Stars no longer the only selling point for films, says Gandhi

Filmmaker Anand Gandhi says people have started realising that stars are not the most credible factor in deciding the quality of a film.
Gandhi, who has produced the award-winning documentary "An Insignificant Man", directed by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla, believes the trust has started to shift from stars to directors and other creative people.
"As a cinema making country and as an audience we are at a cusp of this transition - where the audiences are going to watch a film not only in the name of an actor but also for the director and the team. Largely for the past few decades people have trusted actors.

"But as we are able to spread cinema literacy, people are becoming aware that there are directors, writers and cinematographers, who do amazing work and that stars are not necessarily the most reliant factor to fall back on," Gandhi says in an interview with PTI.
While he does not see a major shift in the near future, Gandhi says filmmakers such as Vishal Bhardwaj, Dibakar Banerjee and Anurag Kashyap have managed to create a certain relationship with the audience.
Gandhi, meanwhile, is looking forward to the release of "An Insignificant Man", which chronicles the birth of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the rise of its leader Arvind Kejriwal.

When pointed out that he seems to be drawn towards "real" stories, Gandhi says a lot of people have looked at the documentary as a masala entertainer.

"What is entertaining for a lot of people is plain boring for others. This is a documentary feature so it is absolutely real. Cinema is a tool, where you transmit ideas, aspirations, reflections, dreams, insights. So movies are either absolute realities or dreams."
Gandhi says he has been following the work of Ranka and Shukla and was so impressed that he thought of backing the documentary feature.
Ranka was Gandhi's co-writer on "Ship of Theseus" while Shukla had made a short film.

"They wanted to make a documentary and not a fiction. When they were making it, I was not sure where it will go. I was not sure if they will be able to get complete access or not, and maintain neutrality. But they have managed to keep a neutral perspective," he says.
The film received a standing ovation at its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and had sold out screenings at major festival across the world, including the BFI London Film Festival and Busan International Film Festival.
Gandhi says the feedback from the international audiences proves that every country is struggling to grasp the democratic process in its own way.

"So the film transcends the subject matter - which is the emergence of AAP at that point - it goes beyond that, by asking the right democratic questions," Gandhi says.
The film is set to release in India on November 17.