Our endeavour is to bring indie films to India: PVR INOX’s Sanjeev Bijli on ‘Civil War’

New Delhi, Apr 8 (PTI) Acceptance of independent films has grown stronger in India in the past few years and PVR INOX Pictures’ endeavour is to bring more such titles to audiences here, whether it’s a film like “Past Lives” or their latest acquisition “Civil War”, says Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, executive director, PVR INOX Ltd.

“Civil War”, directed by Alex Garland of “Ex Machina” and “Annihilation” fame, revolves around a team of military-embedded journalists who embark on a risky journey across a dystopian future US to reach Washington DC before rebel factions attack the White House.

Starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Nick Offerman, the film will hit Indian screens on April 19.

“Acceptance of independent films is a lot stronger now (in India). We started the motion picture arm of PVR INOX about 24 years ago and we would bring small films like ‘Talented Mr Ripley’ and others but people didn’t know much about it and it was tougher to push. But now there is more acceptance and awareness,” Bijli told PTI.

“Our endeavour always remains to bring independent films to India across all languages. We focus (more) on English because that’s the language most people would like to watch their films in. But we’ve been doing Japanese films, Spanish and other languages as well because we have a large network of screens. We want to be able to show all kinds of films to the Indian audiences,” he said.

The multiplex chain organised a premiere of “Civil War” at PVR Directors Cut, Vasant Kunj on Sunday. Bijli said they have had great success not only with Korean-English movie “Past Lives” but also with German-Polish-Yiddish film “The Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Fall” (French-English) as well as past hits such as “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “The Whale”, both American titles.

Crediting social media for making the world smaller, Bijli said they have a social listening programme that helps them identify the kind of independent movies Indian audiences are curious about.

The next step is an earnest attempt at acquisition, something that happened in the case of “Civil War” which received positive reviews from critics upon its world premiere at the South by Southwest film festival last month.

“Everybody already knows about ‘Civil war’ because there’s so much chatter on social media… It makes our life a little easier. We got the script of ‘Civil War’ last year at the American Film Market. We fell in love with it when we read it. We made the deal at the script stage itself because we thought it was Alex Garland, Kirsten Dunst, and it had an incredible story.

“Then, we finally saw the film in Berlin (film festival) this year on IMAX… It’s one of the very few commercial genre films coming out of A24,” he said, adding that they have had a fruitful collaboration with the studio, known for championing independent films. While big Hollywood titles come to India on their own, Bijli said a lot of their work entails circling major international film festivals and scouting for independent movies that will resonate with audiences in India.

“Independent films by nature are small budget and slightly niche, but they have an audience and some of them break out. Like ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ went on to win best picture Oscar last year.

“‘The Zone of Interest’ and ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ also won Oscars…. Past Lives was nominated for best picture and original screenplay… So these are the little risks you have to take… You need to sort of go and acquire these films which you feel very strongly about and they sometimes become massive hits.”

While Celine Song’s feature directorial debut “Past Lives” did not win an Oscar, both “The Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Fall”, registered wins at the Oscars.

“The Zone of Interest” by Jonathan Glazer won the Oscar for best international feature and best sound and “Anatomy of a Fall” by Justine Triet won in best original screenplay category.

Describing “Civil War” a hard-hitting drama, Bijli said Garland’s film is “one of the big ones” in terms of budget and scale. “The journey from acquisition to release is a long one. We signed the film a year and half ago, but it is finally ready for release. I’m excited about ‘Civil War because I’ve seen it and I think it’s a very strong film,” he added.