Filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane, who kicked off 2025 on a strong note with the critical and commercial success of his Netflix series Black Warrant, has expressed concern over the shrinking space for independent cinema in India. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, the director reflected on how drastically the landscape has changed in the last decade. “The fact that Phantom could make Masaan once, for example, I think that industry has changed right now,” he said, referencing the now-defunct Phantom Films. “I don’t think there’s space for an indie film for a theatrical audience, or even for a streaming audience.”
Motwane pointed out the lack of purely artistic Indian films being backed by local studios or platforms post-pandemic. “If you think about it, when was the last purely artistic film that was made for streaming since the pandemic? I can’t think of a single one that has been made without an international producer,” he said. “There was a lot of talk about India at Cannes last year — we had four films in the festival, across all the sections — each one of them had an international partner. None of them were an indigenous Indian production.”
Reflecting on the pre-pandemic era, he added, “If I take it all the way from Udaan, the same year, 2010, we had Peepli Live, Dhobi Ghat, LSD, That Girl in the Yellow Boots. And after that you had Masaan, Court, Newton. All these movies played in theatres, they all did well in the theatres — for their budgets, they all did well enough. There was a certain amount of money that was made back. Nobody went broke.” On the shift since COVID-19, Motwane acknowledged, “Things have changed drastically. Not only are these movies not playing in theatres anymore, but also not on streamers. Streamers are not supposed to be our saviours… but that didn’t turn out.”
Despite the dismal state of affairs, Motwane underlined the importance of keeping independent cinema alive. “They must be made,” he insisted. His advice for aspiring indie filmmakers? “If you want to make them, be smart about it — go out there, find an international producer, as then only you can get distribution, to get the money back.”
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