Our struggle starts with completion of film: Sidharth Srinivasan

Indie film's success should not be measured by its first week collection, says independent filmmaker Sidharth Srinivasan whose second film "Pairon Talle", about clash between traditional and modern societies in Delhi, is coming out Friday.

"The problem for most of us arises after completion of the film because the fate of a film is decided by its opening weekend box-office figures. Indie films require slow and steady approach as they have to wait for word of mouth to get around," Sidharth told IANS.

The 37-year-old filmmaker said the problem is not with the audience, it's with the distribution and marketing mechanism, lack of alternate monetising platforms and the alarmingly high costs of pushing the film into public domain.

"We are always led to believe that an audience will not like something, but the truth is that it is distributors who decide what an audience likes or dislikes," he said.

Set in Delhi, "Pairon Talle", releasing Oct 5, deals with the city where tradition and modernity co-exist and clash.

He said everyone in Delhi talks about malls and multiplexes in Noida and Gurgaon and the immense job opportunities. But nobody discusses the flip side of the "success story" like rise in crime rate etc.

Why did you choose Delhi, of all the places?

"I love Delhi, and at the same time I worry what is happening to the city. Violence on the basis of caste, gender or land is not unique to Delhi... and I strongly feel nobody is talking about the NCR or the underbelly of the economic boom," Sidharth said.

The film made under a budget of Rs.1 crore was shot in 27 days and Sidharth's biggest challenge was to balance work and budget constraints, but his advantage was the complete creative control over the film.

"Pairon Talle" stars Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Avtar Sahni, Saba Joshi and Geeta Bisht in lead roles and is produced by Divya Bhardwaj.

S. Nalla Muthu, the three-time National Award winning cinematographer, has handled the photography, while another National Award winner Nihar Ranjan of "3 Idiots" fame handled the sound designing.

The film has travelled to several film festivals, including Toronto and Rotterdam, and the rights to distribute the film in the US and Europe have already been acquired.