Indian films need to focus on global content to make impact: Gaurang Jalan

New Delhi: Gaurang Jalan is the designated representative for Indian films in the Cairo Film Festival. According to Jalan, the impact of Indian films on the global platform is not huge.

"In the global context, Indian footprint is small. Though we make over 1000 films, Indian films are mostly seen by the Indian diaspora. We have to focus on global content. We have to focus on a niche audience."

Jalan is the adviser & representative of the Festival International du Film d'Amour de Mons (MonsInternational Love Film Festival).

"We have to connect with them with a world story," Gaurang told.

Jalan revealed the two Indian films were selected in this year's Festival International du Film d'Amour de Mons – "Majhi the Mountain Man" and "Rangrasiya".

"We can actually send a lot of films once the appetite picks up and festivals pick up. But for French speaking places and Spanish speaking countries, we have to arrange for French subtitles and Spanish sub-titles where English will not work. In Cairo, we are doing Arabic sub-titles and that clicked."

Bollywood films "Chennai Express", "Krishh 3", "Dhoom 3" and "Happy New Year" were released at the festival theatres in Egypt. Jalan was behind this move too.

Jalan was behind this move too. Popular actors in Bollywood have a major fanbase in Egypt too.

"The new generation (in Egypt) love to watch our kind of films. Aamir (Khan), Shah Rukh, Salman Khan are liked by them very much. Mr Amitabh Bachchan is still very popular. Among present age actors, Irrfan Khan has a wide fan following. The new generation is liking our stars now."

The fan following in Egypt can be said to be a result of proper subtitles provided in Arabic.

"In Cairo, the situation is unlike Belgium and some other French/Spanish-speaking nations as all Indian films are subtitled in Arabic and the blockbuster genre films by the popular stars are screened in theatres and local channels which draw from Indian showbiz content," he said.

There are two segments in the Cairo film festival. First, the children's section, which will be screened in the month of March. A number of entries have been sent for this. The other section will commence in November for two months.

Asked about the most deciding factor in selecting an Indian entry in the prestigious film festivals, Jalan said, "Our jobs as representatives is to send the best film every year."

"Several of our (Indian) films had been going to Cairo since 2001 and the package now consists of different Indian languages Punjabi, Bengali, others besides Hindi," he said. (Inputs from: asianetindia.com, Image source:i1os.com)