Govt should have supported parallel cinema movement: Abhay

Abhay Deol has often been called the poster boy of indie cinema and the actor feels the parallel film movement can flourish only when government supports it. The actor says working in off-beat films requires artistes to make lot of sacrifices and hence a support is necessary.

"You have to live through it, make your own sacrifices. You can't keep doing that when there is no support whatsoever. “Even if not the industry, if there was government support like they did with the NFDC from the 70s to the 80s.

"Even if that much was there, it would support a parallel movement, but no (that did not happen)," Abhay said. According to the ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ actor, the government support would've at least given independent filmmakers some surety of their film release.

"When the government supported NFDC (National Film Development Corporation of India), there was this little spark because there was some security, some guarantee of film release. Now that's taken away from them. While it would be ideal for the mainstream industry to give that support, they don't have to (give it necessarily)."

"They (mainstream industry) are perfectly fine where they are. There is an audience for them too. But if a government support came in, with the thought that let's have a variety of representations across communities and ideas...that is something our governing body needed to do," he said.