JOIN USThough there was a jubilant mood in Kannada film industry after six awards were announced to Kannada and its regional language films, there was a voice of dissent as well.
T S Nagabharana, the director of Allama movie which bagged two national awards, said jury failed to evaluate content and presentation parts of Allama. “ Allama deserved much better award,” he contended.
“Efforts like Neerja have been made, but efforts like Allama haven’t been attempted in Indian cinema. Allama is a biopic of 12th century social reformer and a product of four year’s hard work. Allama deserved either best film or best director award or any other special award,” he said. “It is an experimentative movie in the Indian cinema in terms of content and presentation. The jury’s yardstick for the selection of awards this year signifies change of attitude towards cinema,” he said.
“The jury has failed to evaluate a rare effort. Best actor award to Akshay Kumar is also something strange,” he said. Allama was produced by late Sri Hari L Khoday. Interestingly, all movies produced by Khoday have bagged one or the other national award.
Bapu Padmanabha, flautist, and Hariprasad Chaurasia’s disciple, has won the national award for best music for Allama. Interestingly, it was Bapu Padmanabha’s first foray into film music. “I took about two years to compose music for the film. We studied about 800 vachanas and finally selected 18 for the movie,” he said.
“ It was most difficult task to ensure visual treat without affecting mood and spiritual aspects of vachanas,” he said thanking director Nagabharana and producer Khoday.
“I am happy that I got a national award when I was thinking of retiring from the industry,” said makeup artiste N K Ramakrishna. “I never had expected the award for my work. Makeup was very crucial for Allama as we needed to recreate12th century feel and look. I thank the entire crew for the award,” he added.