Mumbai, 25 February 2023: “India is not one India. It’s cliched to say ‘unity in diversity’, but I grew up in an India which was so inherently diverse, there was no desire to put it in any one framework. I never felt the need to even define it because by defining you are limiting India. India is everything. You have the most progressive ideas here and you will have the most traditional and regressive ones” filmmaker, writer & social advocate Nandita Das said here today.
Speaking on her new film ‘Zwigato’ Das said, “It began as an anthology that didn’t materialize and it came not only about the food delivery rider but his family, his wife, his children, and many other people who form our world and have remained so invisible, the watchman, the nanny. It’s not a blame game on big companies, not a blame game on the consumers. It is really a slice of life in 4 days.”
At the second edition of ‘Ideas of India’ Summit, filmmaker Mira Nair said, “Salaam Bombay was a life & death story for me, no one knew me or had money for me. I got a little Grant of $150,000 from NFDC. I went to a channel in England that matched that money and that was the money with which I started the film. But the point was that I did not want to apologize for the cinema, I did not want to say I am from the third world and that’s why it looks out of focus. I spent the entire 300,000$ on 35mm cameras, on great diffusion, and good lighting but on the streets with the children, having no money really to finish the film and post-production. I was shooting in the morning and at night I would raise money on the phone.It was really difficult and I didn’t know from one day to the next if we would shoot.”
The ABP Network’s “Ideas of India” Summit 2023 was discussing the topic of “Director’s Cut, Telling Original Stories” The summit has brought together policymakers, cultural ambassadors, industry experts, celebrities, and business leaders to discuss the critical role of India during the global churn and changing dynamics. ABP Network is a leading multi-language channel ring 535 million individuals in India therefore this summit provides one of the biggest platforms for the brightest minds across various sectors to express their views.
