That seems to be the mantra of Ritesh Batra, whose debut feature won India an award at Cannes after 14 years
Ritesh Batra's debut feature film The Lunchbox won the Viewers' Choice Award in the Critics' Week segment at the recently concluded Cannes International Film Festival, making it the first Indian film in 14 years to bag a trophy at the prestigious event.
The film starring Irrfan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Nimrat Kaur, is a surprisingly simple story of how a wrongly delivered lunchbox becomes the mode of communication between two strangers and brings them closer.
The film has already been sold in 20 territories across the globe, and Sony Pictures Classics has recently bought the North American rights. Batra hopes that the success of the film will allow the independent filmmakers of the country to tell more stories that are 'rooted and honest'.
According to him, it is the quintessential Indian flavour that is drawing international audience to his Lunchbox. "I am glad people have found something universal in a story essentially rooted in Indian milieu. Although everyone brings themselves to the movies and finds their own way into it, I think the more local we are, the more universal we will be," he says.
The film, an Indo-French-German co-production, is one of the biggest collaborations the genre has seen in recent years, and Batra explains: "From both a creative and business stand point; I think this film was ideal for a co-production. I got a chance to work with an American editor and DoP, a German sound designer and composer, and a French colourist. The co-production made these collaborations possible. From a business standpoint, foreign partners put in effort to make the film work in their markets because they have invested in the film."
According to him, the collaborations also became a way to test the film on a diverse group of people and mould it to give it a universal resonance. However, such a collaboration might not work for every film. "I don't know who the collaborators will be until I finish writing the story. It's always tough and lonely to confront a blank page," he says.
The film is supposed to hit the theatres next year, after its release in the US
Ritesh Batra's debut feature film The Lunchbox won the Viewers' Choice Award in the Critics' Week segment at the recently concluded Cannes International Film Festival, making it the first Indian film in 14 years to bag a trophy at the prestigious event.
The film starring Irrfan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Nimrat Kaur, is a surprisingly simple story of how a wrongly delivered lunchbox becomes the mode of communication between two strangers and brings them closer.
The film has already been sold in 20 territories across the globe, and Sony Pictures Classics has recently bought the North American rights. Batra hopes that the success of the film will allow the independent filmmakers of the country to tell more stories that are 'rooted and honest'.
According to him, it is the quintessential Indian flavour that is drawing international audience to his Lunchbox. "I am glad people have found something universal in a story essentially rooted in Indian milieu. Although everyone brings themselves to the movies and finds their own way into it, I think the more local we are, the more universal we will be," he says.
The film, an Indo-French-German co-production, is one of the biggest collaborations the genre has seen in recent years, and Batra explains: "From both a creative and business stand point; I think this film was ideal for a co-production. I got a chance to work with an American editor and DoP, a German sound designer and composer, and a French colourist. The co-production made these collaborations possible. From a business standpoint, foreign partners put in effort to make the film work in their markets because they have invested in the film."
According to him, the collaborations also became a way to test the film on a diverse group of people and mould it to give it a universal resonance. However, such a collaboration might not work for every film. "I don't know who the collaborators will be until I finish writing the story. It's always tough and lonely to confront a blank page," he says.
The film is supposed to hit the theatres next year, after its release in the US
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