The Hindu : National : Popular cinema gets the pride of place

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Friday, Nov 24, 2006
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National

Popular cinema gets the pride of place

Ziya Us Salam

PANAJI: Popular, mainstream cinema was the main draw at the 37th International Film Festival of India that got underway here on Thursday.

Soon after veteran actor-director Shashi Kapoor inaugurated the event and actress Vidya Balan helped in lighting the traditional lamp, the forum was left open to popular stars such as Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Ritiesh Deshmukh, Esha Deol and Prabhu Deva to hog the limelight.

The almost exclusive attention to Hindi cinema left regional filmmakers a disappointed lot. Kannada producer K.L. Swamy even interrupted the proceedings, alleging that the theme song, "Bharat ki cinema ki hai jai jaikaar," was a celebration of Bollywood, not Indian cinema.

Award winner ignored

A producer complained that the nine-time National Award winner Jahnu Barua, part of the jury, failed to find a seat at the dais.

Though the festival showcases more than 200 films from across the world — the works of Alejandro González Iñárritu, Richard Attenborough and Pedro Almodóvar are being featured alongside those of Jabbar Patel, Goutam Ghose and Rituparno Ghosh — only mainstream actors had been given the pride of place.

The press conference preceding the event had Priyanka Chopra representing Bollywood, but there was no director or actor from parallel or regional cinema.

`Revolutionary concept'

Films such as `Rang De Basanti' by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and `Lage Raho Munnabhai' by Rajkumar Hirani have been specially packaged as part of the new beach and mobile cinema concepts. Goa Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane hailed it as "a revolutionary concept," under which "mobile cinemas will simultaneously play popular hits."

For the theme song, "Bharat ki cinema ki hai jai jaikaar," popular artistes such as Prabhu Deva, Bappi Lahiri, Harbhajan Mann and Sachin have been roped in. The Shanker-Ehsaaan-Loy composition has been sung by Kunal Ganjawala, Shreya Ghoshal and Kailash Kher.

The four-minute music video will be aired on television channels soon, and feature the likes of Irrfan Khan, Diya Mirza, Ashmit Patel and Neeraj Vora.

"We wanted to ensure that we have enough representation from all parts of the country since the focus this year is on regional cinema. That is why we have performances by Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar and southern actor Venkatesh," a representative of the Entertainment Society of Goa said.

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