I will watch Peepli Live - Dibakar Banerjee
For most of the audience in India, LSD would've been an entertaining film. For me, it was a true life story. Yes, true life stories of thousands, who want to do things their way, their style. And that's when they experience Love, Sex Aur Dhokha (betrayal). The film mirrors what many go through in their day to day lives. But the film's true test is just a day away when LSD opens at the London Indian Film Festival (July 15). Banerjee will be walking the red carpet along with one of his leading men from LSD, Anshuman Jha. An interview which could've lasted the usual ten to fifteen minutes went into forty five minutes of film discussions, debates and trivia. And that's what describes Dibakar. He is an alternate person in our film fraternity making alternative cinema and with no alternate route to go, he comes back to what he believes in - cinema, films, and movies. Wanting to know how LSD will fare at the festival, the director asks questions. He looks like a young Woody Allen, except that he is taller than him. But here's what makes him one - he believes in his type of cinema, he believes that our Indian films should find the world audience and that Bollywood, just like Hollywood, is a show; a show where entertainment thrives on the big screen and at the box office. This special correspondent brings you the exclusive Part 1 of the two part series on Dibakar Banerjee's quest for cinema and more.
LSD
at
the
London
Indian
Film
Festival
(LIFF)
It's
a
great
way
for
me
to
satisfy
my
curiosity.
We,
the
makers
of
alternative
films
in
India
hope
for
one
thing
and
one
thing
only
-
We
hope
to
get
the
world
audiences
for
our
kind
of
films.
When
I
visit
London,
I
want
to
find
out
whether
we
do
have
a
world
audience
or
not,
and
if
so,
are
they
interested
in
Indian
cinema.
By
Indian
cinema,
I
don't
mean
Bollywood.
Bollywood
for
me
is
a
show.
It's
like
saying
that
Broadway
is
American
theatre.
Broadway
is
Broadway.
Bollywood
is
Bollywood.
World
cinema
audience
LSD
was
never
made
for
an
international
audience.
LSD
was
made
for
an
Indian
audience.
By
chance,
its
technique
and
style
has
certain
things
which
can
be
of
some
interest
for
the
international
cinema
going
audience.
I
don't
know
anything
about
the
world
cinema
audience.
Looking
at
the
response
coming
after
the
screening
at
LIFF
in
London,
it'll
be
my
second
step
towards
understanding
whether
LSD
fitted
that
audience
or
not.
LSD
in
Munich
The
Munich
Film
Festival
was
amazing.
It
was
our
first
step.
There,
the
reception
was
mind
bogglingly
encouraging
because
we
had
99%
German
audience.
Most
of
them
had
not
seen
any
Indian
film
before.
They
were
not
the
kind
of
people
who'd
come
to
see
a
Bollywood
film
for
a
novelty
value
because
they
see
such
films
on
their
TV
channels
and
on
DVDs.
They
know
what
Bollywood
is.
They
came
to
see
LSD
because
it
was
a
part
of
the
film
festival
which
is
known
for
its
select
few
films.
The
Germans
said
that
this
was
the
first
film
of
its
kind
that
they
had
seen
evolve
from
India.
They
couldn't
have
imagined
that
such
kind
of
films
exist
in
India.
They
were
impressed
with
the
acting
too.
For
an
alien
culture
to
understand
that
someone
is
acting
well,
says
a
lot
of
things.
I
got
my
answer
though
-
The
human
story
and
the
cultural
aspects
of
the
film
got
them
connected
to
LSD.
Peepli
Live
and
Lafangey
Parindey
Dibakar
Banerjee
will
watch
both
these
film,
why
not?
The
interesting
thing
about
India
is
that
there
is
no
subculture.
The
audience
which
make
LSD
a
hit
is
the
same
audience
which
makes
3
Idiots
a
hit
too.
In
Europe,
it's
a
slightly
different
kind
of
a
segmentation,
where
the
art
house
cinema
has
a
separate
audience
and
a
separate
business
model
altogether.
In
India,
my
small
budget
film
competes
with
another
film
which
has
a
budget
ten
times
that
of
my
film
and
plays
in
the
same
theatre
with
the
same
hoarding
space
and
pulls
me
out.
In
a
way,
there
is
no
segmentation
in
India.
So
I
will
see
both
Peepli
Live
and
Lafangey
Parindey.
Balaji
Motion
Pictures
I
am
a
businessman
and
that's
the
whole
solution.
I
know
that
my
kind
of
films
needs
to
work
doubly
hard
financially
and
to
sustain
itself.
Let
me
tell
you,
I
didn't
approach
Balaji
for
LSD.
They
approached
me
on
my
strengths
of
Khosla
Ka
Ghosla
and
Oye
Lucky,
Lucky
Oye.
Both
were
commercially
viable.
My
reputation
in
Balaji
was
that
Dibakar
makes
slightly
different
films
but
they
make
commercial
sense.
Whereas,
the
fraternity
thinks
that
Dibakar
Banerjee
is
absolutely
miser
with
budgets.
Balaji
thought
that
I'd
be
doing
my
next
film
with
big
stars
with
budget
constraints.
But
I
told
Balaji
an
idea
which
costs
200,000
US
$
which
was
very
interesting.
So
when
I
narrated
the
story
to
Ekta,
I
could
see
that
she
didn't
have
any
doubts
in
her
mind
and
from
her
eyes,
you
could
tell
that
LSD
was
a
film
already
made.
She
knew
how
the
film
was
treated.
LSD
was
a
provocative
film
for
all.
LSD
is
the
most
investment
friendly
film
I've
ever
made.
Ad
films
v/s
Feature
films
Ad
filmmakers
are
slightly
more
creative
in
their
technical
virtuosity
with
visuals,
post
production,
colours
and
all.
Ad
films
have
to
grab
your
attention
in
thirty
seconds
and
therefore
the
visual
aspects
and
sound
aspects
have
to
be
very
well
developed.
Because
of
the
lack
of
duration,
they
don't
get
time
to
develop
the
character,
product,
or
connectivity
sometimes.
So
it's
a
hit
and
miss
types.
Most
of
the
ad
filmmakers
like,
Sir
Ridley
Scott,
Shyam
Benegal,
etc
have
done
well
for
themselves
in
feature
films.