Well at least that’s what Geneva-based independent filmmaker Anup Singh, who is globe-trotting with his upcoming Punjabi film ‘Qissa’ thinks.

“Most good Indian indie films do not represent what is familiar. They are provocative. They challenge not only our habitual ways of watching a film but also our fixed ways of thinking about love, man, woman, morality and conventions. We, the India audiences, need to find ways of looking at these films differently,” Anup Singh told IANS in an email interview.

“The reason most international film festivals embrace Indian indie films is because they suggest an alternate way of looking at and enjoying these films. And that suggestion encourages an audience that does not usually watch such films elsewhere to take a chance and go watch,” he continued.

I’m not in a position to where I can agree or disagree simply because I’m not Indian and haven’t seen a lot of India Indie films. It seems as if though Anup’s issues lies with the way the India audiences receives Indian films and that most Indian films do well on an international level whereas at home, they aren’t well received.

His film ‘Qissa’ has already won the Asian Film Award at the Toronto Film Festival this year and  received a standing ovation when it was screened recently at the 15th Mumbai Film Festival. So it seems like other places are taking to Indian film extremely well. So why isn’t the Indian audience?

-Shaun