Anupriya Goenka talks to DNA about her film Break The Silence being screened at Cannes Film Festival
The short film Break The Silence was premiered recently at the Cannes Film Festival. And while the screening took place in the paid market section and not in the main competition, it was still a big achievement for the small, independent film. Anupriya Goenka, who stars in the film, talks to DNA about the exposure small films get at a platform like Cannes and the blurring lines between parallel and commercial cinema.
Does Break The Silence getting premiered at a platform like Cannes give you some kind of high or validation?
Getting the film premiered at Cannes in the paid market section obviously helps the film in gaining a lot of viewership. The chances of it reaching a wider audience increases a whole lot, especially because Break The Silence is a film that talks about an important message on abuse, special children. It gives me a lot of solace that it is reaching the market that it deserves.
How much does a Cannes tag help a small film like this in securing distributors and getting a release?
Just being screened at Cannes does help it get more eyeballs for sure. More than anything else, the possibility of it reaching buyers and promoters from outside the country increases. It does give the right kind of exposure that a film like this deserves.
Over the last few years, we have seen that films that talk about anything poignant are branded ‘festival films’. Earlier they were called parallel cinema. Do you think these tags will ever go away?
I, for one, don’t mind these tags. I would want the commercial films to become just as meaningful, which is happening in a bigger way than before. The lines have blurred between commercial and meaningful cinema now because anything that is made on a certain scale can attract certain numbers is commercial and saleable. Nowadays, commercial cinema has also started becoming more meaningful with some message to give. It is realistic more often than before.
There is a huge divide between commercial masala movies and realistic cinema in India. These tags are there for a reason. I don’t mind till the time we cater to different kinds of audiences. We have a large audience base and as long as meaningful cinema finds its way and becomes more widespread and appreciated, I am ok with any tags.
You have worked in smaller films like Break The Silence and also in blockbusters like Padmaavat and War. Do you have a preference?
Of course, Padmaavat is a whole different sort of journey. A film like that and the experience of it cannot be compared with a short film. The two spaces are very different. I love doing both of them. To be able to work on a set like Padmaavat, portray a character from the 13th century, work under guidance of Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a whole different experience. I would forever cherish that and hope for it be repeated. And in a short film like Break The Silence, which is about an important subject, I am just happy that I have been able to contribute. It means a lot as well. These two are very different experiences for me as an actor and it’s not a question of choice or preferring one over the other. Every actor would want both of these together in life.
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