Heard at Bengaluru film festival: Why do we have to go to other states to shoot?

Bengaluru: The 12th edition of the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) got going today with screenings and squabbles, as usual, over passes.

The festival is an occasion for film industry personalities to air some demands and reveal some plans. Chief among the ideas heard this time around was the need for a need Story Board that will register scripts and guard against the theft of story ideas. "We have been getting a lot of complaints about story thefts,” said Karnataka Film Academy chairman Sunil Puranik. “With a Story Board in place, script writers and producers can register their stories."

Another idea heard here was the need to build and curate a film museum to showcase the history of Kannada cinema. Puranik said it would be a good tourist attraction for the state.

As chief minister B S Yediyurappa said at the inaugural, 450 films were released in 2019, and Kannada films are gaining interest from producers in other languages too. However, “there is still much to be improved. The quality of Kannada films needs improvement.”

There has been a little star power seen during the film festival. The inaugural was graced by actors Yash, Jayaprada, Aditi Prabhu Deva, producer Bonnie Kapoor and singer Sonu Nigam.

Yash made the point that there is need for a film studio in Karnataka. "Presently, we have to go to other states and shoot. Build us a well-equipped studio right here, we have talented people who are capable of ruling the entire Indian cinema," he said. 

The difficulties seen regarding passes for the shows highlighted the need to have a festival directorate that makes the arrangements for the festival. A large number of people were left disappointed as no arrangements had been made for film enthusiasts who had not registered with the organisers. The Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) decided not to issue daily passes till this Monday because of which there was a huge crush of enthusiasts at the festival venues.

 

Puranik said it is all because there is no festival directorate that works for the film festival right round the year. “We work on the festival for three months and then we go back to our respective work. For the next film festival we have to start from scratch. We have requested the government to give us a separate directorate and office space for the festival.” He added.

The 12th edition of BIFFes will see 220 films screened at PVR Cinemas, Orion Mall in Rajajinagar, Kalavidara Sangha, Dr Rajkumar Auditorium in Chamrajpet and Suchitra Film Society Auditorium in Banashankari 2nd stage.  

The festival has competitions in four genres: Asian, Indian, Kannada or Kannada Popular Entertainment and Unsung Incredible India category which will have movies from Tulu, Banjara, Kodava, Konkani, Paniya, Irula, Khasi, Pengchenpa, among others. 

Also there is a special category in which biographies of film-makers, artists, musicians, will be screened including films on cinematographer Dadasaheb Phalke and filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky.

The movies being screened in the popular Kannada cinema category include films such as Srimannarayana, Bell Bottom, Kalidasa Kannada Mesh, Kiss, Munirat's Kurukshetra, Natasaarvabhowma, Pailwan, Yajamana. 

One oddity seen in this edition of BIFFEs is that the accent was to be on child-centric movies, but curiously, as per film festival rules, children were not allowed. The art director of BIFFE, Vidyashanker said indeed "there are more children films, so we have made special arrangements for children. They will be allowed to watch only those particular movies."