July 31, 2017
Actress Sayani Gupta is excited that
her new film "The Hungry" -- an adaptation of William Shakespeare's
tragedy, "Titus Andronicus", will be screened at the Toronto
International Film Festival (TIFF). She says the Indian audience has
started accepting home-grown cinema made in sync with international
standards.
Sayani, known for featuring in movies like "Margarita with a Straw" and
"Jolly LLB 2", told IANS: "The Indian audience has now become receptive
to international standards of filmmaking. People are much more aware
than they were ten years ago."
Directed by Bornila Chatterjee, "The Hungry" is a family drama, set and
adapted in India. It is about the basic hunger of power, love and money.
Talking about how the movie got selected for TIFF -- one of the best
known film festivals across the world -- Sayani said: "Last year was
the 400th death anniversary of Shakespeare and a competition was held
in London. For it, lots of movies were submitted from UK and India as
it was an Indo-British venture and the script of our movie won."
This is not the first time that Sayani's film will be screened at TIFF.
"Margarita with a Straw" and "Parched" were also showcased at the gala
in the past.
"This is my third year in Toronto and I am very excited for ‘The
Hungry'. I was not able to attend the festival for my other two movies.
This time we are planning to go there," said the actress, who has also
featured in films like "Fan", "Baar Baar Dekho" and "Jagga Jasoos".
The cast of "The Hungry" also includes actors Naseeruddin Shah and
Tisca Chopra.
Working with such an experienced cast was amazing, says Sayani, who
added: "Naseeruddin sir was our teacher back in film school. He is a
very influential person. Working with him in a same film was quite
ecstatic. The sets of the film were like family."
When asked about the importance of a film to be screened at a film
festival, Sayani said: "A commercial film with film stars doesn't need
to go to any film festival as they don't need that kind of push. Film
festivals are refined and meant for niche audiences.
"Being a part of a film festival helps the movie for its better
release. It's like a stamp. People get to know about many films only
through film festivals," she added.
As many of Shakespeare's works have been adapted for films, what is
different in "The Hungry"?
While appreciating Vishal Bhardwaj's "Haider", which was a take on
"Hamlet", Sayani said: "In case of 'The Hungry', we have worked so much
in taking the essence from the original play and placing it in a
completely Indian scenario. It is a smart way of jamming literature and
cinema together."
Talking about the present scenario of independent cinema, Sayani said:
"The number of audience that reaches the off-beat cinema is lesser.
Independent movies don't get a huge distribution in the Indian market,
but they often have chances of a bigger release worldwide."
The 31-year-old actress, who also keeps on doing web series and short
films apart from the commercial movies, says her focus is always "on
doing good projects".