Films are better when driven by directors: Shekhar Kapur

Renowned filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, who has directed highly appreciated movies like "Masoom", "Mr. India" and "Bandit Queen", feels "quality" films are those which are driven by directors and not actors.

"Films are much better when they are driven by directors. Each time when actors have become more important and when they demand 60 per cent of the total revenue, the quality of the film gone down.

"I am not saying their business has gone down, but quality-wise those films have not done well," Kapur said here on Tuesday at the fifth edition of "CII Big Picture Summit 2016".

At the summit, Kapur took part in a session, titled "Indian Cinema - Making the Journey from Volumes to Valuation". He was joined by filmmaker Ramesh Sippy; Shobu Yarlagadda, co-founder and CEO, Arka Media Works; Karan Ahluwalia, Senior President & Country Head, Media and Entertainment, Fine Arts, Luxury and Sports Banking Group, Yes Bank; and Raj Kumar Akella, Founding Member, Telangana Intellectual Property Crime Unit.

The session was aimed at discussing monetisation and valuation of Indian films.

Kapur said that he doesn't feel that the number of cinemas will grow in India in near future.

"It's highly unlikely that India will increase number of cinemas. Compared to earlier times, the percentage of numbers is actually going down," he said.

"There was a time when people had no alternative. There was nothing else they could do apart from watching films in theatres. But now they can watch anything on TV, laptops or on phones using Internet. In India, we lack numbers of theatres. Potential in India is limited," he added.

--IANS

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