Dr Rahul Banerjee, who is the member, Joint Committee FFI -CII (Film Federation of India – Confederation of Indian Industry) -National Talent Hunt; State Consultative Committee Member, FCI, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, GOI; Senior Member, Sikkim Film Cooperative Society; Convenor – Coordination Committee, Andaman & Nicobar Global Cinema Festival and Advisor to President & Secretary, Bharat Bangladesh Sampreeti Sangshad, Indo-Bangladesh Parliament for Harmony speaks with Biswadeep Gupta, Editor, KRC Times on his versatile work in various space.

Biswadeep Gupta (BG): How did it all begin – this journey of Films & Festivals across the tier 2 cities & your objective errand, the takeaways?

Dr. Rahul Banerjee: It all started with Sikkim endeavouring to form a Film cooperative society and embarking upon making Sikkim friendly & commercially viable to filmmakers from across the world (Bollywood, Hollywood) – Projecting Sikkim as a destination

Thereafter Sikkim hosted its first edition of the Global Cinema Festival in collaboration with the Film Federation of India from 28th Feb to 1st March 2020 at Gangtok.  Sponsorship from Godrej, Tata’s, Medica, Narayana, Ambuja and Emami saw the event embracing attention from across the world & becoming a watershed success.

In its maiden effort, the State Government had endeavoured that Cinema becomes the new industrial vertical with investments beckoned in the state from the local, regional, Pan India and international production houses.

The event screened 40 films of feature and non-feature length and also showcased a corporate film on Sikkim with an intent to present the facilities that the state offers to the proposed industrial vertical of film making.

A delegation of around 80 persons from both national and international filmmakers communities attended the Festival.

The Ministry of Tourism, Niche Tourism had also been instrumental in the financial and technical assistance.

The State thereafter reheated a film policy on which I was instrumental ..
The Festival has now been declared to be an annual event and sought support under Niche Tourism annually.

This event has now thus become an employment driven, economic boosting industrial vertical in the state of Sikkim.

Takeaway

Good News trickled in faster rush expected…Sikkim has now been Adjudged as the “𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗺-𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲”  in the 67th National Film Awards held in the month of March.

This comes as big news following the Global Cinema Festival of 2020 & thereby establishing Sikkim as a cynosure in the Global Film Arena.

The 67th National Film Awards were announced in New Delhi on Monday (March 22). The ceremony bestowed honours on films and artists for the year 2019 & 2020.

The awards were initially going to be held in May 2020 but were delayed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Mrinalini Shrivastava IPS & current IG who was the convenor of Global Cinema Festival was ably & professionally supported by my endeavour to make & mark the event what it is today…

(BG): What next ??

Dr. Rahul Banerjee: The ANDAMAN festival beckoning this year welcomes all & promises a plethora of fulfilment & surprises for all 

A preliminary meeting was held at Delhi on 16th February 2021 with Shri T P Agarwal Ex-President, Film Federation of India and Chairman of Indian Motion picture producers Association, Shri Firdausul Hasan, Ex-President, Film Federation of India and Shri Rajendra Singh, Vice President, Film Federation of India and Dr Rahul Banerjee, member of CII FFI to discuss the possibility for:

1. Skilling of youths in film and creative industry in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
2. Showcasing films and domestic artwork from Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
3. Possibility of Andaman and Nicobar Film Festival 2021.

(BG): What inspired you to work in Andamans?

Dr. Rahul Banerjee: I took this initiative because the youths of the islands are very talented in cultural and creative activities.

“There’s a little dream on the beach,
With a vista of the Andaman Sea,
Where no rowdy children screech,
Nor hordes of adults disturb thee…”

Now a film festival at Andaman in the coming months — taking forward our huge-success story of Sikkim in 2020

Taking the legacy of the Film Federation of India forward the past and current leadership of FFI met the Hon. MP of Andaman and Nicobar Shri K R Sharma to discuss the Andaman and Nicobar Film Festival 2021 likely to be slated for August 2021.

(BG): What can one expect from Andaman Festival?

Dr. Rahul Banerjee: An opportunity to be part of the preliminary discussions and later the in-depth discussions on detailed program development and resource mobilization with Shri T. P. Agarwal Chairman IMPPA,  and ex-President FFI,  Shri Firdausul Hasan two times President of FFI and Shri Rajendra Singh current VP FFI.

Skilling and industry vertical creation along with fashion show and screening of films is envisaged.

(BG): Tell us more, why A&N as a destination?

Dr. Rahul Banerjee:

Andaman behold – this is going to be another rocking story.Global Cinema Festival Andaman and Nicobar 2021

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a Union Territory of India, are an archipelago of 836 objects, with 572 of the islands of which 38 are inhabited at the juncture of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea with its capital as Port Blair.Population is 434,192 (2019 census). These beautiful islands are known for their palm-lined, white-sand beaches, mangroves and picturesque tropical rainforests covering almost 80 per cent area. The total land area of the A & N is approximately 8,249 sq. km. Bengali is the most spoken language followed by Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Nicobarese and Malayalam.

Connectivity:  An undersea fibre optic cable providing high-speed connectivity with Chennai has been put in place and is functional. Port Blair is now connected to the islands of Swaraj Dweep (Havelock), Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Kamorta, Great Nicobar, Long Island and Rangat. The second most significant development is the up-gradation of Veer Savarkar International Airport at Port Blair. Construction of a new terminal building, including runway expansion, capable of handling around five million passengers annually, is nearing completion by mid-2021. Readying a second airport in Diglipurin North Andaman for civilian aircraft and construction of a new airport in Minicoy Island have been accorded high priority by the government.

Current Status of Film Industry in the A & N:
The local administration is keen to promote the beauty of Andaman and Nicobar Islands to filmmakers (and tourists). Many picturesque and historic shooting locations have been long identified here e.g., Havelock Island, Cellular Jail National Memorial, Chidiya Tapu, Radhanagar Beach, Mount Harriet & Madhuban, Museum Circuit, Ross Island, Elephant Beach, Neil Island, Baratang Island, Indira point and many more. There is immense scope for TV Commercials, Fashion Photography and Corporate Filmmaking, Underwater photography, Travel and lifestyle, Adventure and Documentary films. There is a notable Tamil influence due to proximity to Chennai.

A few films have been shot here; the most significant one is theNational Award-winning Kaalapani, shot in 1996. This apart, a few more films have been shot over the years, viz. Kaakhakaakha, Mariyaan, Siraisalai, Andaman Kadhali Ethir Neechal, Andaman The Natural Beauty, The sky is pink in recent times and a few documentaries.

Back in 2011, the Indian Panorama Film Festival was held at Port Blair attended by reputed filmmakers/actors from Mumbai and Tamil Film industries — Madhur Bhandarkar, Mani Ratnam, Girish Kasaravalli, Supriyo Sen, Divya Dutta. The local administration offered to provide all possible support to filmmakers keen to film in these picturesque Islands. In 2017 the first-ever short courses by the FTII in Andaman and Nicobar Islands came to an end; FTII outreach takes digital cinematography, acting for children and film orientation programs to Port Blair and Middle Andamans. The high-speed undersea connectivity now paves the way for the digital distribution of films, like the rest of India. PBIFF (https://filmfreeway.com/PortBlairInternationalFilmFestival) has been attempting to hold film festivals at local levels from time to time with limited success. However, the film industry has not developed here. The great potential of the A & N Islands needs to be explored not only to boost the local economy but also for global visibility at par with comparable global island destinations.

(BG): What else are you exploring as the byproduct of the Andaman Festival?

Dr. Rahul Banerjee:

Global Cinema Festival A and N 2021 ( GCF A and N 2021)

A global cinema festival is proposed as an annual event to promote Andaman and Nicobar as the film locale and shooting destination. The ancillary objective is also to allow a platform to boost the creative industry boom in film making, production house development, line productions support, other technical and fashion products to boom through local talent getting opportunities as well as integrating the locals with the larger world of Cinema domestically and internationally.

The First GCF is proposed to be held in the month of August 2021 over a period of 3 days The festival shall also include fashion shows for added glitz and involvement of the local youth, apart from seminars and workshops. Objectives of the film festival are the following:
1. Promote film making in the islands.
2. Discuss opportunities for animation films and the infrastructure and skill ecosystem around it.                                                                    3. Get the youth of the A & N interested in the film industry as a career option.

We are expecting around 50-70 guests attending this film festival from all over India and some international names as well. This includes film producers, film directors and actors.

And then we have a BPO story for Andaman…
 

(BG): Who do you credit for the initiative and success?

Dr. Rahul Banerjee: We acknowledge sponsors & allied support in Sikkim last year – without whom the success story would have just been a dream.

Shyam Steel – Govind ji Shyam ji
> Tatas
> Dr Roy from Medica & Saransh
> Harsh Neotia bhai
> LIC
> Vidya from RN Tagore Vidya Sagar
> Harsh Neotia bhai from Ambuja
> Skyshop Impex Pvt Limited
> & there were so many including the travel giants…

 Mrinalini Shrivastava madam the driver & the whole gamut of visioning