MUMBAI: Kiran Rao, who is bringing Anand Gandhi’s much-acclaimed film ‘Ship of Theseus’ for an India release, reinforces her full faith in the film by labelling it a “complete film.”
Though it appears to be an Indie, which will find favour with niche audiences, Kiran Rao believes the film will appeal to more people than they could hope for. “It is for a certain kind of audience, but I’m hoping that the response will be much bigger than we can imagine. It’s niche because it has a certain narrative, idiom and structure. The language of the cinema is different from what you would expect from a regular, commercial film. But that doesn’t mean it won’t attract audiences.”
The 39-year-old filmmaker, famous for ‘Dhobi Ghat’, says that she wholeheartedly loved the concept and execution by director Anand Gandhi. “It’s an unusual film. It has a very interesting concept and is made with a lot of integrity. It is well-written, beautifully performed and incredibly well-shot film. In terms of cinema, it’s a complete film to watch.”
It surely is heartening to see big Bollywood names come out and support indigenous cinema, with fresh content and power-packed scripts.
Kiran Rao also agrees that this is the best time in Bollywood to try pushing the envelope: “Times are much more encouraging for filmmakers and audiences,” says Rao, adding that audiences have more exposure to world cinema now and so are ready to taste diverse cinematic options.
“Today’s audiences are exposed to cinema and television from all over the world and hence, are much more demanding of better content. This is a great opportunity for filmmakers because you can take risks and push the envelope,” she adds.
Finally, Kiran jests that nobody expects anything at all from the film, so they aren’t under too much pressure: “We’re having fun promoting this film because the costs and expectations are both low. We’ve set out to do something different, so nobody expects anything from us. In films where there are big stars, people watch keenly how much the collections will be; right from the first day, first show. For ‘Ship of Theseus’, we aren’t going to be focussing too much on Box Office per se.”
