Mitu Bhowmick Lange is a renowned film-maker, producer, owner of Mind Blowing Films (MBF) that makes her a leading distributor of Bollywood films in Australia and New Zealand. Her company MBF also provides local production support to Indian films shot in ANZ.

Mitu’s resume also consists of one more title – festival director. In the year 2010, she founded the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM).

Before moving to Australia in 2002 after her marriage, Mitu was directing television shows in Mumbai for ace channels like Star Plus, Zee TV, and Sony TV.

Reminiscing about her early days of working in Indian television, she told Homegrown, “It was a lot more spontaneous and organic, we could do a lot more with the programming, people were more approachable and we could experiment more with shows than now. You could walk up to the programmer and say ‘hey! I want to do this, or try this’. It was a lot more straightforward.”

Moving from a well-settled job to a country with no contacts at all was very difficult for Mitu. She shared, “I was very resentful and miserable because in India I had a good job and I was part of the media and television world. In Melbourne, I didn’t have anything going on. Slowly, slowly, I tried to create my own little world here. I got a job at a media and advertising company and I somehow managed to convince my very Australian boss that we should look at India as well because at that time we were only looking at American productions and working to get them to Australia. I knew in my mind that India could work and it was mostly untapped.”

Taking this forward, she contacted late director Yash Chopra, whom she knew from the television days, and told him to please come here and film something. “He said he can’t film anything right now but suggested ‘why don’t you try distributing our films there in Australia?’ He said, and he was right, that we are very underrepresented there,” she said.

Though reluctant before, she slowly thought through the idea and invested her energy into building a strong Bollywood network in Australia. With Mr Chopra’s counsel, Bhowmick set up meetings with Australian companies who were reluctant at first, citing previous bad experiences with other Indian distribution companies.

The step she took about 15 years ago makes her extremely happy and proud now. She expressed, “It makes me so happy. You will find not just a Hindi film but Tamil, Punjabi and Telugu films being screened as well. I feel very proud about the kind of growth the market has witnessed since we started.”

Bhowmick started her Bollywood stint as an in-line producer from Bollywood film Salaam Namaste, starring Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan in 2004 which was shot in Victoria. In coming years, she went onto produce other big blockbusters Chak De India, Main aur Mrs Khanna, Bachna Ae Haseeno, and Love Aaj Kal which were shot in Australia.

Through Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, Mitu showcased the best of Indian cinema to Australian audiences. The festival is backed by the Victorian government and Film Victoria. The festival, each year, showcases the best of popular Bollywood movies to Indie movies, from documentaries to regional cinema along with events like short film competition, dance competition and flag hoisting as the festival coincides with the Indian Independence Day celebrations in Melbourne.

In the year 2017, she won Jill Robb Award from Film Victoria on behalf of the government. The award recognises Victorian female screen practitioners who have shown leadership through their achievements and involvement in the industry, including the mentoring of other women from the field.

“I worked really hard to make Australia my home, and Australia has also given me a lot in return. When I got the award I felt very accepted; it’s an odd thing to say but this wasn’t an award specific to Indians doing things just about India or for India, it was much larger and holistic than that. It was such a positive recognition for everything that I have done, worked for and have been trying to do, it was incredible,” Bhowmick shared on winning the award.

Speaking about IFFM, one of the integral aspects that Bhowmick emphasizes on is inclusivity. It stands on four pillars, namely race, sexuality, disability, and providing visibility to all kinds of films. She feels the incredible thing about film festivals is that they provide an equal platform to everyone.

“It’s important for them to have a platform to voice their artistic expressions. I’m not saying it’ll trigger some massive change or movement but it’s a start. We all grow up watching films, there’s so much we learn from them and these are films that kids should grow up watching. Growing up, we never got to learn about things like sexuality in the films we got to watch at the time. Festivals, this way, can be a great method of changing people’s views and allowing them to see things from a very different perspective,” said Bhowmick.

H/T: Homegrown