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This is briefer-than-match-light illumination of a dark continent for the underexposed waspy American (who’s box office drives the global film business), who is (of late) finding it kinda cool to engage with the rest of the world.

The Oscars elicit two broad reactions from the media and film industry in India. The media mourns our annual failure at achieving the acme of global cinema recognition, our film industry says bugger off, its no crowning glory we have our own vibrant industry and we don’t need em.

In my opinion both are equally shrill and misplaced reactions.

First off, the Oscars are an ‘industry’ award for excellence in the American film industry which, like it or not, has been successfully marketed to the world at large as a globally recognizable tag of high achievement in cinema. Yes it is monopolized by the Americans – but America is the worlds largest film market. It also happens to be the most competitive, visible, profitable, sustainable. Where else would you hold such a ceremony?

Does that mean that the best films get nominated and awarded? Of course not. But it doesn’t make the awards …

My next one is a feature film – its called The Forest. This film is about our inadequacies when confronted by the forces of nature and our frightening ignorance as to the effects of its disruption. 

Instead of preaching to the converted I thought that perhaps if I was able to spread the word about the wildlife crisis that is staring us in the face, it would be my way of contributing to the larger environmental crisies. Killing animals for skins and bones, to satisfy some ancient quirk of distant Chinese and Tibetan patrons is one of the most devastating and heartbreaking fallouts of our increasing disconnect with our environment. Our national parks have become sanctuaries not for animals but private hunting grounds for foreign sponsored poachers.

If they who have the vote, the money and the voice can come to my movie to be entertained, thrilled and horrified and by tickling …

This little film has done so much for me that now as its fantiastic run continues in festivals around the world, its high time it was made available to whoever wants to see it for free. To read more about the film and its making please become a member of the facebook group associated with the movie.

Little Terrorist: Jamal, a 12 year old Muslim Pakistani mistakenly crosses the border between India and Pakistan, finding an unusual ally in a Hindu Brahmin, Bhola. Indian soldiers descend on Bhola’s village searching for the ‘terrorist’ who crossed over. His neice Rani, insists they can’t let a Muslim into their Hindu home. With Bhola and Rani grappling with the consequences of harboring a Pakistani and their deep-set prejudice against Muslims, Jamal’s only hope is the humanity shared by a people separated by artificial boundaries a long time ago.

Based on a TRUE STORY: …

Be the first to see a sneak preview trailer of The Forest, coming soon to theatres around the world. You can watch it on facebook or youtube…

The Forest is a grizzly thriller about human frailty articulated through man’s conflict with nature; our inadequacies when confronted by such forces and our frightening ignorance as to the effects of its disruption.

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It can get pretty lonely out there, on a set – particularly the first time. On my first film which involved taking a bunch of very dedicated, professional yet raw foreigners to the wilderness of ladakh on a hopeless budget and a very guerrilla experience, in which I their ‘leader’ had really no filmmaking experience to rub together, it was baptism by fire – in this shoot, what could go wrong went wrong (more about those experiences if anyone’s interested later) and the feeling at the end was that of escaping by the seat of ones pants. The biggest threat in my mind during that seminal experience, apart from the natural and unnatural calamaties that struck our set, was the danger of the original vision and intention of the piece becoming diluted, of me not getting the movie I wanted.

I started writing these small thoughts to myself to refer …

Cinema from Iran, China, Mexico even Korea, Thailand are producing artistically integral and exciting, socially motivated cinema that have created sustainable creative industries within their countries. These films earn export dollars globally, defy cultural and language barriers at a time when the global appetite for all things South Asian is at an all time high, gross earnings of these so-called ‘art’ films are 20 times that of the most ‘commercial’ Bollywood product.

Further, we Indians excel internationally in literature, the Indian modern art movement is one of the most exciting in the world today, we export world-class software but in cinema, a historic industry (as old as Hollywood) which has genuine ability to pose a viable alternative to the hegemony of that most vociferous cultural / economic powerhouses, is not even 1% of the total revenue of the world film industry, our films are un-watchable by any audience outside India …