For Anu Menon, director of London, Paris, New York, working in the United Kingdom is not very different from working in India. A graduate of the London Film School, Anu doesn’t hesitate to pull the ‘best of both worlds’ card whenever she can. “In a sense, the UK is more compatible than more places because it is almost like an extension of our culture. The only difference is that filmmaking there is more process driven while in India it’s more organic and that's also a good thing,” says Anu, adding that what matters is how filmmakers make the best of these similarities and differences.

The young director was in the city to speak at ‘Creativity is Great’, an event hosted by UK Trade and Investment which was the first step in encouraging creative collaboration between the film industries of India and the UK. As it stands now, shooting a film abroad and exchange of technical expertise between two countries is not uncommon. Anu herself shot her film partly in London and Londoner Pete Draper, is the brain behind the housefly character in Eegaand has also done special effects for Endhiranand Aamir Khan’s Ghajini.

“The good thing about India is that there’s a lot of films being made and there’s a lot of energy right now. To get a feature film commissioned in the UK is not easy here, if u have talent and a good script, people will open doors for you,” explains Anu. If you can shoot in a low budget film in India why look to the UK? “Because a lot of stories can be told there that you can’t tell here. Shooting here has a lot of restrictions while shooting in the UK is easier and production values increase multifold so not much extra money is needed,” she explains. London, Paris, New Yorkwas shot on a shockingly low budget in a span of 30 days. “How you make that worthwhile is by shooting it differently. You have to go there and work out a system which benefits the films,” she adds.

 …we like to think of it as a collaboration that will encourage more interesting stories.

“There are the obvious things like innovative technology, infrastructure and locations but we like to think of it as a collaboration that will encourage more interesting stories,” says Kate Hughes of London Film School. “ At the London Film School we like to encourage filmmakers to have a distinctive voice and try something new rather than second guess the market and make something formulaic,” says Kate Hughes. The ‘Creativity is Great’ event was about charting out a plan to begin and sustain this collaboration. What comes out of it can, hopefully, be seen on our screens in the years to come.

ZEENAB ANEEZ