Abhay acquires three films at film bazaar

Abhay Deol has acquired three movies at the 10th edition of NFDC Film Bazaar via his banner 'Abhay Deol Presents.
The 40-year-old actor picked up Aditya Vikram Sengupta's "Labour of Love", Payal Sethi's short film "Leeches" and Brahmanand S Singh's documentary "Kaagaz Ki Kashti" about veteran ghazal singer Jagjit Singh. Both "Labour of Love" and "Leeches" were a part of Viewing Room in 2014-15 respectively while "Kaagaz Ki Kashti" features this year.
"I saw 'Labor of Love' at IFFLA and was blown away with Aditya's aesthetic sensibilities, and his ability to spin a story without any spoken dialogues. While, Payal's 'Leeches' is an important film that people need to watch.

"My most recent select is 'Kaagaz Ki Kashti,' which premiered at MAMI this year. I strongly believe in these films and want to ensure that audiences across the world watch them," Abhay said.
The banner plans to work with online platforms to give films a straight-to-digital worldwide release.
"The way we consume content has changed. While it is no secret that we have a limited number of screens in India, the economics to engage in a theatrical release don't make sense for Independent films.

"Minimum P&A budgets required to secure a decent release add unhealthy weight on a small film. What we need now is to adopt alternate avenues of distribution that are widely available thanks to various digital platforms," he said.

The actor further said that he is constantly educating himself about releasing the films on a digital platform.
"I've been in touch with some filmmakers who increasingly understand this changing environment. Pulkit's recent directorial debut 'Maroon,' is a fine example of an indie release done right.
"The potential reach that a film can achieve adopting this route is significant and can no longer be ignored," he said.
Deol, who is a regular at the Film Bazaar, said he has attended the movie gala for three to four times and is happy to see its growth.
"Nina (Lath Gupta, NFDC's Managing Director) has worked on it so dedicatedly with a small team, and the structure that they've put forward is very productive. It's great that they entertain projects in all stages of development, whether it's in pre-production or in post-production.