The National Film Development Corporation’s Screenwriters Lab at the WAVES Film Bazaar has established itself as a crucial launching pad for independent Indian filmmakers, providing rare development support in a market where such resources remain scarce.

The lab, which develops eight projects annually, offers writers an intensive four-to-six-month mentorship with international script consultants, filling what filmmaker and lab mentor Bikas Mishra describes as a critical gap in the Indian film ecosystem.

“There is no other development support, definitely in India, mostly not in South Asia,” said Mishra, whose film “Chauranga” was developed through the program. “Independent filmmakers, they are expected to go with a fully developed script to a producer and pitch it. But this crucial phas

See Full Page