Of revolutions & evolutions through the decades in Kannada celluloid

Bengaluru: Cinephiles continued to relish different flavours of native and world cinema on the fourth day of the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) on Sunday.

A wave of nostalgia hit Kannada cine lovers with a session on 90 years of Kannada cinema and 50 years of Karnataka on the third day of film screenings.

Filmmaker T S Nagabharana, veteran Kannada actor Girija Lokesh, film historian K Puttaswamy and marketer of Kannada films V H Suresh were on the panel moderated by filmmaker and joint artistic director of BIFFes P Seshadri. 

Nostalgic fans also thronged Suchitra Film Society for Rajkumar’s swashbuckling historical ‘Mayura’ (1975). 

The festival saw houseful shows of the globally acclaimed Kannada film 'Shivamma' directed by Jaishankar Aryar and Kannada film ‘Mithya’ directed by Sumanth Bhat. Both the films screened to mixed reviews.

‘Sthal’, ‘Banel and Adama’, ‘Daaaaaali!’, ‘Fallen Leaves’, ‘Afire’, ‘Totem’, ‘The Zone of Interest’, ‘Terrestrial Verses’,  ‘20,000 Species of Bees’ and Kiarostami’s ‘Through the Olive Trees’ and Mrinal Sen’s ‘Interview’ were other films of interest among cinephiles.

Old memories

A video showcasing the evolution of the Kannada film industry from the first talkie film, ‘Sati Sulochana’ to the recently acclaimed film, ‘Kaatera’ was presented.

The audience lapped up movies of then and now - ‘Bedara Kannappa’, ‘Bangarada Manushya and the rise of Rajkumar, Siddalingaiah’s films, ‘Samskara,’ Girish Kasaravalli’s cinema, B V Karanth, the contributions of Girish Karnad, Shankar Nag, films of T S Nagabharana, P Seshadri, Yograj Bhat, and those featuring stars like Sudeep, Darshan, Ganesh, Puneeth Rajkumar, Shivrajkumar and Rishab Shetty.

Silent films made in Bengaluru like ‘Mrichakatika’ also featured in the video. 

Veteran Girija Lokesh, also the daughter-in-law of Subbaiah Naidu, who acted in the first Kannada talkie ‘Sati Sulochana,’ spoke about the simplicity in his films.

“He used to give a lot of importance to expression in acting. He also stressed the importance of acting with the eyes,” said Girija. “His foundation for Kannada cinema set a flight of stairs for the next generation Kannada industry,” she added. 

Social responsibility

Speaking of social responsibility in Kannada cinema, Puttaswamy said the media and cinema play an important role. Cinema is a response to the socio-political landscape of the country. Gandhi’s non-violence movement, Nehruvian socialism and gramodyoga were some of the earlier themes explored in cinema, he added. 

“Education in cinema and cinema in education is only possible through film festivals,” said Nagabharana. While a discourse on social issues in cinema is important, citing ‘KGF’ as an example, he said the cinema of today is nothing but business.

“Many films which discussed social issues failed bitterly among the audience,” he added.

Cinema university

Nagabharana stressed on the importance of cinema literacy and the need to set up cinema schools. He requested the government to set up a university for cinema. 

V H Suresh said in his many years of experience in the industry, he has never been able to get figures on how much money a film made. Only approximate collection can be calculated, only the distributor and producer will know how much the film earned, he said.

“In Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, cinema is part and parcel of people’s lives. But in Karnataka, only 16% of the people watch Kannada films,” he said.

Gender sensitivity

The day’s highlight was ‘Gorai Pakhri’ (2023), a Bodo film portraying the routine struggle of women in the conflict-ridden northeast.

The film stood out for its all-women cast and sensitive portrayal of gender issues in a patriarchal society. It elicited profound appreciation from the audience in the interactive session on ‘gender sensitivity’ that followed. 

Participating in the interaction, director of the film Rajni Basumatary said the choice to exclude male characters helped to convey the idea that patriarchy is a part of society and that its presence can be felt through a certain section of women even when there are no men involved. 

BIFFes art director N Vidyashankar said that since men were always fighting in the northeast - either as part
of Indian army or for the insurgents - women were left alone to fend for themselves, providing the perfect backdrop for the film.

The audience drew parallels with Kannada film ‘Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu.’ Based on a short story by Poornachandra Tejaswi, it is a woman-centric film set in an agrarian background. The festival will issue day passes from Monday. They will be available at the venue for Rs 200.