This festival has not been kind to India. Satyajit Ray won a best human document prize for Pather Panchali way back in 1956. Last year there was a Golden Camera award for a first film by an Indian director. The biggest film producing country in the world gets two minor awards in 53 years of the festival's existence. There was not one film from India this year. Our submissions didn't make it past the selection committee. The rest of Asia had a field day with films from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Iran, even the Philippines walking away with eight of the 13 awards, including the Grand Prize.
The problem is that we keep insisting that the major festivals take our so-called art films. Most of them are pretty awful. I have no idea why some of my colleagues have been raving about films like Bombay Boys and Split Wide Open. Here is an idea. Next time try picking something like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam or Dil Se... Chop it down to less than two hours running time, leaving intact much of the singing and dancing. They will adore it.
