Journos script change in award

Jury criticised for selecting director making movies in other languages

A few journalists raised objections to the selection citing that Das directed more non-Kannada movies than Kannada and most of his movies did not merit the award named after veteran director Puttanna Kanagal.

Bhargava, well-known director and head of the jury, tried to defend the selection stating that Das’ contribution to Kannada industry was significant. He said names of Girish Karnad, D Rajendra Babu and P H Vishwanath were also discussed for the award.

Karnad’s name was rejected considering that he had already been honoured with many awards including Padmabhushan and ‘this is too small an award’ compared to those. His defence did not convince a couple of Kannada film journalists. Bhargava had to face criticism for his statement undermining the Puttanna Kanagal award.

As the agitated journalists warned him that the jury will have to face severe opposition for selecting Das, Bhargav spoke to members of the jury in front of the media and announced that he would withdraw Das’ name and include Girish Karnad’s name.

“Girish Karnad was my first choice during the debate in the jury meetings. But there was no support from the members. I had to go by majority opinion in the committee. But now I am happy to announce Karnad’s name for the award,” he said.

Bhargava said “Ajantha,” a dubbed movie, was among those screened by the jury. “The committee found that it was a dubbed movie. A few portions were shot with Kannada artistes, while the rest was a mix of sequences shot for non-Kannada movies. Technically such movies are called para-dubbed. The Information Department should avoid entry of such movies for the awards,” he said.