Bengaluru techies take leave from work to chase favourite flicks at BIF Festival!

Bengaluru: Young techies and corporate professionals account for a sizeable portion of the audience at the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) 2019. This is a category of hardcore movie buffs who enjoy watching Indian and international movies of all genre. Some of them are more than viewers and explore careers in the film industry.

Even on Monday (working day), techies from Marathahalli, Whitefield, Sarjapur Road, Electronic City and other areas waited in line for hours to watch their favourite flicks. A spot survey by Deccan Chronicle revealed that most of them in the 24 to 40 age category reorganised their work schedule or planned leave in advance to attend the fest.

“I stay in Whitefield and I left home at 6.45 am to reach by 9 am. Still, I could not catch the first movie as the line was already too long. I have taken four days’ leave to watch movies,” said Smitha Sridhar (name changed), a movie buff who works with Hindustan Unilever Ltd.

Anuraj Srivatsa, a 22-year-old techie from Electronic City said, “I may continue my IT job for three years. My actual career will be in cinemas and I want to explore all aspects of movie making from scripting, screenplay, lyrics, special effects, direction and also acting.”

For senior techie Naresh CP from Marathahalli, cinema is already his career. One of his stories has been made into feature film in Kannada and will be released soon.

“The number of moviegoers at BIFFes has gone up after it came under one umbrella. Now, people can watch more movies a day,” said Naresh who attends film fests in Goa, Mumbai, Kerala and Chennai.

At the fest inauguration, Kannada actor Anant Nag pointed out that professionals like engineers and doctors are venturing into cinema. “A lot of young minds from different fields are doing a great job, and it is a good sign for the industry. One of the main purposes of organising such film fest is to inspire such youths to showcase their talent,” he said.

Popular Kannada filmmakers who shifted from engineering to film making include Pawan Kumar, P C Shekar, Rakshit Shetty, Raam Reddy and Anup Bhandari while artistes include Shivarajkumar, Ramesh Aravind, Kichcha Sudeepa, Rakshit Shetty and Dhananjay.