Not right to look at Indian cinema as one cultural entity: Girish Kasaravalli

Thrissur: It is not right to brand films made in different languages as Indian cinema as the culture and politics vary in regions, legendary Kannada filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli said here on Saturday. He said the whole notion of Indian cinema is wrong and it has to be called “Indian cinemas”. He was interacting with writer and film critic C. S. Venkiteswaran at the second edition of Peruvanam International Village Festival (PIVF) which began at Sreelakam Convention Centre in Peruvanam on Friday.

“I'm not saying in the name of supporting Indian cinema you should support Hindi cinema. I'm not at all for that. For me, Bollywood cinema is not Indian cinema at all,” he said. He cited how the early Kannada films discussed the theme of caste oppression under the influence of socialist leader Rammanohar Lohia while the subject was almost absent in Malayalam cinema. “When you talk about Indian cinema you talk about it as one cultural entity. It is not,” Kasaravalli asserted.

In response to a question on the ‘new wave’ film movement, he drew a distinction between the nature of new wave films made in different parts of the world. “Indian new wave is different from the French new wave. The Indian new wave has nothing to do with existentialism or with Godard. But I think the Indian new wave hasn't lost completely. In some pockets still people are making interesting films. Unfortunately those films are not coming to the mainstream. We don’t get to watch or read about them. Even regional media are not writing about them,” he said.  

“It’s a global phenomenon. Once the world has become a globalised market we have lost the uniqueness of each region. You can’t blame filmmakers for that,” he said. He said Kannada literature, social movements and Yakshagana had a huge influence on him as a filmmaker.

The second day of the festival on Saturday, PIVF also witnessed sessions attended by Devdutt Pattanaik, Dr. Aju K Narayanan, Chef Suresh Pillai, Ashtamurthy, Pepin Thomas Mundassery, Dr. Jolly Puthussery, Murali Menon, and Engandiyur Chandrasekharan among others followed by string puppet show by Chetan Parasuram Gangavane String Puppetry from Sindhudurgh, Maharashtra.

The 3-day Festival will get over today with M V Govindan Master and Mallika Sarabhai attending the valedictory function at 6:45 pm; Today's (Jan 7) sessions include Laxman Gaikwad, Sathyan Anthikad, Manoj K Das, Adv S Jayasankar, Murali Thummarukudi, Maythil Devika, Reyas Komu and G R Indugopan among others.