Anurag Kashyap Says India Didn’t Have Any Moment At Cannes, Payal Kapadia's Film Happened Because Of French Fund

Renowned filmmaker Anurag Kashyap never shied away from expressing his views about cinema, politics and society. Recently, he said that Payal Kapadia's film All We Imagine as Light won the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival this year because of the French fund. He also said that India did not even give the rebate promised to that film. Anurag further claimed that India likes to take credit for a lot of things. 

In an interview with PTI, Anurag Kashyap said “I get very upset when it’s said ‘India@Cannes’. This is a boost… a shot in the arm for a lot of independent filmmakers but their victory is their own. India didn’t have any moment at Cannes, not a single of those films are Indian. We need to address it the way it should be addressed. India has stopped supporting such cinema, the kind of cinema that was at Cannes.”

“Payal Kapadia's film happened because of the French fund. India did not even give the rebate promised to that film. Still it is not been given. Sandhya Suri's film as funded from UK Film Lottery Fund. Karan Kandhari's film was funded from UK. Konstantin (Bojanov, who directed The Shameless) film was almost self-financed and a company that funded it. He got no support from India. India just likes to take credit for a lot of things. They do not even support these films to release in cinema in India. Payal Kapadia's last film also won at Cannes. Has it released in India? We have two Oscar-nominated documentaries. Did they release in India? The government does not even have a support system for things that bring a lot of soft power, cultural respect to India. Let's stop this useless celebration,” he added.