With the ongoing week-long Bengaluru International Film Festival, movie enthusiasts are witnessing some of the best films across the globe. Over 225 movies are being screened at the event under various segments. Yet. it’s popular cinema which has been one of the highlights of the festival. While many argue the necessity of including popular cinema in such international festivals, the response has been good among locals with a sizeable amount of foreign nationals who have shown interest in learning about such popular cinema — especially KGF’s Chapter 1 being screened along with some of Sandalwood’s best from 2018. Bengaluru Chronicle reports.
“The first aspect of the Indian film industry is how popular movies are produced in record numbers every year. Even in Indonesia, some commercial movies get released, especially ones starring super star Rajinikanth. However, I learnt through film festivals that India has an equally good number of movies that are largely art movies. Films are either good or bad. It is great that all kinds of work gets showcased at an international film festival,” says Ravi, an Indonesian filmmaker.
Film critic Sharan feels that when popular cinema gets screen space at theatres, and on television in addition to the OTT (over-the-top facility of delivering film and TV content through Internet), there is no need to include such movies even in international film festivals. “Instead, providing opportunities to more number of foreign language movies will help locals and film students understand and learn the making process. Why would any local want to come to such festivals to watch popular cinema which already runs for days in theatres?” he questions.
However, film director Santosh feels that with over 200 films being screened, a handful of popular films cannot hurt the cause. “There is only good or bad cinema, in a true sense. It is also done to draw more numbers in the audience, and the platform gives opportunity for others to explore filmmaking capabilities. For a movie to be popular, it has to have some positive aspects. For example, a large part of the audience watched KGF 1 as it made news for its making,” he says.
Even Rahul Rawail, a renowned Bollywood filmmaker who initially worked as an assistant to Raj Kapoor and thereafter made films like Love Story, Arjun, Dacoit, etc and also introduced several new talent, said he watched KGF Chapter 1. “It is a very violent film but brilliantly made.”
