Indian flim industry in shackles

“Indie film is struggling right now, more than ever,” said Sean Baker during his speech after he won the best director for Anora at the Film Independent Spirit Awards 2025 on February 23.

Watching the American filmmaker reminded me of my conversation with Madari filmmaker Seraj us Salikin, whom I interviewed for a book published by Busan Asian Film School in 2023.

“Independent filmmaking in Pakistan is like going on a never-ending war,” he had told me.Gearing up to release my directorial debut, Indus Echoes, a Sindhi language feature, later this year, I believe my war has just begun. From film financing to production and distribution, an indie filmmaker is supposed to cross all hoops and hurdles for years just to see his film play in cinemas.

This is not a complaint; no one ever said filmmaking was easy. This is about the broken system in which an independent filmmaker is supposed to survive and keep making films.Read the full piece ‘Long live Indie Cinema’ by Rahul Aijaz.