Flashmobs, colourful lenghas and Bollywood songs are common features in Indian cinema.

However, Australia’s first Indian film festival is pulling away from this stereotype, screening films in multiple languages and genres.

The National Indian Film Festival of Australia (NIFFA) has wrapped up its first array of programs across the country, with plans to return annually.

The festival was held across 18 days, over February and early March, and aims to bring South Asian films to screens down under.

NIFFA director and Indian-Australian filmmaker Anupam Sharma hoped the festival would expose Australian audiences to the diversity of South Asian cinema.

Creatives ‘tell their story without supervision’

Maa Oori Ramayanam is one of the documentaries that debuted at at NIFFA, by Indian-Australian producer Pradeep Maduri.

Set in the Seethampalli village in Telangana, Mr Maduri depicts the collective efforts of performing an ancient Indian story, the Ramayana.

Mr Maduri’s work centres around sharing stories from rural India across the globe.

Mr Sharma said NIFFA aimed to “empower Australians, particularly of Indian and South Asian origin, to tell their story themselves without … supervision of any other culture”.

“Once you are telling cultural stories from a culturally authentic space, the stereotypes will wash away … So, I hope the more stories we tell, the more Australian film agencies [will] support diverse Australian storytellers.”

Diaspora ‘punching above weight’ with ticket sales

While Australia’s film industry is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, South Asian cinema has experienced a pocket of growth.

Mr Sharma said the Indian diaspora in Australia contributed more to box office sales than the average cinema-goer.

“They are punching way above their weight, some might say even eight [or] nine times.”

Indian film releases, like Pushpa: The Rule — Part 2, brought in millions of dollars at the Australian box office.

Screen Australia figures show India produced more than 1,300 films locally in 2022, compared to 24 in Australia.

In 2023, the majority of films released in Australia came from Asia, at 44 per cent, followed by 23 per cent by the US.

In November 2023, the federal government announced the Australia-India Audio-visual Co-production Agreement, which provides filmmakers with access to shared funding and resources.

“This is such an overdue tool for us to narrate our shared stories with investment from India,” Mr Sharma said.

“The moment I structure a co-production I have got benefits from Australia and benefits from India. Those are the financial benefits, on top of them I have the creative benefits.”

Push for presence in regional areas

This year’s Indian film festival screened at local cinemas across the country, including Dendy’s Cinema in Newtown.

Cinema attendees said diverse films acted as “gateways to other cultures” and were “really important to understand the communities we live in, in Australia”.

One patron told the ABC that having an Indian film festival in Australia “was quite exciting and gave people a unique opportunity [to see] what Indian cinema is all about”.

Mr Sharma noted there was “interest in non-Indians to see Indian cinema and not Bollywood”.

“All the mainstreamed films get screened throughout the year … but it is films which have never been screened in a theatre that catches the attraction,” he said.

NIFFA’s program this year included 36 Australian premieres and three world premieres.

With plans for NIFFA to return in 2026, featuring films in Punjabi, the festival is also going regional.

Filmmakers believe there is demand for South Asian cinema in smaller towns as well, particularly as migrant populations are growing in regional Australia.

“Dubbo Film Society and Dubbo Indian Society have signed up, and now NIFFA will have a regional arm, called NIFFA Regional,” Mr Sharma said.

“When we talk about diversity in cinema, we’re not asking for a favour, we are not asking for a handout. All we want is for our streets to be accurately represented on our screens.”