works at the home of a landlady who also deigns to train her in classical Kuchipudi dance.

However, the girl’s vulnerability, caused as much by her weak social status as her gender, inevitably comes in the way of her aspirations.

After a longish lull, India was back to winning ways at the Berlinale in 2012, when Rajan Khosa’s Gattu earned a Special Mention from the international jury of the Generation Kplus section at the 62nd Berlinale.

Since then two other Indian films have figured among the awardwinners in the category.

In 2014, at the 64th Berlinale, Avinash Arun’s wonderfully crafted Marathi-language film Killa bagged the Generation Kplus Crystal Bear, besides garnering a Special Mention from the section’s international jury.

In the same category last year, Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dhanak (Rainbow) registered a double whammy, wresting the Grand Prix awarded by the international jury as well as a Special Mention from the children’s jury.

This year’s Berlin Film Festival will see India being represented by two Generation films – Nagraj Manjule’s Sairat (Wild) in 14plus and Jayaraj’s Ottaal (The Trap) in Kplus. Both contenders have a strong chance of pulling off a win or two.

Sairat is Marathi poet and filmmaker Manjule’s second feature.

The director’s first film, the much-applauded Fandry, was a fiery cinematic tract that pulled no punches in exposing the ugliness of caste discrimination in India.

In Sairat, the filmmaker yet again focuses on class and caste dynamics through the story of bright young village boy’s relationship with a girl who belongs to a higher strata of society.

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OTTAAL (THE TRAP)

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The 66th Berlinale catalogue says: “Beyond the glamour of Bollywood, Sairat is an epic love story that takes a critical look at Indian society in the 21st century.”

Running twice – or more – the length of most of the other films in the Berlinale Generation 14plus section this year, Sairat is a revisionist tale that seeks to turn popular Mumbai cinema’s romance genre on its head by placing at its centre a lower-caste hero.

Ottaal (The Trap), which is in the Generation Kplus category aimed at audiences aged four and above, is a children’s film that goes well beyond the confines of the genre and addresses environmental and

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socio-economic issues.

It is a haunting exploration of the real dangers that children face in a world that is too insensitive to understand their little aspirations.

An adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s 19th century short story Vanka, Ottaal is set in the watery landscape of Kuttanad in Kerala, southern India.

It celebrates the tender bond that an eightyear-old orphan has with his grandfather – and nature.

The young protagonist works on a duck farm and revels in the innocence and freedom of childhood. With gentle but telling strokes, the film probes the brittleness of

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SAIRAT (WILD) the boy’s dreams.

Ottaal is Jayaraj’s second film to make it to the Berlin Film Festival. Fifteen years ago, his Karunam was screened in the Berlinale Forum.

The fact that both Sairat and Ottaal are in Berlin’s Generation category, as has already been stressed, marks an extension of a glorious run that Indian films have had in this section.

Two other Indian cinematic essays – Avinash Arun’s Killa (Marathi, 2014) and Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dhanak (Hindi, 2015) – have since been awarded at what is among Europe’s top three films festivals along with the ones hosted annually in

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Cannes and Venice.

The success of the films like Killa and Dhanak in Berlin is rather ironic because the mass audience in India is not known to patronize cinematic tales meant for younger audiences.

Not that children’s films aren’t made in this vast country of a billion-plus people, but a large percentage of these remain unreleased unless they can enlist the support of the mainstream Mumbai industry in the manner of Chillar Party and Stanley Ka Dabba.

While Gattu, which was funded by the Children’s Film Society India when actress and filmmaker Nandita Das was at

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INDIAN WINNERS AT BERLINALE GENERATION

Vanaja (2007, Best Feature Film Award)

Gattu (2011, Special Mention from the international jury)

Killa (2014, Generation Kplus Crystal Bear)

Dhanak (2015,Grand Prix and Special Mention from the children’s jury)

the helm of the organisation, and Killa have managed to get a limited commercial release, Dhanak, bankrolled by Manish Mundra’s Drishyam Films, is still awaiting distribution in the domestic market despite winning two Berlinale awards.

The international jury applauded the depth of humanity in Dhanak, the story of a visually impaired boy and his slightly older who set out across the desert in Rajasthan in order to meet Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan who they believe can restore the former’s eyesight.

Its citation read: “This dynamically-directed film delivers joy and heartbreak in equal measure… Filled with colour, magic, music, spontaneity and plenty of emotion, this film lives up to its name and delivers a celebration of life to savour long after the end credits roll.”

Gattu and Killa, too, picked up equally glowing notices, projecting India as a land that has much to offer to an involved explorer.

The international jury that bestowed a Special Mention on Gattu, the tale of an unlettered small-town boy obsessed with kite flying, had this to say in support of its decision: “…The potential for life’s wonder could be seen in every child’s eye…

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In particular, the boundless ingenuity of the young rascal was utterly compelling.

We award this film for capturing the ironies, the complexities and the vitality of India.”

Killa, about a boy coming to grips with his father’s death and his mother’s consequent relocation to an unfamiliar place, was a runaway favourite of both the jury and the audiences in Berlin in 2014.

The children’s jury of the Generation Kplus section was bewitched enough by the film to say: “This film convinced us in all respects: with its good camera work and the great actors, but also because of its incredibly beautiful nature images which blend perfectly with the music. The film made us all want to discover India.”

That probably says it all. It is when a film reveals a nation and true aspects of its culture to the world with honesty, clarity and cinematic flair that it strikes a chord with the audience.

Berlinale observers will be keeping an eye on Sairat and Ottaal, hoping for a repeat the magic that India has been weaving on young audiences in one of the world’s premier film festivals.

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INDIAN M&E COMPANIES AT EFM

Over 50 Indian showbiz companies are at Berlin during this year’s European Film Market STAR ENTERTAINMENT WORLDWIDE PVT. LTD. Tripat Paul Aggarwal

VISWAAS FILMS (P) LTD Viswas Sundhar

PVR LTD. Sanjeev Bijli

VISTAAR ENTERTAINMENT Sheetal Talwar

DRISHYAM FILMS PVT. LTD. Shraddha Chauhan

PLA ENTERTAINMENT PVT. LTD. Shona Urvashi

Alliance Media & Entertainment PVT. Ltd. Sunil Doshi

RELATIVITY INTERNATIONAL Ishan Saksena

METRO PICTURES LLP Ranchor Jumani

WSG PICTURES Sanjay Ram

PICTUREWORKS Avinaash Jumani

AGGARWAL FILMS Sukhwinder Singh

VR FILMS AND STUDIOS PVT LTD Manish Dutt

PIRATES Kriti Raheja

SIKHYA ENTERTAINMENT Guneet Monga

SUPERFINE FILMS INTERNATIONAL LLP Jain Kamal

BOMBAY BERLIN FILM PRODUCTION LLP Katharina Suckale

LOVE & FAITH Varun Shah

MUMBAI ACADEMY OF MOVING IMAGE Kiran Rao

METRO PICTURES LLP Amit Jumani

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The disruption in the industry is already visible and 2016 will have clear answers on the future of ďƒžlm distribution in global and regional markets

EFM Opens With Optimism

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s the first film market of the year, the European Film Market (EFM), part of the 66th Berlin International Film Festival, opened on a high note. The exhibition spaces at Martin-Gropius-Bau and the Marriott Hotel at Potsdamer Platz are buzz with activity and more than 8,000 producers, exhibitors, world sales, buyers and financiers are at Berlin.

The talking point at EFM is the Streaming and VOD market which are showing signs of increasingly becoming new normal. The disruption is already visible and 2016 will have clear answers on the future of film distribution in global and regional markets.

The EFM is one of the most significant platforms for trade in international film rights and audiovisual content. As the first industry event of the year, it is a compass for the newest developments.

“Our new initiatives are an appropriate reaction to the development of and great changes in the international film and media landscape.

The positive resonance last February confirmed our intention to increase these offerings within the Market’s activities,” says Matthijs Wouter Knol, EFM Director since 2014. “This year as well, we are concerned with offering our exhibitors and participants the optimal environment, as well as opportunities relating to infrastructure and content”, says EFM President Beki Probst.

BOLLYWOOD IN GERMANY

ZEE ENTERTAINMENT ADDS GERMANY TO ITS BOUQUET ZEEL has announced its foray into Germany as it plans to launch a free-toair TV channel by mid2016. The plan is to bring the best of Bollywood films, entertainment and general interest programmes to Germany

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ndia’s leading media conglomerate, Zwee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) has announced its foray into Germany. The company also shared its plans to launch a free-to-air television channel for this market by mid-2016. This FTA channel, for the first time, will bring high-quality Bollywood films produced by the Indian film industry as well as popular Indian television series to German screens, 24-hours a day.

The new channel´s core target group will be females between the ages of 19 and 59.

The channel is planned to be available on the most important satellite and cable platforms. Friederike Behrends will be responsible for business operations in the German-speaking area.

ZEEL is amongst the largest producers and aggregators of Hindi programming in the world, with an extensive library housing over 210,000 hours of television content. With rights to more than 3,500 movie titles from foremost studios and of iconic film stars, it houses the world’s largest Hindi film library. Through its strong presence worldwide, it entertains over 959 million viewers across 169 countries.

Amit Goenka, CEO-International Broadcast Business, ZEEL, said, “Our foray into

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Germany is a major step as part of our international expansion strategy. The objective is to establish a lasting presence and grow in the German television market. With our highest levels of entertainment and new content, we are confident of being able to offer our German viewers an attractive enrichment to the existing range of television offerings.”

According to Neeraj Dhingra, CEO, Europe at Asia TV Ltd., Zee TV, “The launch of the channel will signify ZEEL´s entry into one of the world´s most important television markets, in which the Bollywood genre is still barely represented as yet. With 210,000 hours of programming and more than 3,500 film titles, our endeavor is to delight the German audiences with Indian content.”

“We also welcome Friederike to the ZEE family. She brings with her a rich experience and in-depth knowledge of Media, Broadcasting and TV content. Her extensive international and national industry expertise will help us not only to cement our presence in the German market, but take it to greater heights;” Dhingra added.

Friederike Behrends said, “Bollywood content offers a much broader spectrum than is known on German television.

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AMIT GOENKA

FRIEDERIKE BEHRENDS

NEERAJ DHINGRA

CEO-International Broadcast Business, ZEEL

Head, Business Operations, German speaking area

CEO, Europe at Asia TV Ltd., Zee TV

The objective is to establish a lasting presence and grow in the German television market

We intend to capture the hearts of German viewers with Bollywood

The launch of the channel will signify ZEEL´s entry into one of the world´s most important television markets

ZEE’s new German TV channel´s core target group will be females between the ages of 19 and 59 The aim is to enhance Germany´s entertainment offerings by introducing an entirely new genre. We intend to capture the hearts of German viewers with Bollywood. We are currently engaged in intensive talks with German TV-platform operators with a view to expanding the reach as quickly as possible on a broad scale via all transmission paths.”

Until recently, Friederike Behrends was the Senior Strategy Advisor for the international streaming provider Magine,

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being responsible for its German market entry in 2014. From 2008 to 2012, she was Managing Director of WDR media group digital GmbH and the full-service internet agency webCOLONY in Cologne. She took over these positions after becoming a member of the Board of Directors at Bild.-T-Online.de AG & Co. KG, where she had worked since 2001. Previous career stages included a period at Grundy UFA TV Produktions GmbH.

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GAME CHANGER MOVE Netflix’s global streaming and VOD acquisition of Brahman Naman heralds a new dimension to distribution of Indian cinema’s reach to global markets 20

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BRAHMAN NAMAN

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etflix’s global streaming and video on demand rights acquisition of the hilarious coming-of-age comedy Brahman Naman, from leading Indian indie director Q (for Quashik Mukherjee) is set to be a game changer for new age independent Indian filmmakers. Brahman Naman will be available exclusively for Netflix members around the world later this year.

Netflix launched its services in India on January 6 as part of its global expansion to 130 countries. Netflix is the world’s leading Internet television network with over 75 million members in over 190 countries enjoying more than 125 million hours of TV shows and movies per day, including original series, documentaries and feature films.

Set in Bangalore in the 1980s, Brahman Naman follows the exploits of Naman, a quick witted, high school quiz champ who leads his hopelessly nerdy friends on a trip to Calcutta to win a major college prize. Young, smart and full of heart, the trio are determined to win the quiz and to lose their virginity along the way.

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Revered internationally ternationally as one of India’s most vital and provocative indie fi lmfilmmakers, Q’s latest cinematic cocktail takes the classic American teen comedy, sharpens it with bawdy British word play, and hurls it in the face of the establishment with a fresh Indian cast. The film was premiered at the prestigious World Drama Competition at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

“Brahman Naman is Indian cinema at its boldest: fast, furious and raucously funny,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer at Netflix. “It’s a movie that will delight adolescents of all ages, and we’re excited to bring this hilarious tale to our members around the world.”

Written by Naman Ramachandran and produced by Steve Barron and Celine Loop, Brahman Naman is Q’s latest film, following Gandu, Tasher Desh and Ludo. Brahman Naman stars Shashank Arora as Naman, Tanmany Dhanania and Chaitanya Varad as his sidekicks, and features Vaiswath Shankar, Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy and Sid Mallya.

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How can Indian M&E Sector Leverage Make in India to Reach out to the World Dr S. Raghunath, Professor, Corporate Strategy and Policy, IIM Bangalore, examines some of the critical factors, including existing technology infrastructure and skills in the country, that will go a long way in ensuring that Indian M&E industry gains a competitive edge globally

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o we as a country have a sense of urgency in supporting the transformative influence of digitization and the development of the electronic infrastructure for delivery of media? Are we ready to utilize the window of opportunity for India to position itself as a cluster of skills and capabilities for the global media and entertainment industry to transact media and entertainment business with us?

The macro-economic outlook of India, the English speaking work force and the government’s “Make in In22

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dia” and “Digital India” campaigns are clearly positive signals of intent.

The M&E industry in India has been subject to advancement and change. New inscription technology has indeed contributed to segmentation and fragmentation of audience.

For instance there are 857 broadcast channels in India today and the internet provides unlimited forum for publishing, broadcasting, multimedia and interactive services. In our country the increasing demand for content and the changing interest of young and the middle aged who are LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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The macro-economic outlook of India, the English speaking work force and the government’s “Make in India” and “Digital India” campaigns are clearly positive signals of intent giving their time and attention to the internet, hand-held devices such as iPad and Notebooks are providing unprecedented creative and commercial opportunities for media content providers. India already has 250 million digital screens including smartphones, tablets, laptops PCs, which are way beyond the total number of film and TV screens in the country.

India is well positioned both in terms of requisite skills and project management capabilities to cater to the use of digital technology. There are growing opportunities for manipulating media content of any kind for dissemination in another format. This opportunity of manipulating, repackaging the content gives rise to entrepreneurs and employment growth.

The presence of engineers who can work on digital technology in India is positively impacting media production, distribution and consumption patterns which also have strong implications for advertising. Advertising is undergoing change in terms of metrics and formats. Vast choice of content and the advent of on-demand viewing and measuring viewer behavior has become critical as it facilitates targeted advertising.

Opportunity Based On Digitized Media Content Digital technology is bringing down production cost of content and is improving the scope for freelancers

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who are technically qualified to generate quality content. Low cost digital cameras, camcorders and editing equipments, capable of producing broadcast quality output has made production cheaper and has lowered the barrier to industry entry.

The spread of digital technology is offering equal opportunity for small Indian companies as well as established media companies to participate in the growing global M&E market. Digitization and the growth of the internet are reducing many barriers to market entry and creating opportunities for smaller companies offering skills in new forms of content creation.

However digital business does require substantial initial investment.

The expansion in consumption in a given digital media product or service results in increasing profitability. Government policy must facilitate the creation of an environment where media and entertainment start ups are incubated and supported and are in a position to maximise participation in the market of digital content creation and dissemination.

To start with, export benefits to postproduction services under service tax regulation, a uniform simplified single point taxation across product categories under GST will benefit the Media and Entertainment Industry.

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16 Indian Films to Watch Out for in 2016 From big to small, from art house to commercial, Indian cinema has a lot to offer in 2016. Here are 16 titles that Indian cineastes are most likely to be talking about when the year draws to a close Indian cinema looks well poised to be a happy hunting ground in 2016 for festival programmers, international buyers and lay movie fans alike.

Big-ticket, star-studded Bollywood releases, promising independent films Bigticket, star-studded Bollywood releases, promising independent films in different languages, and an array of eagerly anticipated titles from the regional industries – the world’s most prolific movie-producing nation has much on offer this year.

On the Friday after the 66th Berlin Film Festival winds down, director Hansal Mehta’s buzz-generating Aligarh will go into nationwide distribution.

This sensitive drama about the tragic fate of an Aligarh Muslim University professor (played by Manoj Bajpayee) who was dismissed from service on account of his sexual orientation was applauded at several festivals last year after premiering in Busan.

Aligarh isn’t, of course, the only Indian film that took the festival route last year on its way to the domestic multiplexes.

Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan made it to the Un Certain Regard section ofthe 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it won awards and accolades. Thatpaved the way for a decent commercial release for the independent film. It was well received by audiences in many cities in India.

Festival programmers looking for cinematic gems from India in 2016 must have got down already to the work of scouting for films that have the potential to travel across the world.

On paper at least, there is unlikely to be any dearth of such films, big and small.

Here are 16 titles (in no particular order) that Indian cineastes are most likely to be talking about when the year 2016 draws to a close:

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VETRI MAARAN

VADA CHENNAI (NORTH CHENNAI)

Director Vetri Maaran and actor Dhanush team up for this two-part Tamil-language saga that dramatizes 30 years of a gangster’s life. The duo’s previous two productions, Kakka Muttai and Visaranai, premiered in Toronto and Venice respectively and garnered global acclaim.

SUDHIR MISHRA

SRIJIT MUKHERJI

AUR DEVDAS

ZULFIQAR

Kolkata-based director Srijit Mukherji (Jaatiswar, Rajkahini) blends the plots of Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra in this ‘double adaptation’ of William Shakespeare.

The drama is set in the city’s dock area underworld and stars two of Bengali cinema’s biggest stars, Prosenjit and Dev.

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Veteran Mumbai filmmaker Sudhir Mishra’s take on the classic Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay tragedy is set in Uttar Pradesh. This film is a political thriller that, in the words of the director, has elements drawn from William Shakespeare. The cast of Aur Devdas features Rahul Bhat (Ugly), Aditi Rao Hydari and Richa Chadda (Masaan).

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TOPE (THE BAIT)

Bengali auteur Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s upcoming film is a characteristically poetic rendition of a realistic short story by 20th century Bengali litterateur Narayan Gangopadhyay. Although the original tale has a period setting, Dasgupta gives it a contemporary spin and explores the interchangeability of the hunter and the hunted in modern life. The cast of the film includes theatre pro and academic Sudipto Chatterjee, Paoli Dam, Ananya Chatterjee and Chandan Roy Sanyal.

BUDDHADEB DASGUPTA

OZHIVU DIVASATHE KALI (AN OFF-DAY GAME)

This searing, strikingly original Malayalam film by young Kerala director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan is a disturbing study of a society where caste and class divides are deeply entrenched and ripple to the surface at the slightest provocation. Structured as a series of long takes, with the last one running all of 53 minutes, which is half the film’s duration, An Off-Day Game is an unflinching look at troubling male attitudes and prejudices.

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RANGOON

Filmmaker and musician Vishal Bhardwaj, after his Shakespeare trilogy (Maqbool, Omkara and Haider), goes off in a new direction in this Casablanca-style romantic drama set during World War 2. The film stars Saif Ali Khan, Shahid Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut.

Rangoon also has Irrfan Khan in a cameo.

VISHAL BHARDWAJ

MOHENJO DARO

Ashutosh Gowariker, maker of outstanding period dramas like Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar, has been off the boil for a while.

Mohenjo Daro, a sweeping love story rooted in the days of the Indus Valley civilization, could mark the talented storyteller’s return to the big league. The film stars Hrithik Roshan and model-turned-actress Pooja Hegde and has a musical score composed by the Oscar-winning A.R. Rahman, who worked with Gowariker in both Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar.

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MOHAVALAYAM (LIVES ELSEWHERE):

Veteran Kerala art house filmmaker T.V. Chandran’s 16th film is a self-reflexive rumination on the impulses and influences that drive him as a director. At the same time the film explores the lives of expats from the Indian subcontinent who move to Saudi Arabia looking for work and then seek escape from the drudgery of their lives. Mohavalayam, which skirts around the clichés of the émigré experience genre, has been filmed in Bahrain.

SARBJIT

Mary Kom director Omung Kumar’s second film, Sarbjit is based on the true story of a Punjabi farmer who was jailed in Pakistan on charges of spying. Randeep Hooda plays the eponymous character, while Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been cast as his sister, a woman who ran from pillar to post to get the man out of trouble. The cast includes Richa Chadda and Darshan Kumar (who played the titular real-life boxer’s husband in Mary Kom).

OMUNG KUMAR

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FAN

One of Bollywood superstars Shah Rukh Khan’s two releases lined up for 2016, this film seems primed to pull away the actor away from his romantic hero image. Maneesh Sharma’s eagerly anticipated Fan has star in a dual role as a super-successful movie idol and his obsessed fan.

DANGAL

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, this sports-themed film has Aamir Khan in the role of real-life wrestling legend Mahavir Singh Phogat, who defied social norms to groom two of his daughters, Geeta and Babita, to take up the sport and excel in it. Both girls have won India many medals in international competitions. Scheduled for an end-of-theyear release, Dangal is by far the most anticipated Bollywood film of the year.

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RAEES

Rahul Dholakia’s Raees, the second Shah Rukh Khan’s release of the year, pits the actor against the poster boy of independent Mumbai cinema Nawazuddin Siddiqui. This is a high-octane drama about a crafty bootlegger in 1980s Gujarat. Dholakia is the maker of the acclaimed Parzania, set in the days of the 2002 Gujarat riots. There is reason to believe that Raees will not be just another superstar vehicle aimed only at the masses. Expect the film to throw up many surprises in terms of what it tells the audience about contemporary India.

UDTA PUNJAB

Vishal Bhardwaj protégé Abhishek Chaubey, who co-wrote the former’s Omkara and Kaminey before helming Ishqiya and Dedh Ishqiya, directs this drama woven around the scourge of substance abuse in contemporary Punjab. The film features Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor and Punjabi cinema heartthrob Diljit Dosanjh in key roles.

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KABALI

Talking of superstars, there is nobody in India quite as charismatic as Rajinikanth and every film of his inevitably whips of excitement. The Tamil cinema icon’s next film is Tamil-Telugu crime drama that also stars Radhika Apte. Rajini plays an ageing Chennai mafia don in the film.

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SULTAN

The year’s second big wrestling film will see another Bollywood megastar Salman Khan play the character of champion Haryana wrestler Sultan Ali Khan. Sultan, a Yashraj Films production directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, also features Anushka Sharma and Randeep Hooda in stellar roles.

CHAAYAM POOSIYA VEEDU (THE PAINTED HOUSE)

The feature debut of the brothers Babusenan, Satish and Santosh, this intriguing Malayalam film aroused a great deal of interest at the International Film Festival of Kerala late last year. It tells the story of an ageing writer who is compelled to confront and question all his assumptions about himself when he encounters a seductive young girl before whom his well cultivated veneer crumbles. Scenes of frontal nudity has set The Painted House on a collision course with the censors but the director duo has stood by their creative right to exhibit the film without cuts. The film deserves a wider audience.

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POWER 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL IN INDIAN MEDIA AND SHOWBIZ. WATCH OUT FOR THE 100th PICKLE APRIL 2016 MIPTV AND NABSHOW ISSUE.

Pickle’s goal is to help you buy, sell and distribute content from overseas territories, find co-production partners, offshore with best of the Indian service companies and track media and entertainment business in India.

INDIA AND BEYOND

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SHOOTING LOCALES IN INDIA India is the most dramatic shooting location in the world: snowy mountains, pristine islands, plunging ravines, dusty plains--imagine the earth and get it.

With 29 States, 67 languages, 850 million people under the age of 35, 850 TV channels, three billion cinema ticket sales and no major restrictions, India offers immense opportunity for filmmakers not only to shoot in India, but simultaneously work on an Indian version of a film that will get business access in India. Here are the top Indian locales.

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KOLKATA

The British are long gone but the colonial influence still remains, in the look of its buildings and monuments. Interiors and mindsets that haven’t morphed with the times yet co-exist happily with today. The quaint hand-pulled rickshaws, the Chinese district. The boatsman taking people across the Hoogly as modern vehicles criss-cross the Howrah Bridge.

JHARKHAND

Jharkhand is a nature lover’s paradise. It is home to countless waterfalls -- Hundru Falls, Lodh Falls and Johna Falls. The State’s locales include forests, hills, valleys, waterfalls, wildlife, history, culture, charming towns and vibrant cities. It is an unexplored paradise and will be filmmakers’ delight for new locales.

Rajasthan is filmmakers’ paradise and a dream destination for film shooting - inspiring forts, majestic mansions, havelis of architectural splendour, heritage hotels, picturesque surroundings, wilderness of silence. The State has a film-friendly policy and encourages filmmakers both within and outside the country.

RAJASTHAN

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KASHMIR

The Dal Lake dotted with innumerable houseboats and the distant snow covered mountains. Each houseboat with its own interior layout. Gulmarg, Sonmarg and Pahalgam at higher levels. A warm and outgoing local populace adding its own unique colour to the surroundings. A hint of uneasiness sometimes. And a visual of debris of violent terror attacks contrasts with the colours and culture of a peace-loving people and the beauty of the general environment.

VARANASI

Its university is the seat of knowledge and ancient wisdom and the burning ghats along the river Ganga the apparent route to salvation and eternal peace. Spiritual and mystic moods meld with stark realities of everyday existentialism and the frolic of innocence.

Ang Lee’s Oscar winning film ‘Life of Pi’ was shot partly in Puducherry (in South India). That has transformed Puducherry into a paradise for filmmakers. A French colony until 1954, this coastal town retains a number of colonial buildings, churches, statues, and systematic town planning and is dubbed ‘The Europe of India’.

PUDUCHERRY

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NEW DELHI

Delhi has been the capital of successive dynasties and was the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ of the British Empire. The city has a continuous living history of more than 3000 years and has been one of the most important cities of India. This eternal city offers a sumptuous banquet of history and heritage, seamlessly in tune with its transformation as one of the world’s fastest growing and largest metropoles today.

The Cannes of India. Currently known as the host city of International Film Festival of India. A land of sun, sea and sand; feni, fun and frolic. Beaches galore, churches and saints, music and dance, festivals and carnivals. Where people enjoy music and dance and raise a toast to celebrate every occasion.

GOA

India in microcosm, Mumbai, or Bombay as it was once known, provides an excellent backdrop for the race that always finishes in the future. Slick and bright urban exteriors that have dark underbellies interrupted by colours that connect across time. Busy bustling daytimes with brightly lit nights that blink and shimmer to a heady beat of people and machines, avant garde and artless, incessantly on the move.

MAHARASHTRA

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HYDERABAD

Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad is the world’s largest integrated film studio complex and one of Asia’s most popular tourism and recreation centers.

Hyderabad features many heritage buildings constructed during Qutb Shahi and Nizam eras, showcasing Indo-Islamic architecture influenced by Medieval, Mughal and European styles. Hyderabad houses the Telugu film industry which produces over 200 films each year.

KARNATAKA

Houses the Silicon City of India.

And a whole array of health spas.

A range of architecture depicted through its palaces, temples, mausoleums, monuments and ruins.

Sanctuaries, national parks and waterfalls. Endless beaches, forests, scenic hills and modern cityscapes.

Gujarat offers beautiful landscapes of various natures, it is interspersed with culture, tradition and festivities. Gujarat has a diverse portfolio of landscapes, from the hills of Saputara, to the white desert in Kutch, from the jungles of Gir to virgin beaches.

Such landscapes, coupled with some beautiful heritage structures, make Gujarat a unique destination for filmmakers. These locales cater to every mood for every canvas.

GUJARAT

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HIMACHAL PRADESH

From hills to mountains, capped by snowy peaks; punctuated by passes and glaciers. Dotted by rich flora and abundant variety of wildlife with 90% of its seven million population people residing in rural areas.

Himachal Pradesh has an abundance of parks, rich with flora and fauna and regions that experience temperature extremes.

Kerala, commonly referred to as God’s own country, never lets one down. A small stretch of land, with its cool mountains in the east, rolling hills in the middle which ultimately reach out to the west to the long stretches of pristine, untouched beaches. This unmatched visual feast is complemented by its famous backwaters sandwiched between the sea and the land.

KERALA

MADHYA PRADESH

If the Himalayas can be likened to an oyster, then Ladakh is the pearl. Nestled in the womb of the Himalayas, the main attraction is the 9-storied royal palace styled on the lines of the famous Potala Palace of Tibet. There are the trekking trails, the temples of Chamba and Jo Kang Gompa and the Zanskar Valley.

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Madhya Pradesh is called the Heart of India because of its location in the centre of the country. The State has everything -- mountain ranges, rivers dotted with hills and lakes and miles and miles of dense forests. Innumerable monuments, exquisitely carved temples, & palaces are dotted all over the State.

LADAKH

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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

W

e are delighted to present the latest issue of Pickle on the occasion of Berlinale and European Film Market 2016. Two Indian films will be screened in the 66th Berlin International Film Festival and it is a good beginning for India. Normally, around 6 to 10 Indian films get into official Berlinale selections. This year’s Berlin Film Festival will see India being represented by two Generation films – Nagraj Manjule’s Sairat (Wild) in 14plus and Jayaraj’s Ottaal (The Trap) in Kplus.

These are exciting times to be in the film business. The Indian media ecosystem is changing fast. There are few markets in the world where you could see both traditional and new media flourishing.

There are 850 TV channels, 500,000 hours of TV content output, 950 million mobile phones (550 million active mobile users, 150 million top-end smart phone users), 94,000 newspapers published daily, 1,200 feature films. And, Indian startup ecosystem is beginning to mature specially in the digital media and ecommerce space.

The Over-the-Top (OTT) space is gaining attraction in the Indian market with the presence of hotstar, ErosNow, Ditto TV, HOOQ, Sony LIv. ALT Digital, Yupp TV among others. The entry of Netflix into the Indian market is already buzz in Indian showbiz. Viacom Play Plex, Amazon and Hulu are set to add the OTT market in India and its diaspora.

If you are have plans to visit India, schedule it around end of March and be part of the FICCI FRAMES, Asia’s largest convention on the business of entertainment.

Our forthcoming March issue is focused on the OTT market in India. We will have Power 100: India’s most influential in showbiz featured in April (MIPTV and NAB Edition) in the 100th edition of Pickle. Also, it is time for you to plan to experience second edition of Global Exhibition on Services, Great Noida, NCR (April 21-23, 2016). India is happening place now. Make in India, Show the World. It’s time do some serious business.

Do drop in a line to get connected in the Indian M&E business.

n vidyasagar

pickle media nvidyasagar@picklemag.in, www.picklemag.com

Pickle Volume IX 6th edition Published by Pickle Media Private Limited Email: natvid@gmail.com � Mumbai � Chennai No.2, Habib Complex Dr Durgabhai Deshmukh Road RA Puram CHENNAI 600 028

Printed by Dot Arts Private Limited, Chennai - 24.

Ph: 044-64509066,

Editorial Coordinators : M Sai Email: natvid@gmail.com

For advertising: natvid@gmail.com

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Pickle Business Guide 2016 Copyright 2016 by Pickle Media Pvt Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Pickle is an ad supported business guide tracking the filmed entertainment business in India.

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