Cinema of South dominates Indian Panorama at IFFI

By Staff
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Panaji, Nov 27 (UNI) Like previous years, again it is the 'Cinema of the South' which is dominating the Indian Panorama at the ongoing 38th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in which ten out of 21 entries are Malyalam, Kannada and Tamil.

The Hindi cinema is represented by just two entries -- Sameer Hanchate's 'Gafla' and 'Dharm' by Bhavna Talwar. When asked about it, members of the jury said they were left with no choice but to chose a large number of South Indian films.

''While selecting Hindi films, the choice was so very limited. But when it came to films from the South, there were so many that were good that the task of selecting them became very difficult, said Manju Borah, a Jury member and filmmaker from Assam.

''We wanted to select many more films from the region, but were constrained by the fact that we had to give representation to other regions and languages too,'' she told UNI.

The Tamil, Malyalam and Kannada film are so well made and possess so much artistic maturity and excellence that they outdo movies from Bollywood and other regions, she said.

Mrunalini Dayal, another member of the Jury and a Marathi filmmaker, said there was no bias in the selection of entries for the Panorama and if the number of South Indian movies was much more than that of other regions, it was because of their sheer quality.

''Whether in terms of direction, art, photography and thematic treatment, the films from the South were superb. You just cannot bypass them,'' she said.

''We cannot be accused of any bias or tilt for the South, as we do not belong to the region. We were just compelled to take those films,'' said Ms Dayal and Ms Borah.

Eminent Kannada filmmaker M S Sathyu said it was no surprise that the Indian Panorama this year had more films from the South. ''This has been happening for the last so many years as the number of good films made in the South was much larger.'' ''Bengali cinema was still stuck in the feudal ear, but the South Indian cinema had kept pace with time and confronted issues that were very contemporary and very difficult,'' he said.

The Indian Panorama opened with Malyalam film 'Ore Kadal' (The Sea Within) directed by Shyamaparasad Rajgopalan. It had Mamooty and Meera Jasmine in the lead cast. The film, based on a Bengali novel by Sunil GangoPadhyay, was well receieved by delegates at the festival.

Director Shaymaprasad, who was here to present his film in the Festival, said he selected the novel because of the boldness of the theme and the opportunity the story gave for exploring the intricacies of human relationship.

The other Malyalam entries are Kayyoppu directed by Ranjith, Ratri Mazha by Lenin Rajendran, Thaniye by Babu Thirwalla' and Naalu Pennugal by Adoor Gopalakrishnan.

Besides, there are three Kannada films -- Daatu directed by K Shivarudraih, Kada Beladingalu by B S Lingadevaru and Moggina Jade by P R Ramdas Naidu. The Panorama has two Tamil films: Ammuvagiya Naan, directed by Padma Maagan and Periyar by Gnana Rajasekaran.

After South, Bengali and Marathi cinema has three entries each.

The Panorama includes one film each from Assam and Manipur.

UNI

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