#IFFIWood, 22 November 2022

 

How to make people aware of the work of creative artists is the biggest challenge today. This sentiment was shared by R Balki during his conversation with Mayank Shekhar on the subject ‘Negotiating Aesthetics and Economics’ during the 53rd International Film Festival of India being held at Panaji, Goa.

Starting the conversation, R. Balki, Director of many acclaimed movies like Cheeni Kum, Paa, Pad Man, Chup said that Feature filmmaking is all about self-expression. When your self-expression interests a lot of people, it turns out into a box office hit. “Some things that appeal to you and then when it appeals to a large number of people, then you’re lucky. It’s impossible to manipulate what you like”, he said.

Delving deeper into the matter, R. Balki said that right from the start of your career, you struggle as an artist if you can’t express what you want properly. “People come to see your self-expression. Some other times people are not very much aware of your work, and it may lead to the film being a flop in the box office”, he says.

Talking about advertising, R. Balki said that a product sells well if you associate it with a famous personality. He also mentioned that advertising is easier than cinema since in advertising people are ready to put lots of money into your idea but for cinema, you have to try hard to convince people about the idea you want to sell.

Sharing his views on marketing of films, he said that enough research is not being done in developing an effective marketing tool. He further said that advertising went through a change over the years. “Presentations are not doing the trick. Just like feature films, the advertisers are trying to understand how to reach people and to persuade them. “Out of 100 films, 90 films don’t make good money because they are not reaching the people effectively. We have never found the science to market films”, he said.

Emphasising the importance of marketing films, he said we are losing a lot of creative expressions because of poor marketing. “There are so many pundits running the industry, but they have no idea about how to market the films. Data analytics and marketing are not robust enough”, he said.

R. Balki further said that cinema will have a very tough time without big stars. Lots of small ideas will make big money if they have big stars. If stars had invested in great ideas, cinema would have progressed much faster. He quoted the example of Kamal Hassan who experimented with new ideas in the 80s and achieved great success.

R. Balki also believes that there is not much difference between a business meeting with the CEO of a big corporation and meeting a famous actor. In both cases you must persuade them and its easier to persuade a corporation.

Talking about his latest movie Chup, R. Balki said that the film is so personal and very close to his heart. He further said that it’s important to make people aware about this  film so that more people watch it and it becomes a success.

On the question on how you try to convince people about your idea, he said that he doesn’t try much to convince others. “I don’t try to convince others, I try to convince myself about the idea and how I wish it should be portrayed”, he added. Film journalist Mayank Shekhar moderated the conversation.

 

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PIB IFFI CAST AND CREW | Manas/Shailesh/Darshana | IFFI 53 - 82

 

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