“Yoodlee Films wants to tell stories that don’t find a mainstream voice”

North East Indians have always borne the brunt of being discriminated on the basis of their physical appearance, accent, culture, food habits and attire in rest of India. To address this issue, Yoodlee Films, the movie arm of Saregama, recently launched ‘Axone’, a comedy-drama is based on North East Indian migrants in New Delhi who attempt to organise a wedding party. ‘Axone’ was received enthusiastically by the viewers and was even trending at No. 1 on Netflix.

Directed by Nicholas Kharkongor and produced by Saregama India - Yoodlee Films, ‘Axone’ stars Sayani Gupta, Vinay Pathak, Lin Laishram, Dolly Ahluwalia, Adil Hussain, Lanuakum Ao, Tenzin Dalha and Rohan Joshi.

Also read: Post unlock, Yoodlee Films is first to start shooting for two feature films

Adgully caught up with actor Sayani Gupta and Siddharth Anand Kumar, Vice-President, Films & Events, Saregama India, to know more about the film’s strategy and the audience response.

Actors or themes from the North East have hardly ever found a place in mainline cinema. Hence, a story like ‘Axone’ evoked mixed response. Acknowledging this, Sayani Gupta said, “I think more or less people were pretty chuffed with the cultural representation. There was a set of people who felt it wasn’t correct, but that always happens, you can’t make everyone completely happy.”

She further said that as a whole, there was a massive appreciation for the effort on which the film stood for and what the film did. “It did start a dialogue and it did open up a new set of audience to this world, which actually, very sadly, we were have been ignoring and most of India was ignoring when I say ‘We’ and we are so little about it.”

Gupta added that being streamed on Netflix took the film mainstream and thus a lot of people could view it, which opened up doors for conversation. “It made people realise and show mirror to them, to tell them how little they know about the culture of people from the North East. When I say this, I have to say that it’s not just one culture; each state is completely diverse from the other, and even within a state, one tribe differs from the other. It is very complex, and the more we know, the more fascinating it is. ‘Axone’ definitely opens the door to that spectacular, dynamic world that North East is.”

Shedding light on the marketing strategy for the film, Siddharth Anand Kumar said, “It was a very direct digital approach. We planned a crisp and thorough marketing campaign that touched on the main communication pegs of the film. With extensive digital PR and targeted specific social media campaigns, ‘Axone’ was on top of the minds of the audiences when it was released. The word of mouth on the film has been overwhelmingly positive. It trended in the Top 5 films on Netflix for several weeks after its release.”

Gupta, too, highlighted the massive response received from the North East, and added that even from the rest of India the response was great. She also shared that after watching the film, a lot of people from different parts of India admitted that they had sort of been perpetrators of racism themselves and that they felt sorry about it. Many people also said that they were aware about the discrimination faced by the people from the North East, but had not raised their voices against it. “With ‘Axone’, there is a new interest about the diverse culture and food of the North East, which this film is all about. It was a massively loved film, for which I am really thankful. Even people from Nepal wrote to us,” Gupta added.

Meanwhile, talking about the vision for the kind of stories Yoodlee Films wants to tell, Kumar said, “The vision of Yoodlee has always remained the same. We invest in stories that are interesting, stories that are left off centre and don’t find a mainstream voice, stories that are relevant, and engaging to the society at large. Irrespective of the platform, we place the script and the narrative above all else. This is the starting point.”