* Miriam Chandy’s Rat Race and Anand Patvardhan’s War and Peace found a theatrical release something quite unheard of in India.

* Pan Nalin’s Samsara rocked the international circuit and his latest Faith Connections on the Kumbh Mela moved audiences across the board.

* Indian director Shubhashish Bhutiani’s short film Kush was selected in the shortlist of 10 live-action shorts in the Oscar race.

* Mumbai International Film festival, all set to unveil in the first week of February, which received 600 entries in short film, documentary and animation categories has shown a slow but steady increase in participants.

* Fire in the Blood set a record for the longest theatrical run by any non-fiction feature film in Indian history as it ran for five weeks in Mumbai.

On the face of it, the scenario of short and documentary films couldn’t be rosier. Non-feature films perhaps never had it so good. Be it social networking sites or film festivals, it’s these films that are creating as much if not more buzz than the feature films.

Gurcharan Singh Chani

Daljit Ami

Miriam Chandy Menacherry

Pan Nalin

Prior to moving up in the Oscar race, Shubhashish’s Kush had already won the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film at the 70th Venice International Film Festival 2013 and jury prize at Hamptons International Film Festival.

It doesn’t take an Anurag Kashyap to tell us the future belongs to short films, many like Pan Nalin feel that the future is already here. With technology facilitating makers and YouTube proving to be the new Mecca for aspiring filmmakers, the tidings are bright. Miriam Chandy Menacherry, a journalist-turned-filmmaker, whose film The Rat Race was one of the first few films to be released in theatres nods. She believes documentary films have come of age in India.

GS Chani, who has made many documentaries on Indian arts and heritage, agrees that we have come a long way since the times when the only exposure to documentary films would be by way of newsreels shown before the screening of films. Today, the avenues have grown and the number of channels multiplied. In a country where entertainment meant only cinema, suddenly people are interested in history, culture, environment and a whole range of subjects social as well as political. In short, people want content not just fluff and catering to this need there is a fresh wave of talent many of whom are young and gifted. However, Chani is not sure whether all films that are making a noise are actually offering anything of higher value. Renowned documentary maker Sanjay Kak asserts that the biggest challenge is to keep the audiences engaged with our ideas and our craft, not by seducing them with some lowest-common-denominator trash. All agree that there is an increasing hunger for films outside Bollywood and Hollywood. Makers caution that increased viewership, the staggering number of hits on the Internet could well just be much ado about nothing. Says Daljit Ami, "As with mainstream films, these too could well fall prey to populism." Besides, many feel that this hunger need not translate into anything substantial at least monetarily. For instance, each time Ami’s film Not Every Time, on gender violence, is screened, it triggers a heated debate and a thoughtful discourse. But rarely ever does it motivate people to shell out money to buy a CD. Kak, however, differs and can sense an encouraging trend wherein people do choose to buy cds of films they like and are even disturbed by. Nalin’s last film Samsara did a brisk business of Rs 120 core at international circuits. The international funding which no doubt has grown over the years, argue the sceptics, is open to the select few. According to some, even worse is that there are not very many luminaries in the realm of this genre. Even acclaimed directors are not known outside a limited circle. But what of the fact that now celebrities from mainstream cinema are being roped in to act in such films. Certainly it would not hurt the cause of filmmakers or films when well-known filmmakers like say a Karan Johar or Anurag Kashyap decide to step into short-film making. Last year, Bombay Talkies, a compilation of four short films, was made to mark the 100 years of Indian cinema. This experiment bodes well. Veteran filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta, however, warns, "Let’s not delude ourselves. It will take a long time before a documentary culture can be fostered here." Unlike the West, where a steady audience for such films exists, he feels it’s near-impossible here to make a political film. Not that it stops committed men and women from taking the road less travelled. Directors like Sanjay Kak have not only made films on ticklish subjects such as Maoism and Kashmir but even dared to take a stand and thus turned the idea of objectivity on its head. Indeed, today’s filmmakers are challenging the conventional definition and grammar of such films. They are making films in exciting, story-telling formats, often fusing fact with fiction. Questions Miriam,"If to engage with more audiences, makers are using elements like humour or new techniques, I see no harm." Nalin feels that in an information age, where facts are anyway just a click away, the emotional connect is what matters most. Buoyed by the response to Faith Connections, he is upbeat about the release of the film for which viewers are paying on the Net.

However, Ami reminds us how Patvardhan’s much-acclaimed film flopped at theatres. Menacherry’s The Rat Race may not have set the cash registers ringing but the fact that it got the space along with Bollywood releases, is an achievement by itself. She refuses to endorse the viewpoint that using the yardsticks of bazaar is antithetical to the nature of documentaries and the success of an odd film will have no impact on the box office. She argues if a film like Fire in the Blood, a very political film can run successfully at PVR for five weeks why should makers be satisfied with remaining on the fringes and niche viewings? She dwells on the need for promotional budgets, following the model of the West, where educational rights grant filmmakers license fees to screening films at institutions. Fortunately, many institutions are more than willing to pay a screening fee, howsoever nominal. Of course, making documentaries and short films will remain an uphill task. A country that loves fiction the going for short films isn’t easy either. For the greater challenge here is screening as well as monetisation. With the tribe of thinking curious minds wanting a counter point and debate, with funding becoming more accessible, with greater coordination between funding agencies and makers, VS Kundu, Director MIFF is certain a new beginning has been made. Whether it will lead to documentaries and short films emerging as an alternative means of entertainment, whether people will be receptive to the idea of buying a ticket or not.... there is no denying the paradigm shift in both perception and reception to non-feature films.