BENGALURU :On the first day of the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) on Friday at Orion Mall, Rajajinagar, movie lovers soaked in the feel, even as they tried to figure out the schedule of screenings. From young entrepreneurs to senior citizens, one could notice them walking around without any clue, asking almost every other person where they could find the schedule of the day.
Many Kannada film directors and producers were also present to catch a glimpse of world cinema. Karthik Venkatesh, who has directed and produced around 30 films, including Darpana, was hoping to catch some shows of art cinema and regional films.
Sharath S Namburi, an entrepreneur, visited the festival for the first time. “Film festivals like these bring movies from across the world to one place. I just saw a Chinese film The Rib, a film on transgenders, which makes you respect them. You can’t expect such cinema in India,” he said. However, he suggested there be better organisation. “Many do not know where they can get a copy of the schedule. There are many senior citizens and they are being asked to download it on their phones. The organisers should display the schedule of the day,” he said.
S Vishwanath, curator of the festival, said it is too soon to say anything about the festival. “Only after a couple of screenings will we get the audience’s feedback. It’s like the release of a commercial film,” he said, adding that people can expect a variety of film genres such as war cinema, social drama and some cause-based films too.
There are different competitions being held at the festival - Asian Cinema Competition, Kannada Cinema Competition and Chitrabharati (Indian) Cinema Competition. “For Asian Cinema contest, we received around 30 entries, from which around 15 have been shortlisted. They will be competing with other Asian films from Bangladesh, Iran and Indonesia,” Vishwanath said. But this year, there is no film from Pakistan. When asked if it is because of Pulwama attacks that probably led to a change in the schedule, he said, “We didn’t receive any entries from them this time.
Last year, we had a Pakistani film called Dukhtar (In English, Daughter).” About 50 films will be screened each day. He added that films are usually shortlisted from the entries they receive or from the films that are screened at other film festivals. “We attend many international festivals such as Goa film fest and Toronto Film Festival. I watched around 400 films and shortlisted around 100 of them,” he said. The winners of the competitions will be announced a day before the final day of the festival on February 28.
‘Now, content is more important, stars are secondary’
Known for his films such as Arjun, Betaab and Love Story, filmmaker Rahul Rawail had stopped making films for a long time , owing to the excessive importance given to stars. “They would decide everything. There was a time when I would tell filmmakers to work as the star’s driver, cook or an assistant and be nice to him/her, with a hope that the latter would make them a director. But now, things have changed. Content is important and stars are secondary,” he said.
Rawail was discussing his work and films with the audience at the 11th edition of Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes). The filmmaker launched actors such as Kajol, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Paresh Rawal and Sunny Deol. He likes to work with newcomers as it gives a greater experience and brings in newer perspectives. Back in the day, he added, they didn’t have casting directors and would choose people for the role based on their appearances.
Rawail started his career in filmmaking, assisting Raj Kapoor at the age of 16. He is currently writing a book on the film techniques of Raj Kapoor, which will be out by the end of this year and even attributes his learnings to Kapoor. He recalls that even after the failure of Mera Naam Joker, Kapoor decided to shoot Bobby and that too, with new faces. “He had financial issues but never showed it. The film industry made fun of him for taking a risk with newcomers after a film that failed. He still decided to shoot a 33-day schedule in Kashmir with a unit of 200 people.
We didn’t shoot for 15 days of this schedule. He would shoot only when in mood and we would party during other times,” he said. After a sequence of the song Hum Tum Ek Kamre Mein Bandh Ho was shot, Kapoor wasn’t happy. “The sequence had fog in the background and he wanted colours since it’s a romantic song. He asked us to fetch flowers for which we travelled to Srinagar from Gulmarg at 5am. He then worked personally with the carpenter to place planks and flowers on the 150-ft long trolley since he was particular about the height and spacing,” he recalled.
Rawail adds that Kapoor had an entire script registered in his mind. “For Mera Naam Joker, he needed a close-up of Dharmendra but we didn’t have any. He then got a close-up shot from another scene
and added it to the sequence. It was so interesting that nobody figured that the shot was from a different scene. People just got carried away with the scene,” he said.
Film screenings on February 23
Antha : Director: S V Rajendra
Singh Babu, Language: Kannada
Orange Days: Director: Arash Lahooti, Language: Persian
Night God: Director: Adilkhan Yerzhanov Language: Persian
Rain of Homs: Director: Joud Said, Language: Arabic
The Most Beautiful Couple
Director: Sven Taddicken
Language: German