Commercial interests govern film criticism in media

New Delhi, July 19 (UNI) Eminent film writers and media personalities here have rued increasing commercialisation of film writing in India including celebrities replacing writers as newspaper and magazine columnists and lack of objectivity in film reviews.

''More and more media companies are today getting involved in production of feature films. Consequently, one sees an increasing number of newspapers and magazines come up with positive reviews about a cinematic venture being produced by their owners. In any case, it is hardly possible for the film criticism to be as objective as it is expected to be in such a situation,'' said Dan Fainaru, international film critic with the cinematheque magazine of the screen international in Israel at a media round table discussion on 'Beyond Cinema,' being held as part of ongoing Asian film festival.

Analysts said the situation in this regard was the same in Hollywood as in Bollywood.

In this context, British film critic and filmmaker Tony Rayns pointed out that the trend of media firms investing in film productions is a trend which has been in vogue in Hollywood for the past many years.

''Hollywood has led the way in media investments in film production. The biggest example of this is Rupert Murdoch who has been investing in film production in a big way.

In fact, films made by the Twentieth Century Fox group have been getting favourable reviews in the newspapers of the Murdoch group,'' he said.

Film analysts also pointed out that there was not much in the mainstream media in India by way of serious film analysis.

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