Key Points
- Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap was in Sydney recently.
- His film 'Kennedy' received a seven-minute standing ovation at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.
- The director says Indian cinema is slowly progressing in terms of diverse representation.
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap served as the head of jury for the 70th Sydney Film Festival, which ran from 7 to 18 June.
Speaking to SBS Hindi, Mr Kashyap said it was a great honour and a huge responsibility to be the jury president. One of the most intriguing experiences of the festival, said the acclaimed Indian director, was the exposure he had to Australian culture and history.
Learning more about the First Nations people of Australia through films like ‘The Dark Emu Story’ and ‘The New Boy’ was the most fascinating part.Anurag Kashyap, film director and jury member of the Sydney Film Festival
His film 'Kennedy' recently received a seven-minute standing ovation at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, but the director remarked that the film resonated even more with the audience in Sydney.
“There were more Indians here, and so they understood the film better. They were laughing and reacting at the right places … which for me was very heartening,” Mr Kashyap said.
'Kennedy' is an experimental dark neo-noir film, a genre distinct from the mainstream Bollywood movies, but Mr Kashyap maintained that audience tastes and preferences are evolving.
“Now there is an audience for every kind of film with more exposure to world cinema through Netflix and Amazon Prime,” he said.
Mr Kashyap said there is immense potential for joint film productions and collaborations between India and Australia.
“There are lot of Indians here, so there are immense opportunities for presenting stories in the Indian context. It has happened before with films like 'Salaam Namaste', and a lot of people have reached out to me as well,” Mr Kashyap said.
The Indian filmmaker also weighed in on the ongoing discussion about representation and on-screen stereotypes, especially pertaining to women of colour.
Disney movies and international TV shows are attempting to challenge these stereotypes by casting Halle Bailey in 'The Little Mermaid' and Simone Ashley in 'Bridgerton Season 2'.
Mr Kashyap said that there are lots of films being made with diverse representation, but audiences in India have not flocked to see them.
I have seen this while working (as a writer) in my first film, 'Satya' … people could not understand why an actor named Manoj Bajpayee was the main lead.Anurag Kashyap, film director, and jury member of the Sydney Film Festival
He said that while these films get released on OTT (over-the-top) platforms, people tend to dismiss them as 'arthouse' films.
“Actors like Smita Patil and Radhika Apte are celebrated but their films do not work at the box office. They are not getting the right audience, and this has a lot to do with India’s deep-rooted mindset and obsession with fair skin,” Mr Kashyap said.
The filmmaker said things are changing now, especially with the influx of social media content, and actors like Richa Chadha, Sobhita Dhulipala, Geetanjali Kulkarni, and Radhika Apte are breaking on-screen gender stereotypes.
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