The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Absence of good actors has hit Kannada cinema: Swamy

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Absence of good actors has hit Kannada cinema: Swamy

Special Correspondent

Suchitra Film Academy pays tribute to late artistes

— Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

Lighting the lamp: Poet Lakshminarayana Bhatta inaugurating the seminar on ‘Theatre, film and music’ in Bangalore on Saturday.

BANGALORE: Veteran film-maker, actor and producer K.S.L. Swamy said on Saturday that film industry, particularly Kannada, would continue to face problems as long as producers were not in control of it and they did not invest more in the product than the star.

He was speaking at a seminar on “Theatre, cinema and music - introspection” - a tribute to Vishnuvardhan, K.S. Ashwath, C. Ashwath, Chindodi Leela and B.V. Vaikuntaraju, organised by the Suchitra Film Academy and the Department of Kannada and Culture here.

Balancing factors

Mr. Swamy said that acting, story, camera and music were the key balancing factors of a successful cinema. The Kannada cinema industry had been at disadvantage for over a decade owing to the absence of good actors.

After acting in Naagara Haavu and Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu, Vishuvardhan did not take much interest in selection of scripts and acting. But after acting in over 40 films, he dedicated himself to cinema that resulted in his becoming an all-round artiste.

However, in the course of strengthening his star status, Vishnuvardhan also confined himself to scripts that ensured him of pleasing his fans instead of exploiting his acting potential with better themes.

Actor Ashwath concentrated on exploring the subtleties of acting and struggled to perfect his art, Mr. Swamy said.

Explaining the intricacies of relations between technology, story, characterisation, diction characterisation, acting potential of individuals, choice of actors and the perspective of the director, Mr. Swamy said that director S.R. Puttanna Kanagal’s Belli Moda was a class act that drew the attention of Indian cinema. But the same could not be attributed to his subsequent film Sharapanjara.

While working on the subtitles for the film, he discovered that watching Sharapanjara without its song sequences was a “torture”. Prithviraj Kapoor and Rajkumar starrer Sakshatkaara directed by Puttanna Kanagal was a testimony to how perspective clashes about acting between the director and the artistes could change the very pace and nuances of a cinema, he said.

Chairman of the Suchitra Film Academy V.N. Subba Rao, Chairperson of the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy T.S. Nagabharana, N. Mangala and film critic N. Vidyashankar spoke.

Veteran artiste C.R. Simha presided over the inaugural session of the seminar.

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