Life in India is real-life cinema, says Bulgarian filmmaker

Kolkata, Nov 15: Life in India is a real-life cinema, says Bulgarian film producer Stefan Kitanov.

"Everything (in India) is so ordinary, yet larger-than-life. Everything here can be framed into celluloid," Kitanov told reporters after the screening of his film "The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner" at the 14th Kolkata Film Festival here.

"This is my first visit to India and a completely new world has opened to me. I will definitely try to portray my experiences in India in one of my future films."

Not only the real life, Kitanov also feels fascinated by Indian films.

"I watch a lot of Indian films, especially Hindi. The Raj Kapoor era and films made in the 1950s and '60s are simply awesome. Very recently, I have been inclined to Bengali films made by Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen," he said.

But, he said, Bulgaria is being deprived of Indian films due to lack of proper distribution.

"In the past, say the 1950s-70s Indian films were very popular in Bulgaria. But we get to see a very few Indian films in our country due to lack of proper distribution. Only one Indian film is distributed in every two years."

According to Kitanov, the last film that was a box-office hit in Bulgaria was Mira Nair's "Monsoon Wedding".

"The World...", which the producer said is the most expensive film in the last 25 years in Bulgaria, is a co-production of four countries - Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary and Slovenia.

"The budget of the film was two million euros and it took eight years to complete the film," Kitanov said.

--IANS