What happens to Bollywood films touring the festival circuit?

Cannes Film Festival is slated to commence from May 14 onwards and as has been the case over the past few years the presence of Indian films mdash even if not Bollywood mdash will be duly noted this time too Last year Ritesh Batrarsquos The Lunchbox won the Grand Rail dOr before winning rave reviews in other film festivals and releasing in India In fact it went on to become the highest grossing foreign language film in the US in 2014 Here was a rather rare case of an Indian film not only earning recognition on an international platform but also successfully translating it into commercial gainsNawazuddin Siddiqui Manya Gupta and Geetanjali Thapa in Liarrsquos Dice Directed by Geetu Mohandas it had its world premiere at the 2013 Mumbai Film Festival and has been touring the festival circuit ever sinceThis begs the question What happens to the majority of films from India that do the rounds of film festivals Do the filmmakers earn much in the long runNot really says Vikramjit Roy general manager National Film Development Corporation of India NFDC He says ldquoA film like The Lunchbox created a new benchmark because it had the potential to engage audiences at film festivals But in the international market a filmrsquos success depends entirely on its quality If a film has universal charm then itrsquos going to get eyeballs even in nonNRI areas What else can explain The Lunchboxrsquos screening and subsequent popularity in so many countriesrdquoPeddlers premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2012 The unreleased crime thriller has been active on the festival front thoughItrsquos worth noting that The Lunchbox released in India much after its festival run Hansal Mehtarsquos Shahid Anand Gandhirsquos Ship of Theseus and Ashim Ahluwaliarsquos Miss Lovely too tasted fame in the festival circuit before winning favour among the masses Vasan Balarsquos Peddlers however hasnrsquot been so fortunate After premiering at Cannes in 2012 the crime thriller is yet to release in IndiaReach over profit On being asked whether the festival circuit helped him financially Bala shrugs saying that itrsquos a matter of perception more than statistics ldquoA film sent to a film festival may or may not make considerable amount of profit but the primary idea is to seek an audience If my country doesnrsquot want my film Irsquoll search for eyeballs somewhere else And all this while I canrsquot keep looking at the accounts I will keep moving aheadrdquoAhluwalia takes a more holistic approach though ldquoYou donrsquot send a movie to a film festival with the sole objective of reaping profits Sometimes itrsquos solely about prestigerdquoShip of Theseus not only benefited from festival circuit but also from healthy boxoffice collectionsWinwin for everyone However that is not to say that producers donrsquot seek a proper Friday release In fact thanks to increasing awareness about film festivals these challenges are being met head on by filmmakersFor instance Ship of Theseus which recently won the National Award for Best Feature Film began its journey at the Toronto Film Festival in 2012 Gandhi is grateful to the festival machinery as it helped him build the momentum But he points out that therersquos much more to overseas screenings than instant commercial advantage ldquoFilm festivals give us access to international markets The idea is to make audiences watch a different kind of cinema A film festival also lends a film much needed visibility that might just help in making more moneyrdquo says the 33yearold filmmakerThe Lunchbox recently completed its ninth weekend in the USA having grossed 2713093 from 165 theatersMeenakshi Shedde film critic and film festival curator states that film festivals are all about the profit ldquoSadly in our country we think every festivalhopping film is noncommercial This mentality is the reason why we are left behind in the global markets especially in the nondiaspora countries All over the world film fests help increase box returnsAfter all film festivals are meant to benefit both sides mdash the festival organisers as well as the filmmakersrdquo she says