Siddharth Roy Kapur: Yet to have an Indian movie that has crossed over

Siddharth Roy Kapur

Producer Siddharth Roy Kapur Wednesday said that Indian cinema is yet to have its Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon moment where a domestic film crosses over to be embraced by the world. Kapur said he believes only a film that is rooted in Indianness will be able to have an impact all around the globe. The media mogul also said that Indian films need to go beyond the NRIs.

"We have to admit the fact that we have not had an Indian movie that has crossed over yet. 'The Lunchbox' did great business in the US and Europe. But we haven't had our 'Crouching Tiger And Hidden Dragon' moment at the this point of time. I feel in the next five years it's going to happen.

"But it will happen with a very rooted film. It will not happen where we are trying to design a film to crossover. It will happen with a film that's uniquely Indian that's loved and enjoyed all around the world," the producer said. He was speaking at IFFI Film Bazaar 2018's Knowledge Series in-conversation session Crafting A Brave New World.

The producer added Indian films are ready to be "exported" beyond the Diaspora and the success of Dangal and Secret Superstar is a huge example. Kapur, who recently launched his production banner Roy Kapur Films, said though he is not in the showbiz with the objective of creating stars, he would not mind doing that.

"I hope to (create a star) in future but creating a star is not the stated objective. I just want to make good movies. If a film requires us to launch a new face, we will do that. But it has to be the need the story. It can't be the other way around. I'd rather do it organically than have a mission to launch stars.

"Our industry tends to be the one where the power equation tends to shift into the favour of the stars. Some of these economics, even to a studio as successful as Disney has been in the US, doesn't make any sense and frankly they should not make sense to any one of us in the industry and I'm so glad that the films that are not star based are working well."

The producer said a good script with a star is still a lethal combination in India and it is not something that is going to change. "Having said that tastes have broadened today that films with non stars and with great script are doing much business that they have done in the past. And that's great. It's not that the audience is not going to watch a film that doesn't have a star in it."

Kapur admitted India continues to be star-dominated market, but his statement came with some caveats. "India is still a star-driven market. The lessons we should not take away from this year are that stars don't work. That's not true. I think a bad script with a star will not work, has not worked. Except for the times when some of the films that Mr Bachchan did in the '70s in which he could just land on the screen and you could watch him do anything," he said.
When moderator Liz Shackleton, Asia Editor, Screen International, pointed out that this was before social media, Kapur agreed with her with a smile.

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