A beginning is made...
RANA SIDDIQUI
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Jatin Das put together an engaging national short and documentary film festival at Bhubaneswar.
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Jatin Das moaned the thin presence of local people despite no entry fee.
Photo: Ashoke Chakrabarty
UNDER ONE TENT Adoor Gopalakrishnan with Nandita Das at the festival.
If your road to success is always under construction, then become a construction worker. This is what Jatin Das, the veteran artist realised when he started constructing the road himself. And here he is, digging it hard, and reaching out with his first step. It defined itself as India's first national short and documentary film festival in Bhubaneswar. The place, which, despite its rich art and craft, including fabulous sculptures in stone and folk-tribal craft, never caught the attention of the artists. In an effort to make people of Orissa aware of their own cultural heritage as well as that of India, Das conceived and organised this festival on only art and artists at IDCOL auditorium.
Varied subjects
The festival featured 47 films, ranging from 20 to 105 minutes. It brought short filmmakers from across India, and also some Indian filmmakers living abroad. Interestingly, it also had artistes/ admen/ actors/theatre professionals/debutants presenting their films. For instance, Gita, a London-based Bharatanatyam dancer and painter, made a film on famed painter Prafulla Mohanty, who also lives in London. Yousuf Saeed a Delhi-based filmmaker mesmerised the audience with his "Khyal Darpan" on the Khayal exponents in Pakistan, who went there following the Partition. Well known film director, Jahnu Barua's film on famed Assamese author Indra Goswami was a peep into the author's reoccurring symbols of colour and sound, etc., in her creations. Adman Sumatra Ghoshal's film on Ustad Allah Rakha and his son Zakir Hussain was captivating for their heart-to-heart account. Actor and social activist Nandita Das and famed theatre guy Sanjay Maharishi's film on India's first studio potter Sardar Guru Charan Singh who died in 1996 at the age of 95 was warm. Two professors Anjali Monterio and K.P. Jayashankar's educative film on writings of the Warlis, Delhiite Kavita Joshi's award winning film on theatre of Ratan Thiyam, or K. Bikram Singh's film on famed painter K.G. Subramanium held the audiences spellbound. Most of the films were made many years ago. The festival also saw an educative exhibition of film posters ranging from 1930s to 1980s, and other publications by Osian which also paid a tribute to Amitabh Bachchan.
Jatin Das even managed a brainstorming session on how to preserve and document such precious and historic films. It was chaired by Vijaya Mulay, former President, Federation of Film Societies in India . The participants included the likes of veteran filmmaker Kumar Shahane, former Ambassador to the U.S Lalit Mansingh, Osian's Neville Tuli, Cinemaya's Aruna Vasudev, artist Vivan Sundaram, filmmakers Suresh Kohli, Ein Lall, actors Deepti Naval and Nandita Das, etc.
Real heroes
Veteran filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who closed the ceremony with his film on Kerala's icon of Kathkali late Kalamandalam Gopi, said, "A beginning is being made. Now it's time to see that such film festivals have different sections as contemporary, foreign, old documentaries. The forgotten heroes mentioned in such films are the real stars who silently work to keep their cultural heritage alive and die, unknown, unsung."
In an emotionally charged atmosphere Jatin Das charmed one and all with his initiative and lending a personal touch to everything in the three-day festival. He also announced the construction of Orissa's first art and craft centre at JDCA, on land given by the Orissa government to Das at Nayapalli. He, however, moaned the thin presence of local people despite no entry fee and countless invitations and advertisements.
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