She has gone through her quota of ordeal already when it comes to a film close to her heart. If the subject of sex trafficking was disturbing enough, there was further pain reserved for her, when the movie had to wait for quite some time before finding a theatrical release for itself. When that happened, there wasn’t much that could be spent on the promotion. By the time word of mouth kicked in, it was off the theaters. And now, when the eventual hope lay in good recognition coming in from some of the most prominent film festivals in the country, she has been dejected on that front too.
We are talking about Elahe Hiptoola, co-producer of Nagesh Kukunoor‘s directorial venture, Lakshmi, which has missed out on being screened at the recently held International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa.
Informs our source, “She is still pondering over the reasons that could have led to this miss. Any filmmaker would be more than happy to showcase his or her work if there is good enough visibility promised. Hence, when a film is not even considered for an entry, it could pain. This is pretty much a vicious circle in the making as to avoid this pain, quite a few prominent filmmakers deliberately stay away from the hassle of going through with the application process, which is anyway tedious to begin with.”
For Elahe and Nagesh, though, it is painful indeed to not find Lakshmi in the fray when Monali Thakur, the singer-actor who plays the central protagonist, continues to find appreciation and recognition in the international circuits wherever the film is screened.
“No wonder we hoped that the film would be invited for IFFI,” says Elahe, “We had traveled with our films to so many international film festivals so to have it play on our very own home-ground was a no-brainer. The film has a language that a film festival’s panel understands. I was genuinely surprised when we didn’t find Lakshmi at IFFI. We released it in India so that we could enter into IFFI and be contenders for National Awards. We made Lakshmi to take it to festivals and show the world what is happening in this world. It was not made for commercial gains.”
Ironically, Satish Kaushik, another co-producer, refused to be on the jury of the film festival as he was confident that Lakshmi would be running in the competition.
Well, sad, but that’s life. Hopefully the film will get its due in other forums.