BANGALORE: The State Women's Commission's plan to dub Aishwaraya Rai's acclaimed film "Provoked" into Kannada has been criticised by the Kannada film and television industry.

Chairperson of the commission Pramila Nesargi told The Hindu that the commission had requested the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) to permit screening of the Kannada version of the film on a non-commercial basis for the benefit of rural women.

Permission

Although the president of the KFCC told her that no permission was required, she requested him to issue an official communication to that effect.

"Provoked" deals with an abused village woman and her revolt against the system. It has been dubbed into several Indian languages, besides French.

"It is worth screening as it contains a strong social message for the rural women. The commission would feel obliged if the KFCC officially permits screening the Kannada version," Ms. Nesargi pointed out.

What if the KFCC refused to issue permission? Ms. Nesargi said she would shelve her plan to screen the film on the big screen and consider doing it in video format. Since the late 1960s, the Government has opposed dubbing of other language films into Kannada.

In a brochure brought out in 1994 on the development of Kannada cinema, it had unambiguously stated that there was no question of accommodating any cinema dubbed into Kannada from any language.

Fear

Vice-president of KFCC V. H. Suresh, president of Karnataka Chalanachitra Kaarmikara Okkuta Ashok and president of the Karnataka Television Association B. Suresh said that allowing dubbing would jeopardise the very infrastructure of Kannada cinema and generate unemployment.

Besides, commercial efforts of vested interests in promoting dubbing of films such as "Provoked" under various pretexts could not be ruled out.

Allowing a Kannada-dubbed "Provoked" would open the floodgates to a stream of dubbed films at the cost of Kannada cinema, they feared.

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