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It has so far been a wonderful year for popular Hindi cinema, thanks to a wide array of products having achieved varying degrees of commercial success in the last nine months. Rang De Basanti, Fanaa, Omkara, Being Cyrus, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and Lage Raho Munnabhai, among others, have found ready takers, niche or otherwise, at the box office.

What is particularly striking in the current situation is that none of the above-mentioned films bears any resemblance to the others. Each exists in a space of its own. That has raised hopes that Mumbai cinema is steadily coming of age, having rediscovered the power of originality.

But where, pray, is the film that is going to further India’s cause in the global market? KANK has reportedly collected enough in the North American circuit to become the biggest Indian overseas grosser ever. But its global impact has been rather limited for it is hardly the kind of film that could have western audiences flipping big time for its facile storytelling devices.

Films like Rang De Basanti, Being Cyrus and Omkara, haven’t really travelled as much as they deserve to.

India simply did not have the quality in Toronto this year that could have catapulted its cinema to top of the mind status. Besides the overlong KANK, which was screened in its original uncut form at TIFF, India was represented in various sections by four interesting debut efforts – Kabir Khan’s Kabul Express, Chitra Palekar’s Maati Maay, Rajnesh Domalpalli’s Vanaja and Haobam Paban Kumar’s documentary, A Cry in the Dark.

All these four films were unusual in both conception and execution, but suffered appreciably because of the gap that remained between intent and achievement. And that is where the irony lies – Indian films of the past few months that have scored high on the intent-versus-realisation scale, the likes of Rang De Basanti, Being Cyrus and Omkara, haven’t really travelled as much as they deserve to.

Programmers attending the Cannes and Toronto film festivals have found the going rather tough when faced with the prospect of selecting a handful of films from India for different international cinema events. The world has been waiting for the completion of Mani Ratnam’s Guru and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Eklavya – The Royal Guard simply because there is very little in the currently available lot to enthuse them.