To bring out a good film, aspiring film directors should have strong conviction in their stories, said National Award winning film director Madhur Bhandarkar on Sunday at the Masterclass on ‘Filmmaking’ at the 52nd International Film Festival of India being held in Goa.

Bhandarkar said, “The concept of my film always originates from me. I believe in myself and my stories. When I attain strong conviction in a story, then only I go for the film.”

What the camera catches stays there for lifetime, so the pace of the film must be very engaging, Bhandarkar opined, adding, “I always try to maintain balance between Art and Commercial films and make engaging films based on realistic plots.”

While interacting with the cinephiles, he said, “These days the OTT platforms provide good opportunity to the aspiring directors and producers.”

‘Chandni Bar’, a film on the life and times of the dancing girls of Mumbai bars, according to Bhandarkar, boosted his trust and confidence to move ahead who went on to make award winning films like‘Page 3’and ‘Traffic Signal’.

Talking about his future plan, he said: “We went through a very tough and testing time during the pandemic period. So now I am going to start work for a comedy film very soon.”

The Masterclass was moderated by noted film critic Taran Adarsh. The session ended with felicitation of Madhur Bhandarkar and Taran Adarsh by National award-winning director Nila Madhab Panda.

Meanwhile, with a promise to unfold stories collected from nook and corners of India on the big screen, the Indian Panorama Section opened yesterday at the film festival.

The film festival kicked off on Saturday in Panaji, Goa.