Twin Tollywood entries keep Tricolour flying at IFFI world competition

KOLKATA: Beating all other language cinema from the country, only two Bengali films have been selected to represent India in the world competition at Indian International Film Festival (IFFI) this year. These are Kaushik Ganguly's 'Cinemawalla' and Debesh Chattopadhyay's 'Natoker Moto'.
These two are among eight feature films from Bengal to be screened in IFFI's Indian Panorama section.The others are Srijit Mukherji's 'Rajkahini', Satarupa Sanyal's 'Onnyo Opalaa', Bappaditya Bandopadhyay's 'Sohra Bridge', Sankar Debnath's 'Pakaram' and Suman Ghosh's 'Kadambari'. Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Hindi film, 'Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa', has also been screened. In the non-fiction category, Tuhinabha Majumdar's 'Aamaar Katha: A Story of Binodini Bengali', Som Chakraborty's 'Ujantali' and Torsha Banerjee's 'Tender is the Sight' have made the cut.
This comes at a time when a section of Bengal filmmakers has given a call to boycott IFFI in protest against the rising intolerance in India. The makers of the films selected for the film festival, however, don't want to walk down that path. Boycotting IFFI can't be a method of protest, said Dasgupta. "Protests should be more vibrant. I do not agree with Arun Jaitley's comment that there is no intolerance in the country. The party needs to find out the truth and analyse. There is intolerance all around. That's why people are reacting. We can't dismiss their voice as being politically motivated outbursts," Dasgupta said.
This is the sixth time in a row that Ganguly's films have been selected in the Indian Panorama. "Three of them were with Ventakesh Films. Thrice my films have won the Silver Peacock at IFFI. Let's see what happens this year. It's time for everyone to take pride in Bengali cinema. Out of so many Indian movies, only two Bengali films have been selected for the world competition. This is a great honour for Tollywood. Boycotting IFFI isn't my path of protest," he said from Nainital. In a series titled, 'In Conversation',
The selection of Paoli's 'Natoker Moto' is a vindication of sorts for Chattopadhyay. "It wasn't easy to make a film that dealt with such a controversial subject. There were many attempts to pull down my film. This selection means a lot to me and my producer Firdausul Hasan. He had the courage to stand by a film like this," Chattopadhyay said, adding that since a film is a collective work, he can't take an individual decision by pulling out of the festival.
Srijit Mukherji is ecstatic. "It is rare that a film receives both commercial success and critical acclaim. Not just IFFI, 'Rajkahini' has been selected in competition for other important festivals too," he said. Protest, Mukherji said, is an individual decision. "Whenever the situation arose, I have voiced my protest. (but) I'll be attending IFFI," he said. Speaking from Miami, Ghosh said, "It is a nice feeling to be selected in the Indian Panorama." He and Kadambari starcast Parambrata Chatterjee and Konkona Sen Sharma will attend IFFI.
Debnath, who made his debut with 'Pakaram', is delighted with this 'boost'. "So many newcomers have worked in my film. I think the best form of protest is through work. Cinema is teamwork and I can't take a personal decision to boycott IFII," Debnath said. Sanyal disagrees with the mode of protest. "Can an awardee's name get erased from the record books if he or she returns an award?"