However, Alam, who has turned an independent producer with the upcoming cricket-themed film, Shoonya, Black Friday producer Arindam Mitra’s directorial debut, says: “If you go to a big studio set-up, there are obvious advantages by way of marketing and promotion.” Striking a balance between the spirit of independence and the need for aggressive marketing is indeed the challenge that many young Mumbai filmmakers are increasingly taking up.

It’s clear that it is no longer enough for a writer-director to be in love with his script. He must also have the same passion for the finished product. “The Maine Gandhi… experience taught me a key Bollywood lesson: promoting and marketing a film is just as important as making it,” says the internationally recognised Barua. Having grasped how the industry really works, he is now all set to announce a new pan-Indian Hindi film, “an unusual love story”, with mainstream Bollywood stars.

No less important than the rise of intrepid filmmakers who dare to soldier on with ‘risky’ ideas despite the odds is the emergence of producers with a creative orientation. Says Anish Ranjan, producer of films like Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar and Dansh: “What we are seeing today is probably a return of the studio system of yore, albeit in a new avatar.” In this scenario, says Anish, “the freedom of the director might, on the face of it, appear to get curbed a little, but that won’t be in a negative way. Filmmaking today is a far more collaborative, interactive process.” Anish’s partner in the production business is filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, maker of hits like Tum Bin… and Dus.

... contd.