Now, Bollywood gets special slot at London Fest

But some producers regret only 'fluffy' films will be shown.

Bollywood films will be given a special focus at the London Film Festival this year. A group of Bollywood filmmakers, who visited Cannes this year, met up with organisers of the festival to explore the possibilities of showcasing Indian films. Scheduled to begin on August 7, the festival is being presented by the British Film Institute.

"The smaller films are not really in the running as most festivals opt for the mainstream, 'fluffy' Johar-Chopra kind of movies," informs UTV's Ronnie Screwvala. Though he's happy that his 'Rang De Basanti' will also be screened, Screwvala feels smaller films should also be given similar opportunities. "Unfortunately, they (film festivals) get so swayed by the big titles that there is not much room for smaller films," he adds.

Rajat Kapoor, who has made films like 'Mixed Doubles' and 'Raghu Romeo', says it's no big deal. "The London Film Festival is just a one-off thing. It's not true that international festivals ignore smaller films. If that were true my 'Raghu Romeo' wouldn't have been a part of 21 festivals. People out there know which films to pick up and you need not necessarily have great marketing strategies to make the cut."