In July, the birth and death month of renowned Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, multiplexes across six cities are slated to hold a retrospective of some of his best films, courtesy Palador Pictures. Film activist and producer of Bheja Fry, Sunil Doshi, has watched over 1,000 films across international film festivals to ?choose the best? for NDTV Lumiere, which promises to bring contemporary world cinema to India.

The recent Martin Scorsese documentary on The Rolling Stones, Shine a Light, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, will see a theatrical release in June. You can pick up legitimate works of the masters from Francois Truffaut to Akira Kurosawa for a fee from retailers. For world cinema buffs, it couldn?t get better than this.

And yet, four years ago, when Gautam Sikhnis, founder and MD, Palador Pictures, started his ?mission on world cinema?, no one acknowledged this kind of cinema could exist as a business. Research across 12 cities and many months of hard work later, Sikhnis? Palador created a case for people to accept it. Now, with 1,000 titles in its kitty, Sikhnis proudly proclaims ?our content is best to miles?.

The good news is that a lot many players are joining the world cinema bandwagon. Think UTV. Or even NDTV. While UTV has launched its world cinema channel, propping it up with some neat marketing initiatives, like putting out ads on much-watched news channels, NDTV Lumiere will showcase world cinema across platforms, from DVD, the small screen to 70 mm.

?The content has been handpicked from fest to fest,? says Vidyuth Bhandary, general manager, NDTV Lumiere. ?It?s been a labour of love of four gentlemen, Prannoy Roy, Manmohan Shetty, Samir Nair and Sunil Doshi and now it?s a business.? And yet, TV is not the only medium NDTV Lumiere will be in ? ?we are buying the latest content so that we can release it theatrically and on home video and new media, like mobiles or the internet.?

So, the works of new-age masters including Fatih Akin, Aki Kaurism?ki, Elia Suleiman, Pedro Almod?var, Emir Kusturica, Wong-Kar Wai will be featured alongside masters such as Fellini, Truffaut, Bergman, Louis Malle, Antonioni and Chabrol on Lumiere when it launches. ?We have a combination of both old and new, about 350 plus titles. Without adding the masters to our list, the package would have been inadequate,? adds Bhandary.

People who have been watching the world cinema space are ?mildly sceptical?. Says filmmaker Navdeep Singh (of Manorama Six Feet Under fame): ?Look, we have got access to cheap content, buying rights to world cinema is not expensive. I am not convinced about the intent of all the players in this genre.?

Then, again, the television viewership ratings haven?t been promising, though TRPs for UTV?s world cinema channel have picked up. But people who watch world cinema are not necessarily waiting for a theatrical or DVD release in India to catch up on the latest. Says Singh: ?The spotlight on world cinema is a step in the right direction, but it will take time to grow a large audience and change the mindset of people.? Singh says people who have a taste for world cinema ? ?it?s a generational thing? ? are already watching it and ?you can?t really convert the converted. You have to reach out to a wider audience and even go to people in smaller towns.?

That?s what Palador is trying to do. ?We are trying to bring world cinema to India in a holistic manner, says Sikhnis. ?We have launched a 360 degrees education programme to create awareness of the nature of the content.? So, Palador conducts workshops at colleges, film schools and so forth. ?We will also get the top directors into India when the films are released theatrically. For instance, when we screen Shine a Light, we will hold a gig to go along with the release,? adds Sikhnis. When French filmmaker and Oscar winner Claude Lelouch came to India as part of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy?s delegation, NDTV Lumiere got him to share his experience with film school students of Whistling Woods. ?We got Claude to speak about his movies and the students loved it,? says Bhandary.

Content is king

All the players admit that content is their biggest advertisement, each one is going about it in their own steam, thus giving viewers a whole lot of variety. So, while Palador has a great classics lineup and contemporary cinema of the world?s 20-25 top directors, both NDTV Lumiere and UTV are focusing on the ?latest from the festival circuit?. Says Bhandary: ?We are choosing the best movies from the top festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Rome and picking up particularly those which are slated to do well at the box-office.?

For, Shantonu Aditya, chief executive officer, UTV Entertainment Television, the aim is to give viewers international contemporary films that are not more than five years old. ?We are pleased with what we have achieved in the last few months,? he adds. All the players agree that they need a blitz of activity, on air and on ground, to grab eyeballs. Are enough people watching?