India everywhere at Cannes

In a sign of the increasing acceptance of Indian cinema globally, the participating Indian contingent returned home successful from the Cannes film market with a majority of the 80 companies, 20 exhibitors and 45 independent filmmakers inking deals with participants from 70 countries present at the event.

The talking point of the event might be Indian cinema charting new territory with films like Rakeysh Mehra's Rang De Basanti, Bharatbala's Hari Om, Farhan Akhtar's upcoming flick Don, Karan Johar's Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna and the Celluloid Dreams' animated production Friends Forever nabbed by buyers from places as diverse as South America, Eastern Europe and Western Asia for overseas territory rights.

The real buzz, however, is the emergence of Indian studios as a hot destination for outsourcing of post production and special effects work.

"We made a real break through this year at Cannes, the India Pavilion at the Village International attracted enormous attention and connect with global cinema," CII National Entertainment Committee chairman Bobby Bedi said.

India has also emerged as a destination for shooting foreign productions and this could yield dividends for both the domestic tourism and film industry here.

"People went away impressed with the what India had to offer in terms of our technical capabilities. They were convinced of the potential for co-production and shooting in Indian locations with Indian crew and facilities. We should now be able to see a steady trickle of foreign productions heading India's way," said a member of the delegation.

Though no estimate of the amount of business transacted is available at the moment, delegates are convinced that the spadework would bear fruit sooner than later with the competitive cost effectiveness that India has to offer.

India was also a talking point at the Producers Network "" which was the breakfast hub for over 200 global producers every day at Cannes for networking producers from UK, USA, Australia, Poland, Canada was keen to work with Indian producers.

Industry leaders said that India should ratify the signed co-production treaty with Italy and UK and sign audio visual treaties with Germany, China, Canada, Australia.

''I have been coming to Cannes for 15 years. This year has been my best and also for India which was everywhere at Cannes,'' said Jagmohan Mundhra, who premiered the Aishwarya Rai starred Provoked at the Cannes Film Market.