Watch, like and pay, ‘if you want’

Are you an independent filmmaker, who’s struggling to get his point across to the Censor Board? Or waiting for ever for your film to release?

Take a cue from Sandeep Mohan. The Mumbai-based director-writer is redefining Indie films with Hola Venky. He is backpacking across the country with a projector, two speakers and a Blu Ray disc… screening his film in cafes, art galleries, IT firms and even in big homes for “free”.

If the audience, usually 15-20 in number, like his work, they drop some money inside his green backpack. And, Sandeep is convinced that it’s much more profitable than theatre screenings.

After 10 cities and 50 shows, Sandeep reached Hyderabad on Saturday. For a change, he travelled light as the cafe had screening facilities. He should have considered packing a generator though, as 40 minutes into the show, the power went off. But the 20-member audience happily returned to the seats in a couple of minutes.

Telling us why “alternative space” screenings make more sense to him, Sandeep says: “I made Hola Venky with Rs 10 lakh. Half came from my friends in the US and the rest from crowdsourcing. If I were to release it in theatres, I would need to spend Rs 3-4 crore in advertising. That’s the minimum in India. Then of the Rs 200 film ticket, half goes in taxes, more goes to the multiplex and we, filmmakers, are left with pittance. So, what I am doing is making full profits. Those who like my film are even paying me more than Rs 200, at times I make Rs 15,000 per show. I have recovered almost three-fourths of my money and in a few months, I will make profits as a few people want to buy the satellite rights. This experiment is working.”

And Sandeep can’t use the social media for publicity. “I can neither charge for my film nor advertise as I didn’t apply for the Censor certificate.”

His bitterness with the Censor Board has to do with his first indie film, Love Wrinkle-Free, which he made in 2011. Sandeep says, “My film was a family entertainer but was released with an ‘A’ certificate. Next month, it will finally  aired on TV, but with 30 cuts. The Censor people said it had an adult theme. I mean, a family film with a man, wife and his child is got to be an adult film, right?”

However, Sandeep’s problem is more with “inconsistency” than the “adult theme”. “There is more crass and vulgar content in Hindi films today, but they aren’t cut. Just because I was a first-timer with no big banner backing me, they were showing their power. It’s unfair. Hola Venky is my reaction to that (discrimination).”

But Sandeep saw this as a blessing in disguise. “How can a filmmaker be called independent if he is dependent on someone to release his film? I mean why should innovation and creativity stop at the filmmaking level, why not innovate with marketing it?”