‘Digant’ is Goan, and we are very proud of that: Moghe Joseph Zuzarte, TNN | Mar 31, 2013, 04.55 AM IST
PANAJI: 'Digant' (Boundless), a Goan Konkani movie, has been shortlisted as one of the official Indian entries to the prestigious Cannes film festival in France later this summer. STOI met the film's director Dnyanesh Moghe to find out more. Is Digant in the competition section? I really don't know for sure, but I think it's in the competition section. We came to know through the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) of India in Delhi. We're very happy and extremely proud that the DFFI has sent 'Digant' to France for participation to Cannes. But we know our technical limitations, and we know the standard of 'Digant', so we're not expecting a miracle. This is our first major film made with a humble budget of 40 lakh. To be honest, we did not expect our film to be selected as the official entry, so we're very proud. Did you finance it yourself? No, we made this film under the finance scheme of the Entertainment Society of Goa. They gave us 15 lakh. Besides which they give Rs 5 lakh if your film is shown at Indian film festivals, as our film was shown at Iffi forum and MAMI, we got 10 lakh. We had also sent the film to the Berlin festival, but it was not selected. But we couldn't send to other Indian festivals because we were late. Who has produced the movie 'Digant'? The film has been produced by Sanjay Shetye of Vinson Graphics. It is 90% made in Goa with Goan actors, technicians, and others. Only some post-production was done in Mumbai, likecolour correction, Dolby. So it's Goan and we're very proud of that. We shot the film on the Goa border with Maharashtra in Bicholim because it's about the Dhangar community who have their houses there. A lot of people helped, so we could manage in the small budget. Was the story written by you? The story is by Prasad Lolienkar but the screenplay and dialogues are written by me. I am the director. I have made a lot of Konkani films and documentaries. You may have heard of 'Kantneantle Full' which was made by me. I've made a lot of films for Manfa Productions. Because of that, I thought I should do a serious film, which is how 'Digant' came about. When we made the film we thought of sending it to the different Indian film festivals, but we never thought it would go for an international film festival like Cannes. Have you thought of dubbing and releasing it in Hindi or Marathi? Frankly we don't have that kind of budget to do dubbing. Also you need a lot of money for distribution, dubbing, publicity, and I don't think we will be able to recover that kind of money even if we manage to do the dubbing and release it in Hindi. We have to look at the practical side of it. Even if you take original films in Hindi and Marathi only about four or five succeed from the hundreds released, so I don't think it will work. Moreover, it's a Goan film meant for a Goan audience because of the Goan ethos it portrays. Also it already has English sub-titles, so it's not difficult to understand for non-Konkani speaking people. We're now going to show the film free of cost in different Goan villages through the ESG which gives 5,000 for each show. If you achieve something in Cannes then you can show it at other international festivals? It will be a miracle. I know the standards of films shown at Cannes, so I'm quite realistic of the standard of my film, compared to the other films. I'm honoured that it has gone so far. Is a second film going to come? We're already working on the screenplay for the second film which is also being written by Prasad Lolienkar. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Digant-is-Goan-and-we-are-very-proud-of-that-Moghe/articleshow/19300970.cms ~Avelino
