Payal Kapadia Backs Anurag Kashyap's Views On Lack Of Support To Indie Films: 'We Need…' | Exclusive

Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light starring Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha and Chhaya Kadam created history at the 77th Cannes International Film Festival. It became the first film from India to compete in the main competition since 1994 and win the Grand Prix. While it was a moment of great pride for India, Anurag Kashyap in an interview with PTI rued how the country hasn’t given the rebate that was promised to All We Imagine as Light yet.

He also said that India has stopped supporting independent cinema and emphasised on how Payal’s film could happen only because of the French fund. Now, in an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Payal reacts to Anurag’s statements. Agreeing with him, she tells us, “To be honest, I don’t know what can bring about change. We need structural changes in the industry, opportunities for independent filmmakers, grants that they can apply for or some kind of support system.”

She draws attention to the issue of how producing such films isn’t the only problem. “And I’m not just talking about the support needed in making an independent film. The bigger question is, how do you distribute a film like that? That’s why I’m very happy that Spirit Media is distributing my film. It’s a great thing for me that an independent film like All We Imagine As Light will get distributed and be shown in so many cities,” she points out.

But does she believe that the recognition she has garnered for her film will lead mainstream production houses to open their doors for her? “Who knows? The only thing I can say is that all of this has helped me with is public speaking,” Payal quips. She adds, “It’s still too early to say anything because independent filmmaking takes a lot of time. You would want to raise funds to tell the kind of stories you want and have a certain kind of creative freedom and that involves a lot of steps. Having said that, I’m okay with the time this entire process takes. Also, it would also be great if those in mainstream also take some time out to support independent films. At the end of the day, we co-exist in the same industry.”

On a related note, after travelling across global film festivals, All We Imagine As Light recently opened the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024. The screening was attended by the who’s who of Bollywood including Kabir Khan, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vishal Bhardwaj, Ramesh Sippy and Waheeda Rehman, to name a few.

Sharing her excitement about the same, Payal says, “I’m happy that the film fraternity could watch my film. The fraternity includes a lot of my friends, some of who I had met when I was a student at the FTII. Some of them also sent me some really nice messages after our Cannes win. For anybody who makes films, they know it very well that without friends and a great crew, it’s impossible to make a film.”