JOIN USAmidst great excitement and jubilation, the second-year media students of Jyoti Nivas College recently hosted Akhyana, the annual communicative english fest. For this year’s fest, the theme chosen was ‘the comparison and contrast of parallel cinema and mainstream cinema’.
Around 21 colleges actively participated in the fest and enthusiastic students competed in activities such as paper presentation, photography, radio jockey script writing and movie spoof among others.
After the inaugural ceremony, Principal Sr Elizabeth addressed the gathering and presented a short film showcasing the chronological advent of popular cinema since the 1950s.
This was followed by an inspiring speech by the guest of honour Pawan Kumar, Kannada film director and screenwriter whose recent psychological thriller ‘Lucia’ catapulted him to success. In his speech, Pawan pointed out that he believes that there are only four kinds of films — good films, bad films, films that make money and films that don’t make money.
This was followed by a panel discussion on the theme. The panel consisted of individuals from their own contrasting niches in the film industry — Anu Prabhakar, an Indian film actress who has acted in 60 odd Kannada films; Shibani Bathija, a renowned Bollywood screenwriter best known for ‘My Name Is Khan’; KM Chaitanya, a film director, documentary maker and theatre person; and MK Raghavendra, a popular film critic and scholar.
The interactive discussion threw light on various aspects of parallel and mainstream cinema and was most interesting when the floor was open for questions from the audience.
Akshay Sidharth, a student of T John College, said, “The whole fest was well coordinated and even the cultural programmes were entertaining. The panel discussion was great and all the panellists were brilliant. It was very inspirational and motivating for aspiring film-makers.”
Chaitra, a participant from Bishop Cotton Women’s Christian College, said, “All the events were very interesting and the organisers were enthusiastic, which brought out the creative streak in the participants. I enjoyed being part of the radio jockey event where the competitive spirit was commendable.”
“It was a wonderful experience as I got to meet a lot of new, interesting people. The paper presentation was tough to prepare for because of the nature of the topic. But participating in it gave me a whole new perspective on the film industry,” noted
Siddharth, a participant from PESIT College.