The logo of the Mumba India International Film Festival (MIIFF) was recently unveiled in a grand style in the presence of all its founders Sharon Prabhakar, Sudhir Attavar, Trivikram Belthangady, Sandip Soparrkar and Chaitali Chatterjee. Nandita Puri, spouse of the late Om Puri was also present at the event. The very first MIIFF will kickstart in January 2023 in Mumbai.
The Free Press Journal caught up with Sharon for an exclusive chat. Opening up about MIIFF, she says, “It’s like the culmination of my dream. I had to own a festival. I can only say that ever since I was a youngster, I was very fascinated by change. I don’t like things that are predictable. Even when I first started singing, people couldn’t handle me. They would ask questions like, ‘Who is this person? What is her typical style of singing?’. I carried that forward. The rebel inside me always made me do things with a difference. I hope to bring that through this festival.”
There are a lot of film festivals that are on the verge of closing. When we ask how will she manage it, she explains, “There is a classic example of why we human beings give up. This is our mind at play. Will there be a place for me? Am I too old? Am I too young? What will people say? I tell you that every one of us should follow our dreams. We are going to create for our inner journey. People say whatever they may wish to say. We are going to trust this journey and treat this initiative, MIIFF, as our baby. Babies get born. There are so many children, but this one we have given birth to, so we are going to nurture it to the fullest and help it grow and see what happens.”
There is a huge lobbying effort when screens are allotted to new filmmakers as known production houses get them easily while new filmmakers have to struggle. One wonders if MIIFF will allow small filmmakers to screen their projects. “So we are doing this film festival in the presence of big giants and small filmmakers that have made films, by selling their property. I have spoken to such filmmakers. We are here, but there is a lot of painstaking effort that goes within the people who have struggled and are fed up with knocking on doors. They have given us the reason and told us exactly why we sat down and decided to try at least. Where the world is heading today it’s very scary. Everyone has a hidden agenda you cannot be looked up to unless there is some gain from you. Everything is need-based. I am not making any promises but sitting here, I say we are going to try and do it,” she avers.
Sharon believes she will not be partial towards anyone. “Selections will be based on merit, and we will try to be fair to one and all. There will be excitement if big makers like Vidhu Vinod Chopra come here. All of us will grow. I am sure this will be an enriching experience yet very fair. We will do our best to be ethical. All five of us can’t be bought,” she concludes.
