A Joint Statement from India's Independent Filmmakers
As a collective community of filmmakers, writers, producers and artists working across regions, we urge exhibitors, OTT platforms, policymakers and cultural institutions to address this crisis with structural reforms,” they said. “This creates a ‘closed-loop’ ecosystem where independent films are asked to ‘prove’ themselves in theatres while simultaneously being denied theatrical access... We are not demanding exceptional treatment. We are demanding fair access to the right for Indian audiences to discover Indian films,”
The coalition outlined five specific requests: guaranteed accessible evening screenings for every independent release, transparent criteria for screen allocation, regular monthly or quarterly indie showcase programming, support from cultural institutions and alternative venues, and streaming acquisition policies independent of theatrical performance metrics.
SIGNED BY: Alankrita Shrivastava Aditya Kripalani Arati Kadav Kanu Behl Ruchi Narain Raam Reddy Honey Trehan Leena Yadav Dibakar Das Roy Karan Talwar Megha Ramaswamy Karan Tejpal Devashish Makhija Bauddhayan Mukherji Shonali Bose Nandita Das Karan Gour Dominic Megam Sangma Aditya Vikram Sengupta Bhaskar Hazarika Haobam Paban Kumar Tanuja Chandra Descriptive alt text Anuparna Roy Varun Grover Diwa Shah Gurvinder Singh Hardik mehta Sarvnik Kaur Q Shlok Sharma Vasan Bala Shaunak Sen Ajitpal Singh Rahat Mahajan Ronny Sen Aamir Bashir Safdar Rahman Prateek Vats Akshay Indikar Ashim Ahluwalia Pradip Kurbah Sharukhkhan Chavada Payal Kapadia Rima Das Chaitanya Tamhane Sumit Purohit
Kanu Behl (director of Agra) today shared a joint statement from many Indian indie filmmakers about how access to independent films is actively suppressed in India. Great to see them speaking out; the PVR-Inox monopoly has been terrible for distribution, and the OTT platforms aren't much better. 📽️
18.11.2025 10:28 — 👍 21 🔁 11 💬 1 📌 1
