The Hindu : New Delhi News : Some words of wisdom for kids

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Saturday, Nov 18, 2006
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New Delhi

Some words of wisdom for kids

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

STAR APPEAL: Salman Khan and Nafisa Ali at the inauguration of the Golden Jubilee Film Festival in the Capital

NEW DELHI: Bollywood star Salman Khan had a special word or two for his young fans as he declared open the Golden Jubilee Film Festival at Siri Fort Auditorium here on Tuesday. The festival, which ends on Saturday, has been organised by the Children's Film Society, India, to commemorate 50 years of its existence.

During the programme, Salman exchanged light banter with the large number of children present. He exhorted them to study hard and also to watch "good'' movies. For good measure, he added that his emphasis was on educative films.

Also recalling how failure should never deter one and rather it should encourage a person to do even better the next time, Salman confessed to the children that in his life he had failed twice. And he used the occasion to send across a social message: "Failure does not mean that you lose hope. I would like to tell all children that they should not take failure to their heart.''

Salman also said he was pleasantly surprised to know the kind of work that was being done by the Society. "It is essential to promote such films,'' he said.

Society chairperson Nafisa Ali said: "Our focus is on encouraging national competition in children's cinema on a larger scale, hence we felt it was important to start a national film festival which will alternate every year with the International Children's Film Festival held in Hyderabad, where over 40 countries participate.''

At the Golden Jubilee Film Festival, selected children's films are being screened in classic, popular and regional categories. They provide an opportunity to the children to see some of the qualitative and purposeful films made exclusively for them. The film festivals conducted by the Society all over India reach remote areas and about 40 lakh children every year.

And with digital technology films gaining in popularity due to their vastly economical production costs, the quantum of young and talented filmmakers, both amateur and professional, has also increased substantially. To acknowledge this fast emerging medium, the Society also short-listed some digital children's films from all over the country and these are being screened at the festival.

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