MAMI: The origins of the Mumbai Film Festival, and the people who realised this dream

IFFI, or the International Film Festival of India, began in Bombay, in 1952. It was then held in 1961, and after that, more regularly, till the mid-70s, in New Delhi. From the 3^rd IFFI, held in 1965, it became a competitive festival, always held in New Delhi. Eleven years later, in 1976, it came back to what was at that time the equivalent of Hollywood in India. The festival in Bombay took on a new name, Filmotsav, which is the Hindi approximation of Film Festival, and was non-competitive. This was done with the intention of alternating/shuttling the film festival annually between New Delhi and other major cities of India, so that they get exposure too. But Filmostsavs were always non-competitive.

Since Mumbai had not had a festival for so long, and there was no infrastructure in place, some agencies had to be called in to make to contribute. Government wings, like the Film Finance Corporation (FFC), Films Division (FD), Press Information Bureau (PIB), Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), and the voluntary body, Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI). Of these, only FFSI had any experience in screening International Cinema, shorts and features, animation and documentaries, and the non-mainstream films from all over the world. And so it was, called to help in the selection and programming of the film-fare to be screened.

In 1976, I was already an established journalist, having been a critic for a good seven years. Besides, I had been an Executive Committee Member of the University Film Society in 1973 and the Chairman of a Film Society, called Cine Circle, since 1974, with over 100 members. The biggest Film Society was Film Forum, which had members from the film industry and graduates of the Film and Television Institute of India. Other prominent Societies included Prabhat, Suchitra and Anandam. We had a Western Regional Council of film societies, which was an all-India organisation, with its current head-quarters in Calcutta, where it began in 1947. It had prominent names like Satyajit Ray, Chidananda Dasgupta, Vijaya Mulay, K.L. Khandpur and believe it or not, Indira Gandhi and Inder Kumar Gujral, as its members, in the initial years.

Serving on the Western Regional Council of the FFSI, I was appointed part of the Selection Committee and a member of the co-ordinating Committee. It is impossible to recall what films were selected, but I do recall that the FFSI played a prominent role in running the festival and that it was a moderate success, with some glitches. Among the venues was Tarabai Hall, outside Marine Lines Station, in South Bombay, an auditorium not meant for film screenings, but since FFSI members used to have many of their screenings there, it was chosen as a venue. I might mention in an aside that the first two non-Hollywood foreign films I saw were courtesy the FFSI: Red Beard at Apsara, in a morning show, and Rashomon, in Tarabai hall, when I was just 15. Seeing my keen interest and being aware that both the Akira Kurosawa masterpieces had no adult content, the Secretary of Film Forum, who had organized the shows for its members, allowed me in, on a guest ticket of Re. 1. Needless to say, both films remain timeless classics embedded in my memory, 57 years after I first saw them.

Moving along, the caravan called Filmotsav shifted to Madras, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad and Calcutta, while IFFI continued to be held in New Delhi. I attended most of these festivals, however, I had to leave the Madras festival halfway because a frantic Nadeem (of the music director duo, Nadeem-Shravan) wanted me to attend the rehearsals of the show they were to hold at the Brabourne Stadium a week later. And he would not take no for an answer.

Right from 1976, Bombayites had felt that IFFI should be held in Bombay, and only Bombay. Travelling spin-offs could be organised in other cities, but it had to be held in Bombay. All, the government machinery related to cinema was head-quartered in Bombay, and Pune, which housed the FTII and the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) was a mere four hours away by road or rail. So, the lobby for holding IFFI in Bombay began to grow. The ‘travelling circus’, as Filmotsav was often called, had one advantage: reaching out to film-buffs in that region. But it had many disadvantages, in terms of logistics and industry participation. The Regional Film Centres were not as developed as Bombay, and produced films in only their languages, some which were inter-dubbed in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. If I remember correctly, Mysore did not allow any film dubbed in Kannada to be released in the state, but I am, by propensity, disinclined to go into the politics of this apparently political decision.

Filmotsav returned to Mumbai in 1984, and was bigger and better than ever before.  The FFC had now been renamed the National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC), merging the Indian Motion Picture Export Corporation and the FFC. I was no more associated with the film society movement, but took an active part in the festival, as well as wrote about it extensively. This was the second spark that re-ignited the desire among Bombayites to have a festival of their own. If the government of India was not favourably inclined, other options could be explored. Then came the land mark year, 1995. In mid-January, 1995, the 26^th IFFI, and not Filmotsav, was held in Mumbai. By a decision of the government of India, taken in 1988, this festival was designated as a non-competitive film festival. And this lit the third spark: It was time for Mumbai to hold its own International Film Festival.

1995 marked the centenary of cinema. A special section was devoted to film heritage. An exhibition on hundred years of cinema was also organised as part of the festival. Retrospectives of Federico Fellini, Zoltan Fabri, Amos Gitai, Miguel Littin, Krzyzstof Kieslowski and Elvis Presley were organised. A section was devoted to the works of the Asian women directors and a special retrospective of Marathi cinema was also organised. And a coterie of local film-makers like Shyam Benegal and Amol Palekar, and film society veterans like Sudhir Nandgaonkar and yours truly, besides many others, decided to launch a crusade to make Mumbai the permanent venue of IFFI. Coffee table meetings turned to passionate discussions, and more meetings were held after the festival. Unfortunately, I had to distance myself from this revolutionary idea because I was preparing to leave for Singapore in early 1996, to join ESPN and start their India-centric Hindi sports service.

While I was there, I learned, to my utter delight, that an Organisation called MAMI (Mumbai Academy of Moving Image) had been formed, and was working towards holding MAMI’s first film festival in 1997. I flew down from Singapore, taking unpaid leave, and attended the show, a routine I repeated a few times again. Director Shyam Benegal was the first chairperson of MAMI, starting with the 1999 edition of the festival, and he remained the chairperson, through the 2014 edition of the festival. MAMI was steered the indomitable Sudhir Nandgaonkar as its Artistic Head, till 2008. In 2014, the festival was on the verge of closure due to financial struggles. Nevertheless, a 2014 edition was put together 'at the last hour', thanks to financial contributions from a vast variety of companies and Indian film industry figures, including actor Aamir Khan, and film-makers Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Hansal Mehta, and Rajkumar Hirani. In 2015, Benegal was replaced by director Kiran Rao, wife of actor Aamir Khan, who would go on to serve as the chairperson until 2019, when she was replaced by Deepika Padukone. Padukone was then replaced by Priyanka Chopra Jonas in 2021. Priyanka continues to head MAMI. Long-standing Festival Director Srinivasan Narayanan also stepped down, after confirming that a 10-year business plan had been prepared, which would go into effect starting with the 2015 edition of the festival. He was in tears as he read out his farewell speech at a press conference.

Narayanan was known to me from the days when he was Deputy General Manager at NFDC, and had given me the impossible task of sub-titling two Indian films in English, New Delhi Times and Paroma, for the Hyderabad Filmostsav, in a matter of four days, with primitive sub-titling facilities, and the digital revolution still about a decade away. He now buys and distributes outstanding and award winning films from Cannes, in India, and attends to his farm in native Kerala, when he is not busy with cinematic issues.

That friendship has lasted a good 40 years. During his tenure, he approached me to make audio-visual presentations, based on video clips and a commentary, to honour MAMI’s lifetime awardees, including Dharmendra, Rishi Kapoor, Theo Angelopoulos, Hitendra Ghose and Kasmalhaasan. All were made within impossible deadlines, which were never more than three days. He appreciated my work, and paid me a nominal, yet acceptable amount, too. Journalists’ contributions to MAMI included the publishing of the Daily Bulletin, in English and Hindi, with contributors, members of the Freelance Film Journalists Combine, of which yours truly has been a Chairman, working pro bono. Some of these festivals were held at IMAX, Wadala and at Ravindra Natya Mandir.

From its inception in 1997, through the 2008 edition, the festival underwent several name changes, and was known at various times as the 'Festival of Films - Mumbai', 'International Film Festival - Mumbai', and 'MAMI's International Film Festival - Mumbai'. It was finally branded as the 'MAMI Mumbai Film Festival' in 2009 and has retained that name since. The Reliance Group, first under younger brother Anil Ambani and wife Tina Munim (a former actress) and later under Big Brother Mukesh and his wife Nita, were the longest sponsors. This year, there is no name of any sponsor added as its prefix.

In 2015, board member Anupama Chopra (one of the financial contributors for the 2014 edition) took over as Festival Director, while convincing filmmaker Kiran Rao to become the chairperson of MAMI. That year, the festival also gained two title sponsors, in the form of telecommunications giant Jio (part of the Mukesh Ambani Empire) and media conglomerate Star India (the TV network). In 2019, preparations were afoot to hold the 22nd edition in 2020, but it was eventually postponed to 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was then cancelled, in 2021, due to 'logistical and financial challenges'. In February and March of 2022, films selected for the 22nd edition were screened online, though several film-makers whose films had been chosen for screening at the festival demanded physical shows for their films.

The festival returned in 2023, as a 10-day physical event. It dropped the edition number from the title, instead, using the year of the edition.

So long as Benegal, Nandgaonkar, Palekar and Narayanan were heading the festivals, it was all about cinema, and not about pomp, glamour and red carpets. 2015 onwards, it has become a showpiece, with senior journalists kept away from the inaugural film, the inauguration (seven-star) party, the closing film and the closing (seven-star part). Only video cameramen are favoured. This year, the Accreditation Registration Form asked you your credentials in facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube. This was in addition to your print, digital or electronic credentials. It has now become amply clear that MAMI is less about cinema, and more about Page 3.

Appointed Interim Director in 2023, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur assumed full charge as Director of MAMI’s Mumbai Film Festival only a few months ago. Dungarpur came into the media scene by virtue of his long documentary on P.K. Nair, the Curator and Later Director of the National Film Archive of India. NairSaahab, along with his Professor (of film appreciation) colleague, Satish Bahadur, are the two men who have contributed most to the understanding and appreciation of cinema in this country, from the late 1960s to the late 1990. I was lucky to be very close to both of them, and even a visitor to their houses. NairSaahab used to walk with great difficulty, after a rather messy scooter accident, very late in his life, and had a full-time caretaker woman with him wherever he went. Even then, he could only walk very slowly. I cannot forget the unduly long walks we had, with me holding one of his hands, from the Little Theatre to the Experimental Theatre of Tata Theatre, for various film screenings.

An easily accessible man, NairSaahab had great regard for journalists and film-critics, and his soul must be pained to see the way his chronicler has decided to treat media at MFF. The functioning of the Trust under Dungarpur’s leadership has been detailed in three of my articles below. Do read them to know the present state of affairs at MAMI. Of course, it is the ideal platform for Dungarpur to showcase the films he, and maybe some of his other brethren, have restored. That is appreciated by one and all. That, I am afraid, does not serve as qualification to head a 27-year-old festival, which is in financial doldrums, and needs all the publicity and coverage it can get. Being endowed with great wealth, he would do well to make a healthy contribution to the festival, and then move on, sticking to his forté: making long documentaries.

Here are two comments posted by firebrand journalists and hardcore film-lovers, on a WhatsApp group of film enthusiasts, one of whom is also associated with many festivals, one of them as a director. The two comments are great compliment to me, and I am humbled, but not so complimentary to Dungarpur and his Mumbai Film Festival:

1. 1. Yes, Shivendra Singh did a great service on the archival front. I wonder what made him take up this festival assignment. Going by the comments, he seems clueless. Sad.
2. 2. Any festival in India that refuses to give someone like YOU a media accreditation is either out of their freaking head or run by clueless fools, so why bother?