Bengaluru's Suchitra Film Society turns 55, film auteurs attend ceremony

Bengaluru: The Suchitra Film Society, on Saturday, celebrated its 55th anniversary. It was attended by film auteurs Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Girish Kasaravalli. 

To commemorate the occasion, the society screened Gopalakrishnan’s Elippathayam (The Rat Trap). 

At the ceremony, Gopalakrishnan recalled how his films — Swayamvaram, Elippathayam — travelled across the globe and won many awards. 

In his speech, Kasaravalli raised important questions about the dwindling state of cinema literacy in the country today. 

"We don't see cinema as cinema. We only look at cinema as an extension of literature, especially in Karnataka. In India, we see cinema as an extension of theatre. Whereas in West, they always looked at it as an extension of visual art," he said, adding, "We need to inculcate this message that cinema is not extension of literature, it is an extension of visual expression".

Kasaravalli also recalled how the then secretary Narahari Rao, who is the current president of Suchitra, did not allow him to attend the screening of a film.  

"When I landed in Bengaluru after graduating from FTII, Suchitra at the time were holding the Nostalgia Film Festival. I wanted to attend the screening of a film at Bal Bhavan. Suchitra didn’t have a screening space back then. When I went, the hall was already half full. I told Narahari Rao I wanted to watch the film. He asked me if I was a member. I said no. To which, he said I can’t watch. When the film was just about to begin, he let me in," Kasaravalli recalled. 

Suchitra Film Society began in 1971. The society’s first president was B N Narayana, popularly known as Make-up Nani.