Arranged marriage film uses new distribution model in US

Washington, May 2:

What makes well-travelled urban Indians, who have freedom and privilege, choose arranged marriages over love?

“What’s Love Got To Do With It?” an unscripted micro-budget feature documentary exploring the evolving arranged marriage scenario with humour will have a novel US theatrical on demand release in May through Gathr.

Gathr Films new distribution model allows a film’s audience to take action and directly participate in bringing the film to their community, according to a media release.

Theatrical-On-Demand crowd sourced distribution empowers audiences to pull films to their local theatres by aggregating their interest and pre-ordering tickets in advance.

Gathr audiences are passionate, active filmgoers that use the unique power of the film medium to share new ideas and stories with their communities, the release said.

“Rohena Gera’s film touches communities all across the country and we feel that Theatrical-On-Demand is essential to engage audiences no matter where they are,” said Jay Hogan, Director of Marketing and Outreach.

The film, which premiered to packed houses at the Mumbai Film Festival, is an amusing portrayal of young urban upper class Indians coming to terms with expectations about love, marriage, happiness and tradition.

The individuals featured in the film grapple with decisions about how and whom to marry, at once juggling societal and parental desires with their own.

Other interviews with parents, marriage brokers and matchmakers, paint a larger picture of a changing society in which ideas about matrimony are themselves being transformed and challenged by new values and desires.

I am thrilled to be back in the US where I studied, and more importantly where I learned to ask questions,” said Gera with an almost 20 year career in television and film.

“I remember people at Stanford asking me whether I would have an arranged marriage, and at the time I thought it was a ridiculous question, but years later I came back to it… I started to wonder whether people who opted for ‘arranged love’ had it figured out!”

“I am not a practical person but I could see the logic: marriages are expected to last a lifetime so people think why not base it on factors more measurable than love?” she said.

“What’s Love Got To Do With It?” has had several live requests for screenings in New York, California Texas, Connecticut, Maryland as also Philadelphia and Jersey City. (IANS)