Kanu Behl calls for government support for Indie films as Agra gets Indian release after two years: ‘There must be a quality check’

Kanu Behl

Difficult, disheartening, and sometimes depressing" - that's how Kanu Behl describes his last two years as he fought to bring Agra to Indian theatres. This, even though the Rahul Roy, Priyanka Bose, and Mohit Agarwal-starrer won wide praise at the Cannes Film Festival 2023. Now, the drama is finally arriving in Indian cinemas on November 14.

Behl's jubilation is evident when he, over a phone call, tells us, "It was such a long and hard battle. We all know the state of independent cinema now. To finally get here where the film will meet its real audience is an indescribable feeling of joy."

(From left) Aanchal Goswami and Mohit Agarwal in ‘Agra'.

Finding a distributor that could put faith in the story - of a sexually repressed man in the context of India's space crunch - was the struggle. Eventually, Saregama Films came on board as the distributor. Behl, who has written the story with Atika Chohan, shares, "It was a daily battle. If you're trying to make a difficult film, you need to have strong collaborators from the production point of view."

Film banners apart, the director has another collaborator in mind - the government. He believes it's imperative for the government to sponsor a distribution channel so that independent films can thrive in Indian cinema. He says, "The top five or 10 films that come through festivals should get government support. There must be a quality check. If a film clears that, the government must mandate a certain number of screens for its release. It also needs to give tax breaks so that the audience has an incentive to watch that film as opposed to the next blockbuster playing in the next screen."

Agra is coming to theatres a month after a slew of indie films, from Jugnuma to Sabar Bonda, released on the big screen. Does it seem like a shift? "I hope it's a shift," asserts Behl, before adding, "But I've seen this before. When I came out with Titli [2014], a lot of independent voices were emerging. Then there was a lull. So, I'm happy about all of these films, but I'm also wary because I don't see a sustainable system. I hope we all can create a system for independent films."