Spl film festival on freedom struggle in Delhi from Aug 11

New Delhi, Aug 7 (UNI) Very few know that there was no official visual media to cover the historic events of the day when the country got freedom.

The shots of Nehru making his famous ''tryst with destiny'' speech at Zero Hour on August 15 were borrowed from some private producer.

The Films Division of the Government came up only in 1948.

Taking a look back into those days was chief producer of the Films Division Kuldeep Sinha while announcing a film festival it was going to organise here from August 11 chronicling the history of the freedom movement as part of the 60th anniversary of Independence.

The names, faces and events seen in history books come alive through the four-day festival called 'Swatantrata Filmotsav' to be held at Siri Fort Auditorium.

The aim is to present to the younger generation through the films the main events and figures of the crucial stages of the historic struggle, Mr Sinha said.

The inaugural film ' 1857--the Beginning' is about the very first revolt against the British, which was termed by the British as Mutiny. It will be screened witn the magnum opus of yester years 'Jhansi Ki Rani--A Brave Female Warrior' by Sohrab Modi.

Other films include multiple Oscar winner 'Gandhi' of Richard Attenborough, 'Ananad Math', Shaheed, 'Nehru--the Apostle of Peace' by Shyam benegal and 'Sardar' by Ketan Mehta.

Besides, there will be several other well researched documentaries(total 40) and feature films(total 10) by reputed film makers.

The festival almost presents a 'who's who' of the freedom movement, trying not to leave out any prominent contribution to the freedom movement. It has also a film that talks about 'unknown freedom fighters', Mr Sinha said.

He said the festival will be taken to other places in the country.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, who will be guest of honour at the inaugural function of the festival, will release the first issue of quarterly magazine on documentaries brought out by the Films Division.

Mr Sinha said the Films Division was planning more festivals, on different theme every year.

Admitting that the Division has not been able to reach out to the people to the desired extent, Mr Sinha said efforts were being made to make its productions more popular.

The entry to the venue of film screenings will be free--on a first-come-first-serve basis.

UNI