India, June 9 -- Filmmaker Nikkhil Advani is one of the four executive producers behind debutant director Karan Tejpal's new film, Stolen. Nikkhil, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, and Kiran Rao have come together to lend their weight to the film, which stars Abhishek Banerjee. Ahead of the release, the filmmaker spoke to HT about the film, the state of film distribution in India, and more.

Stolen follows a time-honoured tradition of getting 'big names' as executive producers for small, independent films to ensure they have visibility. But Nikkhil says the Utopian goal would be not to be in such a situation. "A big point to celebrate will be that a film like Stolen doesn't need us," he says, explaining, "Who are we? We are just putt...