'Dollu', 'Talendanda', 2 other Kannada movies to be screened at IFFI

Four Kannada feature films -- Dollu, Talendanda, Act 1978 and Neeli Hakki -- are among the 25 movies selected in the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India starting on November 20.

Semkhor, a movie in Dimasa language and directed by Aimee Baruah, will be the opening feature of the Indian Panorama section while India's official entry for the Oscars PS Vinothraj-directed Tamil movie Koozhangal is also among the list, which is dominated by regional movies.

There are five each Bengali and Marathi movies, two Malayalam and Hindi movies and one Telugu movie in the Panorama section chosen by a jury headed by filmmaker-actor SV Rajendra Singh Babu. The movies were chosen from 221 films and the organisers said the package reflects the "vibrancy and diversity" of the Indian film industry.

Another jury headed by documentary film maker S Nallamuthu has chosen 20 non-feature films for the festival and Ved: The Visionary by Rajiv Parkash will be the opening non-feature in Indian Panorama section.

In the feature film section, there are also movies from languages like Bodo (Sijou), Mishing (Boomba Ride), Sanskrit (Bhagavadajjukam) and Gujarati (21st Tiffin).

Actor Parambrata Chattopadhyay directed Abhijaan, a biopic on iconic actor Soumitra Chatterjee, is among the five Bengali movies while others include Lalkokkho (Directors: Rajdeep Paul and Sarmistha Maiti), Nitantoi Sahaj Saral (Satrabit Paul), Manikbabur Megh (Abindandan Banerjee) and Dictionary (Bratya Basu).

Marathi films include features like Godavari (Nikhil Mahajan), Funeral (Vivek Rajendra Dubey), Me VasantRao (Nipun Dharmadhikari) and Bittersweet (Ananth Narayan Mahadevan).

There are four Kannada movies in the segment as well. In Kannada, films directed by Sagar Puranik (Dollu), Praveen Krupakar (Taledanda), Manunatha S (Act 1978) and Ganesh Hegde (Neeli Hakki) will be showcased in the festival. From Malayalam, Jayaraj's Niraye Thathakalulla Maram and Ranjit Shankar's Sunny have made the cut.

Hindi movies in the Panorama section are Eight Down Toofan Mail (Akriti Singh) and Alpha Beta Gamma (Shankara Srikumar).

"The primary aim of the Indian Panorama is to select the feature and non-feature films of cinematic, thematic, and aesthetic excellence for the promotion of film art through the non-profit screening of these films under different categories. Since its inception, the Indian Panorama has been completely devoted to showcasing the best Indian films of the year," a senior official said.

The non-feature films chosen for the Indian Panorama section include Bharat-Prakriti Ka Balak, Teen Adhyay, Jugalbandi and The Knocker. Ashok Viwanathan-directed Badal Sircar and the Alternative Theatre is also in the list.

The package of non-feature films exemplifies the capacity of "our emerging and established filmmakers to document, investigate, entertain and also reflect contemporary Indian values," the organisers said.