Anupam Sharma takes his documentary on Bollywood to Cannes 2022

Filmmaker Anupam Sharma’s film Bollywood Downunder aims to document Bollywoodisation of Indian cinema.

Filmmaker Anupam Sharma has jetted off to France to showcase his documentary, Bollywood Downunder, at the 75th edition of the Cannes film festival, and hopes it is the first step towards pushing away the wrong perceptions about Indian cinema.

Filmmaker Anupam Sharma’s film Bollywood Downunder aims to document Bollywoodisation of Indian cinema.

“Cannes is like an annual pilgrimage for me and many film professionals, especially in Australia. This year it is special in many ways as we are attending after the pandemic, where India is the country of honour,” Sharma tells us, adding, “And what better way to celebrate by freeing free Bollywood from the shackles of pigeon holing and western judgement”.

The documentary, which includes stars such as Farhan Akthar, Anupam Kher, Ritesh Sidhwani, Srishti Behl, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Fardeen Khan, and Ashutosh Gowariker, documents history, glory, globalisation of Indian cinema, and subsequent ‘Bollywoodisation’.

Opening up about the project, Sharma, who has previously directed UNindian, shares, “Our project actually sets out to change the ‘judgemental’ nature in which people look at Bollywood. Bollywood is to be celebrated and not judged or ridiculed”.

At the fest, he will be pushing for more world sales of his documentary, and reveals, “The film really picked up more international and local interest when Karin Steininger joined us as an editor and co-writer as she also worked on Oscar and Emmy winning feature Remembering Anne Frank”.

“For the past few years, I could see that a lot of Indians were defensive about the way the West saw India. Bollywood is different and has its own style of working and this is our strength and not our weakness. Over a period of time, I felt compelled to bring out this jazba’ and kept speaking to the people from the industry… And before I knew it, it became a full length feature, with a powerful story of Indian cinema that can be presented to the whole world,” he says while signing off.