When art-house brilliance wins global acclaim but faces neglect in its own country, it forces us to question the moral compass of our cinematic culture and its growing obsession with celebrity over substance. Monojit Lahiri lays it on the line…

India’s indie films continue to win global recognition — from Anuparna Roy’s Songs of the Forgotten Trees at the Venice Film Festival to Asif Kapadia’s international acclaim — yet they remain neglected at home. Filmmakers like Gautam Ghosh and Saibal Chatterjee lament how consumerism and celebrity culture have replaced cinema’s soul with superficial spectacle. Once nurtured by an intelligent middle class, India’s art-house cinema now fights for space in a marketplace driven by star power. As the nation’s screens overflow with sequels and franchises, one question remains: Why do we celebrate our filmmakers abroad only to forget them at home

The Wisdom of Ray and the Warning of Time 

Around five decades ago, when I lived and worked in Kolkata, I was fortunate to have a conversation with Satyajit Ray. Both my (late) father-in-law, Chidananda Dasgupta — the doyen of film criticism and co-founder of the Calcutta Film Society with Ray — and my (late) father, Sanat Lahiri, a titan in the world of PR, were his close friends.

I was young then, blazing with energy and troubled by why many cinematic gems, local and global, were being ignored by the masses, who were increasingly seduced by films pandering to the lowest common denominator. Ray smiled at my youthful rant and said something worth its weight in gold: “You must understand that every film is not meant for everyone.”

The Forgotten Triumphs of Indie Visionaries

Cut to Anuparna Roy’s stunning win at Venice — the world’s oldest and most prestigious film festival — where she bagged the Orizzonti Best Director Award for her debut feature, Songs of the Forgotten Trees. Yet, in India, neither the film industry nor the mainstream media has celebrated her achievement with the recognition it deserves. Instead, the spotlight remains fixated on star-driven sequels and nepotistic glamour.

Kolkata-based filmmaker Gautam Ghosh — internationally acclaimed and awarded — takes the first strike: “While Manik-da’s principle still holds true, art-house, small-budget, non-starry and non-formulaic films, which once had a loyal, cinema-literate audience, have now been pushed to the margins. Earlier, a sensitive, cultured, and discerning middle class inspired filmmakers to explore the roads less travelled. But today, thanks to consumerism, commercialization, and deep-pocketed marketing, this audience has been pushed 95th from left! Cinema has been reduced to an FMCG product: buy, consume, throw. In this scheme of things, where do the Roys and Kapadias stand a chance on home turf? How tragic!”

Celebrity Over Creativity: The Decline of the Discerning Eye

Veteran critic Saibal Chatterjee, who has been attending international festivals for over two decades, expands on this lament: “Today we live in celebrity-driven times, where imagination and human insight have been replaced by glamour and marketing. In an ecosystem obsessed with Jawan, Pathaan, and Pradhan — not Masaan — indie filmmakers like Roy or Kapadia struggle to connect with domestic audiences. Big studios pay lip service to ‘new voices’ but the track record is laughable. Outside their comfort zone, they’re nobodies. Ironically, filmmakers like Mira Nair, Deepa Mehta, Roy, and Kapadia continue to earn global recognition — and funding — because their art speaks to the world, not to the noise at home.”  

The Audience We Lost — and the Films We Deserve

At its core, it’s about the audience — what they seek when they go to the movies. Do they crave bharpoor entertainment, or films that engage, provoke, and linger long after the credits roll?

Sadly, for the mature and discerning segment of viewers, it has been a body blow. With production houses, trade, and media collectively chasing commerce over content, films like those of Kapadia and Roy are treated as export commodities — made for festivals abroad, not audiences at home.

So what’s the solution?  

Perhaps, as a nation, we have become what we watch. As the screens overflow with Jolly LLB 3, Baaghi 4, Housefull 5 and beyond — one can only sigh and say: We get the films we deserve.