But there weren't too many avenues either, were there? Sure, one could borrow world cinema titles from the likes of the British Council, American Center library, Max Muller Bhawan, Alliance Francaise and other embassies.
There was also the grey market (Palika Bazaar in New Delhi, for instance) where world cinema titles appeared alongside porn films. And yes, there were film festivals which brought interesting contemporary work from world cinema but it would be a matter of luck; you could watch five films in a day for over eight hours and, on a lucky day, finally cast your vote on two.
As for television, there was hardly anything to suggest that world cinema really stood any "popular" ground. A glut of movie channels including HBO, Star Movies and Zee Studio were showcasing interesting titles but one knew that as far as world cinema was concerned, audiences in India could do with much more. And that's when UTV World Movies happened.
More than a year ago, UTV's Ronnie Screwvala grandly announced his company's plans to introduce and educate Indian audiences in world cinema by acquiring some of the best movie titles.
But the company's tie-up with Palador didn't materialise into a long-term commitment and the project was soon on a shaky wicket. My guess is that unfazed by the breakup, UTV moved ahead as quickly as possible and made an entry in the television space for a world movies channel.
The channel, unique in its space, has, according to Dilshad Shaw, COO, UTV Entertainment Television, picked up not just well but rather quickly. Since its launch in February 2008, the channel has already gathered 11 per cent share of English movie viewing on Indian television.
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But what's interesting is the manner in which Shaw and her team acquire titles for their library. Shaw, for instance, must be either packing her bags or would've already reached Cannes. Ideally, she would reach at least a week in advance before the festival was scheduled to start and visit stalls set up by various international distribution houses and watch rushes and trailers of films.
"It's usually on first come first serve basis and though it isn't quite an auction, the rates, depending on what sort of rights one acquires (DVDs, home video, theatrical prints, satellite television or all of them) can be pushed up considerably," she says. The cost? Companies like UTV are willing to pay $2,000-5,000 for each title, adding anywhere between 25-30 titles every month.
If UTV World Movies already has a total of 550 titles, NDTV is getting set to experiment in this space. The channel's firmed up with 300 titles already; a tie-up with exhibitor PVR Cinemas to showcase some titles theatrically (they'll get anywhere between 3-10 prints) is in place and some more spends (Rs 25-60 lakh to acquire each new title) planned as well.
When I spoke to Sunil Doshi, director, Lumiere, sometime last year, he said that he was keen to bring more international titles to India. So I wasn't surprised when I heard about his arrangement with NDTV to bring out a channel focusing on, what else, world cinema.
Doshi says he's very happy about the presence of UTV World Movies channel. "Indians can do with much more world cinema titles," he says. Well, we can't help but agree.