Gaurav Dhingra has worked in several significant films in different capacities like Mangal Pandey (2005), Delhi-6 (2009), Angry Indian Goddesses (2015), Stolen (2025), etc. Now, he has founded Jungle Book Studios and is distributing Angh. Set in Nagaland in the 1960s, the Konyak-language film will have a world premiere at the 51st annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) at 9:00 pm EDT (September 16 at 6:30 am IST). In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, Gaurav Dhingra spoke to us from Toronto about Angh and a lot more.
Tell us about Angh and how you got associated with the film…
I was asked to join as the producer of the film, but I realized that there was a great producer already on the film, Nancy Nisa Beso. So, I took the responsibility of selling the film. My job at TIFF is to market and sell the film.
Angh is so deeply rooted in Nagaland and so authentic that it explores a world that remains largely unknown even to Indians. Even I didn’t know much about it, and I’ve learned a great deal over the last one-and-a-half years. I’m sure a large section of people in India is still not very familiar with this part of our country.
It’s a fascinating story about what happened in Nagaland in the past. Today, Nagaland is one of the most baptized regions in the world. This transformation took place over a period of 150-200 years, as Christian missionaries, particularly from America, began coming to the region. Nagaland had its own deeply rooted tribal traditions, but Christianity also came with aspects of modernity – hospitals, educational institutions, a more urban way of life and new forms of community living. This inevitably clashed with the traditional value systems that existed earlier. The film is set within this conflict between the two worlds.
At its heart, however, it is a father-son story. Like any father and son, they have differences of opinion! The father happens to be the head of a head-hunting tribe. So, despite being rooted in a very specific culture, the story has a universal appeal. I believe it has the potential to travel far.
Will Angh also have a release overseas in the non-traditional markets?
The whole idea behind our studio, Jungle Book, is to back Indian stories for the world. All the films that we are releasing are global stories – films that can work beyond one market. For instance, I was associated with Angry Indian Goddesses. Not many people know this, but it was released theatrically in 77 countries and was later acquired by Netflix. Stolen was acquired by Prime Video for a global release. We had many offers for it, but we didn’t sell it to anyone who wanted to release it only in India. We wanted a global deal. So, our vision has always been global.
However, the international journey of any film is unpredictable. As you move forward, you keep adding momentum and opening new doors. Right now, Angh is in the competition section at TIFF. There are just 11 other films in the competition. The winner automatically qualifies for the Oscars. In other words, Angh has around 9% chance of qualifying for the Oscars! That’s also how we look at international releases – one thing leads to another.
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And what about its release in India?
We have a different plan for the India release. It may coincide with the film’s Oscar journey, should that happen. If something else develops along the way, we’ll build on that instead. So yes, we do have plans for an India release, but we want to release it at a time when the buzz is at its peak and we can create strong awareness around the film.
Having said that, we don’t want to simply put the film in theatres in the conventional way. We want to create on-ground events around it. Think of the film like a rock band touring India – that’s the kind of journey we are envisioning.
At times, such films sink without a trace. Many viewers are not aware that the movies released in cinemas. What will you do to avoid such a scenario?
Yes, that happens because the entire system is star-driven. Marketing is largely centred in Mumbai and then spreads across the country. But the kind of films we back usually don’t have famous names attached to them. So, we need to adopt the opposite strategy and focus on localized marketing.
Today, whether you’re selling a car, a house, a bottle of sauce or even shoelaces, almost everything is being sold through the same three mediums – the internet, television and newspapers. These spaces are so cluttered that you need to spend heavily just to create visibility. That is why we also need to look at offline marketing. For Angh, we want to build that kind of on-ground journey and take the film directly to its audience.
Do you have apprehension that your film will get shows? It’s common to hear several independent filmmakers complaining about stepmotherly treatment from the producers…
But if your film doesn’t have awareness, you can’t blame them. The exhibitors are not meant to do charity. PVR doesn’t own most of the theatres. The theatre is owned by somebody; they took it on lease for a certain number of years and branded it as PVR. Now they need to pay rent, whether or not the film sells. They also need to pay salaries, electricity, taxes, etc. and bear operating costs. So, obviously, they’ll prefer to screen films that sell the maximum tickets. These are the films that get maximum visibility on internet, television and newspapers.
If you can assure them that by locally marketing the film, you’ll create awareness and ensure the audience turns up, they’ll be more than happy to screen the film.
Offline marketing today is very crucial, and it doesn’t even cost much as well. But it’s not given due importance and that’s why many of our films are not working. It may also be that some of the films have bad content. But there are times when awareness doesn’t even reach the target audience. The solution is not to pump in more money on online advertising as people are fed up of the clutter. In our case, we’ll have an online as well as offline marketing plan.
And once the theatrical run is over, will a film like Angh manage to comfortably get a release on OTT?
Again, it’s the same logic. They also want viewers. They want a return of investment and hence, they are answerable to shareholders and not to you or me. If you don’t just give the film but also an assured audience, OTT platforms aapke peeche bhaagega. Lekin abhi aap unke peeche bhaag rahe ho!
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