New Delhi: Filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan said , “Cinema is not a consumer product but a creative art” and lamented that big budget films are favouredat the cost of small budget films as they are expected to earn big returns due to popular actors.The audience for small budget filmsis there, but it’s the distributors and exhibitors who are not willing. We take the festival route but when we want to sell the films we have to prove that these films are commercial.”
He was speaking along with actresses Suhasini Mulay and Usha Jadhav together with cinematographer Alphonse Roy during a press conference on his movie “Mai Ghat” in IFFI today at Panaji Goa.
The movie is about protracted struggle of a mother to get justice for her son who was wrongly branded a thief and tortured to death in police custody.
Talking about the film, Suhasini Mulay said, “We are used to very quick pace, but this film that is beautifully paced, makes you aware of the fact thatthe protagonist woman has been fighting for 13 years.Ananth has used silence so beautifully.”
Speaking further about the film Anant said. “The film speaks global cinematic language and it’san honour to be selected for international Competition. Itunderlined the belief in our film that our Producer Mohini Gupta had since the beginning. She showed a lot of faith and I could not let her down.”
Speaking about his film Kenjira director Manoj Kana said. “I am into theatre in Malayalam. I have worked with tribals a lot and their way of life touched my heart. All my artists in Kenjira are tribals, this is my third movie after Chayilyam and Amoeba”. Kana narrated the hurdles faced by him in collecting finance for this film. He went on to speak aboutan incident in which a school which was closed down was ultimately re-started by first attracting students to theatre being run in the school premises.
