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I am sure all my friends who have come from all over the world and from other parts of India will keep in touch with me for a long time to come. The colourful evening will end with the screening of the best film. Padma Shri percussionist Dr Yella Venkateswara Rao will also enthrall the evening, just as Sivamani had done at the inauguration. And there is a charming Namaskar India dance performance. There also has to be some motivation for the government in the same way that it isTRANSCRIPT
Children's Film Society, India
Wrong to Treat Children’s Films Lightly
As They Are As Intelligent As Adults
A peep into the Wonderous World of Cinema
Hyderabad www.cfsindia.org Issue: 7 November 20, 2011
good film for children is one made to
the level of intelligence of one’s own Alevel, because children are not less
intelligent than the average adult.
Renowned filmmaker Shyam Benegal said a
study had shown that a child’s brain is fully
developed by the age of seven and what gets
added after that is experience. But
unfortunately, many filmmakers do not
appreciate this and still either try to ‘spoon
feed’ the children or talk down to them.
But asked why he had not made films for
children, he said there were very few
financiers or takers for children’s films. He said
it was surprising that many so much money
was spent on products for children, but no one
came forward to fund good films for children.
The government should take action in this
regard and increase the funds with the
Children’s Films Society, India. The funds for
this purpose should be much larger. Money
will also be needed to push the marketing and
publicity of the films.
There also has to be some motivation for the
government in the same way that it is
motivating people on the children’s right to
education.
He said with his term in the Rajya Sabha
coming to an end later this year, he will come
back to making films full time.
Asked why he had never made a film in
Telugu, he said he would make films in
languages he knows. He does not like dubbing
his films. “I like the actors speak the language
in which they are acting. I hate dubbing. In
someone lending the voice to the actors, the
originality goes and it will be a manufactured
performance,” he said.
Referring to the screening of his black and
white film ‘Charandas Chor’, he said he was
pleased to note that not a single child left the
auditorium despite the fact that there was no
interval for 2 hours 35 minutes. And the
children were very engrossed with the
characters of the film. Theatre and film
personality Atul Tiwari added that the children
were very participative and even clapped and
laughed with the characters.
When asked about his association with the
city, he became nostalgic. “I was born in
Gajju’sProgramme today
Contd. Page 4...
The time has come for the jury to announce
their verdict, but I can say that even those
which may not be awarded were films I will
never forget. And i want them to go away with
good memories.
That is why Nandita Aunty (our Chairperson
Ms Nandita Das and Sushovan Uncle (CEO and
Festival Director Sushovan Banerjee) with all
the Uncles and Aunties from this city of Pearls
have planned a fantastic closing evening.
His Excellency the Governor, Mr E S L
Narsimham, Mr S Jagathrakshkan, Minister of
state for Information and Broadcasting who
has especially come to Hyderabad to be with
us, and the Andhra Information and Public
Relations Minister Ms D K Aruna will all be
there along with Nandita Aunty and Sushovan
Uncle.
I am particularly touched by the fact that one
of my most favourite singers, Ms Usha Uthup,
apart from Sriram and Ramachary’s Children’s
troupe will be performing. But a special treat
will be the Bharatnatyam performance by the
special children of the Syed Pasha group.
Padma Shr i percuss ionis t Dr Ye l la
Venkateswara Rao will also enthrall the
evening, just as Sivamani had done at the
inauguration. And there is a charming
Namaskar India dance performance.
The colourful evening will end with the
screening of the best film.
I am sure all my friends who have come from
all over the world and from other parts of
India will keep in touch with me for a long
time to come.
Children's Film Society, India
Children prove their creativity on stage as well never had it better. Brilliant performances,
magic shows, mimicry, singing, puppet Ishows, and tricks – I have seen it all since
the Festival commenced on Children’s Day.
Apart from all the screenings and workshops,
my young friends are also joining me by
taking part in cultural events.
The famous Bhartanatyam dancer Deepika
Reddy, Chairperson of the Cultural Committee,
said it is amazing to see children volunteering
and enthusiastically taking part in cultural
events.
She said she and her team had been working
from the past 25 days to get schools to come
and take part. “The response received was
overwhelming. Seventy-five schools have
been selected for the programmes in the
cultural section. Special emphasis has been
g iven to Government schools and
underprivileged children.”
Ta lk ing about the inaugural day ’s
performances, she said, “I can not explain in
words how happy I was when I saw the
number of participants this Festival attracted.
Street children took part too. The kind of
happiness they experienced was touching.”
There are performances every evening in
NITHM and Lalitha Kala Thoranam.
evelopment does not mean building
big cities and having two-three mobile Dphones. Development starts from the
villages, which is still not happening. The film
‘Dekh Indian Circus’ revolves around the
village talking about the hurdles children face
and the happiness they experience in little
things.”
Mangesh Hadawale, director of the film which
is in the India Competition, he said people
often chase happiness and search for it in
material things but they do not realize that it
is the little things in life that makes a person
happy.
“Dekh Indian Circus” has already been
screened at the South Korean and Chicago film
festivals.
Producer Chiraag shah said “Both I and my
director had the same vision of wanting to
make films with a concept of this kind.” This
film will appeal to both the children and the
child in the adults.
Mangesh said “I stay for 15 days in Mumbai
and 15 days at my village. In those fifteen days
that I stay in the city, I feel that the city
represents India, the metropolitan hub. The
days I stay in my village, Jaisalmair, it is a total
contrast to the rest of India. It is the villages
that daily face hurdles of even the basic of
necessities. Our politicians say India is
developing, but where is the development?”
Answering a question, Mangesh said
“Children’s films too are commercially viable if
one makes the films with proper planning and
move in a strategic manner to market them,”
The duo is confident of releasing the film in
theatres too.
Mangesh completed his degree in theatre
from the Centre of Performing Arts in Pune
and his first Marathi film ‘Tingya’ was a
commercial and critical success winning
several awards at the National Film Awards
and the Pune International Film Festival.
- Deepti Thakur
Life itself is a circus,
says director Mangesh HadawaleWorkshops turned
into learning with fun One thing will always make me very sad. I just
could not get enough of the workshops, and I
only wish they could have gone on longer.
The filmmaking and animation workshops
particularly proved to be very popular, with
the number of children going up everyday.
The scriptwriting, film appreciation, and the
puppet making workshops also had a large
following.
Held over five days, the five workshops kept
me and my friends quite busy, often making
me miss some films! But I did not mind – I can
get DVDs of the film, but will not get this
learning opportunity again.
Children coming out of the workshops on the
last day more or less voiced my point of view,
and some even promised to continue this
process of learning after school hours!
I found something very interesting in the
workshops. Those who trained us gave us full
opportunity to improvise and come out with
ideas. The scriptwriters of tomorrow were
asked to think of stories, while the would-be
critics were asked to comment on films. In the
puppetry workshop, different themes were
given and the children asked to show what
they could do.
I am sure that the Little Directors in the next
International Children’s Film Festival will have
several children who have been training over
the past five days!
Children's Film Society, India
he medium of cinema has no language
and can certainly serve as a bridge Tbetween different people. And because
children only grasp what should be grasped
without criticism or negativity, children’s films
are perhaps the best way to bind different
people of the world.
This was the general consensus amongst the
participants in the last Open forum of the 17th
International Children’s Film Festival on
whether cinema can bridge differences
between people.
‘Children are full of the fire of life and they are
the ones who bring about a change in this
society’ said one of the participants.
The assembly of the filmmakers at the Forum
was itself an example of the unity that cinema
brings about. They included Harun Habib from
Pakistan with “The Land Of Fireflies”, Kikuo
Kawasaki with “David and Kamal” which is an
Israeli-US co-production, Vibeke Muasya with
“Lost In Africa” which is a Denmark-Kenya
collaboration, India’s Nina Shabnani with
“Mukand and Riyaz”, Norway’s Christian Lo
with “Rafiki”, Daniel Evans of France with
“Kosher”, and one of the makers of the Iraqi
film ‘My name is Mohammad’.
Cinema is universal and understood globally
irrespective of languageEven as the filmmakers hoped cinema would
become truly inspirational, they advised the
younger generation to live their aspirations
and hopes.
Harun said “there isn’t much scope for
children-based films in Pakistan. It’s all about
commercial cinema. Most of the filmmakers
are not educated enough to understand the
importance of non-commercial cinema. In
India, I can see that things are changing and
people are making quality films. People are
realizing now that they need to be more
literate in cinema.”
The other directors, reflecting on whether
cinema means the same to everyone, said
that there was need to understand which part
the filmmaker belonged to, even though the
world was turning into a global village.
Humans are the same everywhere, they felt.
Talking on why the viewing of children’s films
is so restricted, the reply dwelt on cinema
being totally money oriented. ‘We get small
audiences from such films. Social films are not
popular’ a delegate said.
The concept of Filmy Chashma by the
Children’s Film Society, India, was lauded as
one could submit a film and get selected for
screening.
- Smrati Thakur and Swati Rama
t is interesting that young children come
up with serious subjects like AIDS, poverty, Igender inequalities and the dowry system,
as it shows that the young ones are deeply
affected by the society around them.
Kerala sets example for production of
socially relevant children’s films by the young
Three out of five films made by children from
Kerala on such subjects were screened at the
Festival.
Dr Muneer said the Social welfare Department
under the Kerala Social Security Mission has
fully funded these projects which were
completed by children, mainly girls. Three
films are in the competitive Little Directors
section.
Speaking about the three films which are of
only seven minutes duration, the Minister said
all the children had come out with innovative
ideas and they had successfully incorporated
these in the films.
The noted film director from Kerala, Sanjeev
Sivan, said a team has toured the entire State
and selected 25 girls for the cast in the films.
These girls were given five days training in the
nuances of filmmaking by reputed filmmakers
and the output was excellent, he said. He
thanked the Kerala Government for
supporting the projects which are for a very
good cause. Aishwarya, one of the girls, was
also present at the media conference.
- SN
Children's Film Society, India
Edited by B.B. Nagpal on behalf of the Children’s Film Society, India, Films Division Complex, 24, Dr.G.D. Marg, Mumbai-400 026.
Design Seshu Kumar MVV, Satya T, Guru J
Photos Kotnis Murali Krishna, Chillam Charla Suresh Kumar, D.S. Chakravarthi, D. Yuva Raj
Designed & Produced by Efforts, 11-6-872, Red Hills, Lakdikapul, Hyderabad-500 004. www.efforts.co.in
Festival Office CFSI, Camp: Shilparamam, Madhapur, Hyderabad.
irst a harmonist, then a singer, then a
music director, and finally an avant Fgarde film director.
For this filmmaker, life has been a progression
of sorts. And now, he has also become
associated with film bodies, being an
Executive Committee member of the
Children’s Film Society, India.
He regretted that most filmmakers were not
interested in taking up children-oriented
The Future of Children’s Films is not bleak:
Director Vishal Bhardwaj
films. Filmmaking for children was admittedly
a very difficult task, since the film not only
needs to be very entertaining but educational.
But he said with digital technology, the future
of children’s films was bright as budding
producers can make films with a very low
budgets.
“Private producers do not come up with
children films. Unlike overseas, there is no
‘Tintin’ or ‘Harry Potter’ here. Production
houses abroad have the proper infrastructure
and big distributors to take up child subjects.
Here, distributors will love the film but would
not be ready to take it up because they feel it
would not do well commercially.”
He also said one problem was that Bollywood
scripts are star-oriented. “If there is a star it is
enough for them.”
Interestingly, Vishal is planning a children’s
film with star-producer Shah Rukh Khan. He
said he was ready to produce children’s films if
he got any interesting scripts.
“I have been associated with CFSI and the
International Children’s Film Festival for a long
time.” He said he had witnessed the growth of
this festival.
His films were also screened at the last edition
of this festival and he had come at that time.
In fact, he had approached CFSI with his first
film ‘Makdee’ but CFSI could not produce it.
That film established him as a filmmaker, he
said.
He feels Shilparamam is a good venue. ‘It is so
ethnically done. I am glad that the Andhra
Pradesh government has been so supportive
throughout and so hospitable.”
- Sneha Nemali
Hyderabad and I had my schooling here. I did
my masters degree in economics from
Hyderabad. The composite character of
Hyderabad cannot be found in any part of the
country,” he said.
“I can fully understand Telugu. But I am fond
of the rich culture of Urdu spoken in the olden
days. That is the real Urdu,” he said in answer
to a question about why he had not made any
film in Andhra Pradesh. The city had a typical
character of its own. He had left to go to
Mumbai in 1952.
Mr Benegal described Andhra Pradesh,
particularly Hyderabad, as movie-crazy. “It is
an extraordinary place. Week after week some
Telugu film or the other is released,” he said.
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