The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Respect stature of regional films, says Amol Palekar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 13, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Respect stature of regional films, says Amol Palekar

Special Correspondent

Rajneesh Domalapalli gets Gollapudi Srinivas national award for ‘Vanaja’

— Photo: R. Shivaji Rao

Awarded: Rajneesh Domalapalli (right) receives the Gollapudi Srinivas national award for his Telugu film ‘Vanaja’ from former Union Minister Shatrughan Sinha in Chennai on Sunday. (From left) Filmmaker Amol Palekar, actor Neena Gupta and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia are also in the picture.

CHENNAI: Indian cinema cannot be reduced to just Bollywood products even given the latter’s reach, actor-filmmaker Amol Palekar said here on Sunday.

Noting that Chennai, rather than Mumbai, should be considered the Indian film capital going by the number and magnitude of film production, Mr. Palekar said that 90 per cent of the country’s domestic film production had been in regional languages. Sixty per cent of the country’s screens were located in four southern cities. Still, the south Indian film industry did not get due recognition.

He was delivering a lecture on regional cinema beyond Bollywood at a function organised by the Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Foundation in Chennai.

Subtitling for regional films

Pointing out that the film dubbing industry had grown sharply in recent years and that several Western films were dubbed into Indian languages or shown with subtitles, he said interconnectivity of regional cinema through dubbing was not even aimed at.

“Why have we not developed a sophisticated technique of subtitling our regional language films?” he asked.

Emphasising that films made in regional languages should be shown across the country, he said multiplexes could facilitate the subsidised screening of such films. Original regional films, either in their dubbed version or with or without English subtitles should be screened in smaller film auditoriums. “Unless we respect and recognise the stature and dignity of our regional films such tools will not be explored,” the Mr. Palekar said.

He regretted the fact that adequate recognition had not been accorded to the Marathi film industry.

Shatrughan Sinha, actor and former Union Minister, highlighted the importance of making original films and the need for encouraging younger artists.

He presented the Gollapudi Srinivas national award to Rajneesh Domalapalli, a software engineer in California, the United States of America, for his maiden Telugu film ‘Vanaja’.

Neena Gupta and G.V. Ramakrishna, trustee of the foundation, were among those who addressed the function. Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Hindustani musician, gave a flute concert.

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