Four-day Indian Panorama Film Festival kicks off in City

Former IAS officer Chiranjeev Singh said a good film can be made with less than $200 with the boom of digital technology.

The film industry has undergone a lot of experimentation and changes and it has enjoyed diverse and changing views of audience, he said, after inaugurating the four-day Indian Panorama Film Festival at the Chamundeshwari Studios off Cunningham Road on Thursday.

“Cinema is a window to the current issues and panorama film festivals provide a platform for sensitising people about issues that plague different parts of the world. Many people are choosing to make films and this is a good sign,” he said.

Actress and MLC Jayamala asked organisers to include children’s films in the film festival and urged them to avoid disparity in selection of films. President of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce Sa Ra Govindu said Karnataka screened movies of all languages while Kannada films were not screened in other states.

Chairman, Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, SV Rajendra Singh Babu said the academy plans to screen Kannada films in other states.

“We are in talks with our counterparts in other states. We will show good Kannada movies in other states,” he said. State best actress awardee Lakshmi Gopalswamy felt making a film on farmer’s suicides could snowball into progressive action, which might otherwise die down.

National best actor awardee Sanchari Vijay, director, directorate of film festivals, ministry of Information and Broadcasting Senthil Rajan and director, Department of Information and Public Relations NR Vishukumar, were present.

Award winning film, 'Ottaal', directed by Jayaraj, was screened after the inaugural programme. On Friday, besides workshops, the film 'Phum Shang' (Manipuri), directed by Haobam Paban Kumar and ''Dau Huduni Methai'' (Bodo), directed by Manju Borah will be screened at 12.30 pm at the venue. Lukka Chuppi (Malayalam), directed by Bash Mohammed will be screened at 6.15 pm while ''I Cannot Give You my Forest'', directed by Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl Kui and ''Kadambari'' (Bengali), directed by Suman Ghosh will be screened at 8.15 pm.