New-age Filmmaking Lacks the Passion of the Old: Kasaravalli

BENGALURU:  Noted filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli said on Monday that new-age cinema lacks involvement from stakeholders, unlike in the past. He was speaking at an interaction programme organised by the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy at Gandhi Bhavan in the city.

“These days, the love that stakeholders had for a film has disappeared. We used to immerse ourselves completely in the films that we were making, and not bother about the result. All we wanted was to make good films. But today, it has come to a point where everything is commercialised and purely based on money. For instance, people want cars to do a film these days, but back then, all we had was a lorry for the entire film unit,” Kasaravalli said.

Speaking about how he got into filmmaking, Kasaravalli told the audience that in his early days, he did not have an interest towards movies as such. “The best period of my life was when I was at the Film and Television Institute of India (Pune). There was hardly any learning from our teachers. Instead, we relied on our seniors to ensure that we learned something. This experience is something I treasure even today.”

He said he studied B Pharma. “Long ago, when I was travelling by bus from my near Shivamogga to Bengaluru, I was woken up by an astrologer, who asked me for my birth-sign. He then told me that whatever I had studied would be of no use, and I would be doing something else. Though I didn’t believe him then, look what has happened now,” he said.

When asked about which filmmaker has inspired him the most, Kasaravalli said, “I have always been inspired by the movies made by different filmmakers. While I have been inspired, I have never been influenced.”

“I look at a concept and think about how a story can be woven around it. I have never looked at reproducing a concept in the form of a movie. In fact, 13 of the films that I have made are based on different literary works. Not once has an  author complained to me that I have distorted his or her viewpoint,” he said.

Later, to a question on why he didn’t take up writing, Kasaravalli quipped that though he can’t play around with words, he can create magic with pictures. “Why do something I am not comfortable doing? Writing needs a lot of discipline, and this I do not possess, unfortunately,” he said.