Bollywood actor turned film producer Richa Chadha discussed the challenges that independent filmmakers face in India when she slammed NFDC (National Film Development Corporation) for not fulfilling their commitment of a certain amount for her debut production ‘Girls Will Be Girls’.
Richa Chadha, who made her production debut last year with ‘Girls Will Be Girls’, Shuchi Talati’s coming-of-age drama co-produced by her and husband Ali Fazal’s banner Pushing Buttons Studios, recently moderated a discussion panel, including Shoojit Sircar, Rajat Kapoor, Deepa Gehlot and Sridhar Rangayan, at Waterfront Indie Film Festival (WIFF), to discuss the challenges around independent cinema.
During the discussion, Chadha asked, “Why is it that the biggest head honchos of global networks keep selecting some or the other MBAs to be the deciding authority to select films? Why is there not even one person from the industry who says, ‘I know VCs (venture capitalists), I know hedge funds, this is the risk, this is the monetizable streams of revenue…here’s INR 100 crores, you can give 10 films or 3 films or 100 films. This is the money you have to return.'”
“For instance, there’s a Chanel Grant that gives you INR 2 crores. You don’t even have to pay that money back. It’s soft money. Where is that person? Why doesn’t that person exist?” she questioned further, to which film critic and columnist Deepa Gehlot informed, “There is no person, but an organisation called NFDC.”
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“It was meant for this purpose. I don’t know where that purpose has gone now,” she emphasised, when the ‘Fukrey’ star revealed, “The NFDC people would argue that they still exist. They even recently announced the line-up for their Film Bazaar. They would say that they are trying to do all that they can.”
“However, I would like to inform on this note that the NFDC promised us X amount for Girls Will Be Girls and gave us only half of it,” she disclosed. “When I told my co-producers, they told me, ‘Sarkar se paisa nikalna bahut mushkil hai. Woh sab kuch pehle hi le leti hai (It’s not easy getting money out of their pockets. They have it all themself).’ (This is) just my little bit of frustration.”