Shiladitya Bora on perception towards independent films: 'Don't need support'

Updated On: 07 September, 2025 07:52 PM IST | Mumbai | Priyanka Sharma

Shiladitya Bora`s Bayaan, headlined by Huma Qureshi, just had its world premiere at TIFF. In a candid chat with mid-day, he opens up about struggles and perceptions of independent filmmakers and claims that phase two of Platoon One will focus on bigger, mainstream-leaning films

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Bayan TIFF premiere

Producer-distributor Shiladitya Bora is not new to film festivals, yet every international premiere feels a first, he says. More so for an independent producer, whose road to release for any film starts with a festival screening. This time, Bora is at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) with Huma Qureshi-led Bayaan. A thriller drama, directed by Bikas Mishra, that Bora says shatters the stereotype of an independent film. "Bikas and I wanted to change the perception of an indie film with Bayaan. It`s entertaining, engaging and audience-friendly," he says. Bayaan is also a turning point in Bora`s trajectory. "It is the beginning of phase two of my production house, Platoon One Films. We want to make lesser but bigger films now."

Excerpts from the interview:

Bayaan has had quite a journey, from being rejected by most production houses, casting delays to now premiering at one of the most prestigious platforms in the world, how reassuring does it make you about your own belief in a film?

Everyone in life will go through these ups and downs. Some days you are jubilant and feel, "Duniya jeet lenge." The next day, something happens, which makes you think, ‘Oh God! What do we do now?’ We went through these phases. In fact, when the film didn’t get selected at Cannes (Film Festival), our morale dipped slightly because Bikas and I had been trying for it for days. We thought, "Now let us leave it to the universe." TIFF premiere brings back our motivation, and reaffirms are intuition about this story

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