Actor-politician Kamal Haasan has been advocating for non-commercial films for over four decades now, he said on Friday at the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.
The veteran actor walked the red carpet ahead of the screening of the 2024 Tamil war drama Amaran, which he produced alongside R. Mahendran and Vivek Krishnani.
“Independent cinema is very independent, as free as India... don't bring it into a confining space of a very commercialised cinema,” Haasan told news agency PTI.
Addressing the issue of independent cinema not getting adequate space in Indian theatres, he said, “That's been my complaint for about 40 years.”
The screening of Amaran, which serves as the opening film of IFFI 2025, was also attended by the lead actors Sivakarthikeyan and Sai Pallavi. Directed by Rajkumar Periasamy, the war drama is adapted from a chapter of the book India's Most Fearless: True Stories of Modern Military Heroes.
Amaran is currently available to stream on Netflix.
On the work front, Haasan, 71, was last seen in Mani Ratnam’s Thug Life. He has S. Shankar’s actioner Indian 3 in the pipeline. Haasan is also set to collaborate with Rajinikanth and director Sundar C. for a project tentatively titled Thalaivar 173.
IFFI 2025, which commenced on 20 November, will conclude on 28 November.
