JOIN USThe South (India) is a strong cultural hub and the country’s best contributions in the field of art, culture and music has always come from here, Governor H R Bharadwaj said here on Thursday. “...Nobody can beat Vaijayanti Mala, she was a great dancer,” he added. He was speaking at the valedictory function of the fifth Bangalore International Film Festival (Biffes), which came to a colourful end.
Bharadwaj, who said he had closely seen South Indian cine giants like Rajkumar, N T Rama Rao, M G Ramachandran, Vishnuvardhan, Jayalalitha, et al, was speaking about Vaijayanthi Mala as one of the pioneering contributions from the South to Hindi cinema.
The Governor also had a word of advice to actor-director Prabhu Deva, who was present at the event. While he was proud that an Indian is performing across the world and is being compared with ‘Michael Jackson’, Bhardwaj said it was important to take to the stage something that is Indian.
“Cinema has a huge role to play in a nation like ours. Look at NTR, he became the chief minister after just one mythological movie, where he played Krishna. It is therefore important that our movies must show something that is ours,” he said.
Bharadwaj said he was keen in knowing the Kannada culture and learning from Kannada literature. “Whatever Kurmavatara (a Girish Kasaravalli film that won an award at the fest) has to say, I believe that we have managed to preserve our culture, which is rich in morals and ethos.” ‘Kurmavatara’, deals with the modern world that is losing morals and values.
Biffes 2012 saw as many as 185 movies from over 50 countries being screened, of which, about 101 films saw repeat screenings. “In all, there were 280 screenings and about 168 of them were housefull,” Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy President Thara said. “We will be back in a bigger, better way next year to enthrall the movie buffs,” she added.
Apart from screening of films from around the world, Biffes saw many other interesting events such as exhibition on stamps, old equipments of cinema, seminars, master classes, book launch etc.
The organisers also felicitated veteran director Siddalingaiah, the director of movies like ‘Bangarada Manushya’ and ‘Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu’ and actor and producer Harini.
Speaking at the event, former Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce President and actor Jayamala wanted the organisers to start a film bazaar at the fest, in line with festivals like Cannes and other international fests. She also gave a host of suggestions, including creation of a ‘script lab.’