Every good film should be a commercial film: Anurag Kashyap

Amid the constant debate between commercial and non-commercial cinema, director Anurag Kashyap says that he hopes that every good film should be considered a commercial film.

“I’m hoping that every good film is a commercial film. Every good film should be a commercial film. And my definition of commercial is that if the film goes out and people engage in it and it earns money, then it is a commercial film,” he said at a press meet on Friday for promoting upcoming film “Titli” and his interaction with the “Titli” family on Youtube.

“The first mistake that we make is that without even watching the film we tag it as ‘parallel’. ‘Titli’ is not parallel cinema – ‘Titli’ is that strong, impactful and good cinema which we’re watching and our audience is going to watch it. And ‘Titli’ is that kind of film that I can’t remember how many times I watched it, and get immersed in it every time I watch it.”

Kashyap has supported the commercial films such as “Bombay Velvet” which he directed and “Shaandaar” but had also recently supported non-commercial film “Masaan” through his production house Phantom Films along with other filmmakers. The film bagged two awards at the Cannes Film Festival and was critically appreciated in India. Previously he has also produced smaller films such as “Udaan” and “Shahid” which have also done well critically and sometimes even commercially.

About the favourable phase for such cinema, he said: “And this has been building up since so many years, and the phase is so good that in every 1-2 months such films are coming out.”

Dibakar Banerjee, who is the producer of “Titli”, said: “We try to identify if we can release the film in more than 300-400 screens. If a so-called independent cinema and so-called new-thinking cinema like this can touch 300-500 screens, then it means that its a big step for the film. And we’re aiming for that.”

“Titli”, produced by Banerjee’s and Yash Raj Films and directed by Kanu Behl, is scheduled to release on October 30.

(IANS)