I’m here to promote films made by students: Subhash Ghai

He’s known to introduce new faces in the industry, and his ‘finds’ have included actors like Jackie Shroff, Manisha Koirala and even Mahima Chaudhry. It is hardly a surprise when you find that promoting new talent is something that filmmaker Subhash Ghai feels rather strongly about. And like always, a meeting with him at the newly launched Cinemax, Bangalore, revealed a whole lot of interesting plans.

“I’m here to promote films made by students from my film school — Whistling Woods International. This year, we asked the students to come up with subjects that can be made with minimal budgets. We got two very good films. These two films — Love Express and Cycle Kick — are releasing this month and since I was so impressed with the products, I should take some time out and promote them,” says Ghai.

According to the filmmaker, “New talent needs to be promoted. The industry has ample space for all. If a Salman Khan film like Ready does well on one end, there is also room for smaller films like Stanley Ka Dabba on the other. Small budget films have created a niche for themselves and have a bright future.”

But he is also quick to point that a small budget film needs special treatment. “One cannot expect a huge crowd to turn up for a such a film if the tickets are priced just as much as a big budget film. Rs200 plus for one ticket is too much. I’m strongly trying to promote the idea of nominal pricing for these films,” says Ghai,

He says, “Earlier, I’d requested for an exemption of entertainment tax for these films. However, I realised that the tax imposed are different in different regions of our country and that complicates things. We’re still working towards reducing the pricing by requesting cinema halls to price these films at their lowest denominations.”

Ghai believes that this will be a win-win situation for all — filmmakers, exhibitors and cine-goers. “When you offer two small budget films for the price of one, or price the tickets at the lowest denominations, everyone benefits. I hope everyone sees that and gets cracking on the idea,” signs off Ghai on an optimistic note.