Aug 19, 2026 2:35pm IST
Independent Filmmaker R. Gowtham On Taking ‘Members Of The Problematic Family’ to Melbourne: ‘It Was An Audience-Building Exercise’ (EXCLUSIVE)
International film festivals are often perceived as elitist events by filmmakers and audiences alike. That idea of inaccessibility stems from the fact that getting selected for such events and even attending them are expensive affairs. So when it was announced that Tamil filmmaker R Gowtham’s debut feature was heading to the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM), it became a moment of celebration for everyone involved. Being an indie project, it was a surprising update for the makers who went into it with little knowledge of the function.
Opening up on the experience, he shares: “The festival was a great platform to showcase our film. We were able to meet fellow filmmakers, especially Madhusree Dutta, who made ‘Flying Tigers’. We were unable to meet in Berlin, but she came to our screening here. It was kind of an appreciation for me, from a fellow filmmaker. A lot of Tamilians in Melbourne were able to connect with our film. It was an audience-building exercise.”
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About crossing paths with mainstream film stars, he adds that meeting Rishab Shetty, Vijay Varma, Pankaj Tripathi, Dulquer Salmaan and Rasika Dugal was a “fanboy moment” for him. Despite being unable to catch up on all the films like Abdul Aziz’s “Pankhudiyan (Petals in the Wind)” due to the short nature of his trip, he considers it to be an experience he will cherish for a lifetime.
The uncharted territory was the director’s first rodeo in Australia with his own project, “Members of the Problematic Family,” which explores funerals, societal expectations, and the void left after someone’s passing. “We didn't do any research exclusively for this [film]. We were associated with death, such that it's been intertwined with our family. So, there was not any particular research we did. It's part of our life. It's just a reflection of our life,” he says.
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“Homebound” was able to go to Cannes for its world premiere, being backed by Karan Johar under the Dharma Productions banner. More importantly, it had filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who joined as an executive producer. Answering whether it's important for an indie project to have that kind of backing to be able to go global, R Gowtham shares, "Backing is always best, but I would say... we need a partial victory. We don't want a completely blown-up thing, of representing India as the best foreign national team; for every indie film, it's not going to happen. Martin Scorsese or Paul Thomas Anderson or [Christopher] Nolan will not produce our films; that's not going to happen."
"Members of the Problematic Family" had its Australian premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne on August 14 following its world premiere at Berlinale.
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