Westerners don't understand Indian cinema'

| 02 December 2004 23:08 IST

Indian films will fail at Oscars unless you make the western juries understand the Indian psyche and if the film is not fully original, feels India’s Hollywood filmmaker Ashok Amritraj.

Screening five of his films, including Raising Helen that would be premiered in Goa, the IFFI is honoring the sportsman-turned-filmmaker at the 35th International Film Festival here.

The festival is screening Walking Tall by Kevin Bray, Moonlight Mile by Brad Silberling, Bandits by Barry Levinson and Bringing Down the House by Adam Shankman.

Talking to media persons, Amritraj also agreed that lack of finance is also a major hurdle for the Indian films, to get it nominated for Oscar Awards.

The western audience cannot accept Indian cinema, where a girl suddenly starts singing and dancing while the next scene would see her in a different mood altogether, quips Amritraj.

In order to overcome the financial hurdles faced by creative Indian filmmakers, Amritraj suggests them to initially go for a small budget film and then step into bid budget ventures.

Rather than grumbling over the fact that the West is not respectfully looking at the Indian cinema, he feels India could simply look towards the east.

He also pointed out that the Hollywood nowadays is remaking the ideas of Japanese and Korean films. Even India has started giving world-class themes, he adds.

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