Earlier on Tuesday, the Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI) announced that Kiran Rao was stepping down as festival chairperson, a post she had held since 2014, the year Shyam Benegal stepped down and MAMI was revived from its deathbed.
Her replacement, however, was a surprise: Bollywood star Deepika Padukone.
A Mumbai Mirror report said that Padukoneâs ânotable evolution into a credible actor, her connect with the youth, and her incredible work to create awareness about mental healthâ played a crucial role in the decision.
But thereâs more to it. Two people familiar with the development told HuffPost India that having Padukone as chairperson will ensure the festival gets the financial support it needs to stay afloat.
The decision to elect Padukone was officially taken on January 17 at a meeting that took place at festival director Anupama Chopraâs office in Mumbai in the presence of board members Padukone, filmmakers Zoya Akhtar, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Kabir Khan, Rohan Sippy, Vishal Bhardwaj, Vikramaditya Motwane, MAMI creative director Smriti Kiran and Kaustubh Dhavse, who is joint secretary of the government of Maharashtra.
The decision was unanimous and the two people cited above said only one person had reservations, which she made clear at the onsetâPadukone herself.
Padukone, these people said, wasnât entirely convinced about the idea of being the chairperson of a film festival, something which, by her own admission, she âhas little knowledge ofâ.
âShe didnât ever claim to have any knowledge about film festivals or any expertise on art house cinema. In fact, she asked several times, âare you guys sure about this? Should we really do this?ââ said one of these people on condition of anonymity.
Padukone also said that she wouldnât make a long-term commitment of five years and would be on board for a year to see âhow things pan outâ, the person said.
So why exactly was the board keen on having her?
âTo keep the big sponsors happy,â the person said.
âUnfortunately, marketing the festival and ensuring the money keeps coming in has become one of the dominant features. And for better or the worse, Bollywood is the only way that the sponsors will stick around as the presence of a top star ensures tremendous media coverage,â the person added.
The second person cited earlier confirmed this.
Weeks before Padukone was elected chairperson, Rao and Chopra had informed the board that Rao would be stepping down. The festivalâs top brass had also asked board members to come up with a replacement whose name would attract sponsors and ensure that the top tier of Bollywood showed up at the festivalâs opening and closing ceremonies, both heavily publicised events.
Priyanka Chopra and Karan Johar were the other names considered for the position, but eventually consensus veered towards Padukone.
Another key person HuffPost India spoke to confirmed that having Padukone was largely a strategic marketing decision.
âLook, if you try to be a purist about it, you wonât have a festival in the first place. Now, the presence of stars ensures a certain visibility which doesnât restrict the festival to an art-house bubble of cinema elites. It helps MAMI go mainstream. That was a motivating factor to have her on board and nobody complained,â the person said.
It is learnt that there was complete transparency in the nature of these conversations and Padukone was well aware that she was being elected to ensure the participation of her other A-list friends and also, as a source put it, âattract the right kind of peopleâ.
To which, Padukone said, in the same January 17 meeting, that if her participation helped the broader cause of the festival, she was okay with it.
Countering the argument that a festival chairperson needs to have an intimate understanding of the functioning of a film festival and must also possess enough familiarity with festival films, a source said that the chairpersonâs post âin any case is an honorary titleâ.
âThe day-to-day work of the festival is done by the director (Anupama Chopra) and the creative producer (Smriti Kiran).â
MAMIâs need to have a Bollywood A-lister headline a film festival which aims to showcase an alternative to commercial Bollywood fare is indicative of how India needs better financial models dedicated to arts and culture. While the Maharashtra government does offer monetary support, the recent move by MAMI suggests it isnât nearly enough to cover the expenses of running the show.
Sources also spoke about Padukone, who was already an existing Board member, being a commanding voice of reason in previous MAMI meetings. Her celebrity, it is learnt, often helped in propelling her point.
A source recalled a meeting in October 2018, soon after HuffPost India published a story detailing a serious allegation of sexual assault against Vikas Bahl, partner at the now-defunct Phantom Films.
The Board had convened to decide whether the festival would feature any titles associated with Phantom.
âIt was Padukone who took a firm stand, saying people werenât going to look at nuance and the fest had to take off movies that were associated with Phantom or anybody who had been outed during the #MeToo movement,â the source said. âHer word carried weight and thatâs what MAMI eventually did.â
MAMI had come dangerously close to shutting down in 2014, when nearly all its sponsors had pulled out. It has become a presence to reckon with after Rao, Chopra and Smriti Kiran took overâthey revived the festival by seeking donations from Bollywood stars, friends from the corporate world and crowdfunding campaigns.
âNobody wants to witness a repeat of what happened and so these are all decisions to keep the festival comfortably afloat,â the source concluded.
HuffPost India sent a list of questions to MAMI festival director Chopra, who said she was ânot at liberty to discuss festival board meetingsâ.
We sent a questionnaire to Kiran Rao and Deepika Padukone, who have not responded yet.
A short while ago, however, Padukone tweeted, âWhat an absolute honour. Letâs do this,â along with a picture of the morning announcement.