The 16th Bengaluru International Film Festival saw poor response on Tuesday with most seats at the film screenings left unoccupied.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s remarks on the film fraternity members who skipped inauguration of 16th Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) has created an uproar at the ongoing film festival.
While there has been a debate about the DCM’s language, where he told the film community that filmmaking cannot happen without the support of the government and he knows how to tighten the “nuts and bolts”, actors and filmmakers believe that it was important to delink film festivals from the government.
“Film festivals are not political events,” said filmmaker Manso Re, adding that it would be more appropriate to inaugurate film festivals at auditoriums rather than Vidhana Soudha.
“As a filmmaker, I’d attend film festivals to learn more about cinema, not about politics. If I want to meet politicians, why would I go to a film festival?” he said.
He added that the focus of the media should have been on actor Kishore’s suggestion to include film appreciation in school curriculum to make the young audience informed about cinema, rather than on DKS’ comments.
Actor Kishore, who is also the ambassador for the 16th BIFFes, said that while there has been a communication gap between the organisers and the film community, DKS should have used a more appropriate language in his remarks.
M Narasimhalu, owner of Vaibhavi Theatre and the President of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, said that celebrities generally do not give public appearances unless invited. “If the celebrities and the members of the film community were invited earlier, they would have shown up,” he added.
Manso Re also added that DKS remarks on Sadhu Kokila’s participation in the paadayatra for water during the pandemic was an insult on his contributions to the Kannada film industry as an actor and musician for over three decades.
Sadhu Kokila is currently the president of the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy.
Panel on Amaran
A panel discussion was organised with the crew of Amaran (2024), a Tamil biopic on the life of Mukund Varadarajan - an Indian Army officer - who was killed during an encounter with terrorists in the Shopian area of Kashmir, in 2014.
In an interesting question and answer session after the panel, actor and ambassador of the 16th BIFFes Kishore asked Amaran director
Rajkumar Periasamy on his views about the people of Kashmir.
Periasamy said, “The people of Kashmir are very beautiful inside and out. Just like the people of Tamil Nadu, they too have a rich history and cultural heritage.”
When the film was released in October last year, it was criticised for showing Kashmiris in poor light and many critics also called the film Islamophobic.
Kishore said that the 16th BiFFes was themed around “Sarva Janaangada Shantiya Thota” (a garden of peace for all communities), the idea of promoting brotherhood among people belonging to all regions of the country.