'Indian films are not up to world mark'

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">MUMBAI: Rituparno Ghosh''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Titli</span> (The First Monsoon Day) won the FIPRESCI International Film Critics'' Jury Award at the fifth International Film Festival of Mumbai (IFFM). <br />It is about a teenager (Konkona Sen Sharma) who has a crush on a film star (Mithun Chakraborty) and accidentally discovers that her mother (Aparna Sen) once had an affair with him.It is a lovely, charming film, but lacks the depth one associates with Ghosh''s work, so it surprised many by scooping up the big prize.<br />According to the jury members, they were unable to see a number of films under consideration because the timings clashed or screenings were at the Imax theatre at Wadala, and the travelling would have meant seeing even fewer films.<br />The jury consisted of H N Narahari Rao, Necati Sonmez (Turkey) and Per Haddal (Norway). Om Puri was honoured for his 25 years'' contribution to Indian cinema, while cinematographer V Babasaheb won the Kodak Technical Excellence Award.<br />There were some sharp hometruths that the festival threw into relief. The gap between the Indian films and those in world cinema is becoming increasingly apparent to audiences. Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar''s Vastu Purush was an emotionally rich, impressive film, if long.<br />Adoor Gopalakrishnan''s Nizhalkkuth u was rich in imagery and irony, but is not among his finer films. Buddhadeb Dasgupta''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Manda Meyer Upakhyan</span>, too, uses sophisticated imagery and metaphors, but is primarily designed for the festival circuit, along with a number of other Indian films.<br />As our markets open up to nonmainstream cinema, there is a certain cowardice in making festival films that make no genuine attempt to engage with Indian audiences.<br />Most of the Indian films were from the Indian Panorama - '' the pride of India''-yet it was a small section because, as festival director Sudhir Nandgaonkar pointed out, Panorama films have often run to empty halls at earlier IFFM festivals even without tickets. Recent Asian films were also surprisingly small in number, as well as mostly disappointing in quality-a pity, considering the growing interest in them.<br />With Istvan Szabo''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Taking Sides</span> (hugely impressive, Hungary), Petter Naess'' Elling (exquisitely comic, Oscar nomination, Norway), Nanni Moretti''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">The Son''s Room </span>(moving, accomplished, Italy) and Silvio Soldini''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Bread and Tulips </span>(tender and witty, and for God''s sake, introduce us to men like those, Italy), we had our festival''s worth.<br />Each of these left the audience on a high. In fact, the last two are part of a larger Italian film package that runs from December 2-6 at the NCPA.<br />Evidently, acclaimed films like Elling, Three Brothers, and even The Son''s Room could,with some cunning, be accomplished here without extravagant budgets-they were simply driven by great scripts and direction.<br />Films (often with low budgets) from low-profile countries like Kazakhstan (Three Brothers), Croatia (The Cashier Wants to go to the Seaside), Vietnam (The Deserted Valley'' , and Tunisia (Silences of the Palace) left audiences very impressed.<br />Moreover, the Indian documentary showed up most shabbily when compared to Agnes Varda''s wonderful The Gleaners and I -a jewel of a film about what people do with leftovers, as well as Safina Uberoi''s impressive and moving documentary <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">My Mother India</span>.<br />The festival is gaining ground with more than 3,500 film buffs attending, and often taking up every inch of carpet space as well. As usual, fans were maddened as schedules were unavailable well in advance, films were changed at the last minute and even dropped.<br />Missing out on the Ravindra Natya Mandir multiplex (not so accessible either), the festival still lacks a central space where film buffs can hang out in a pleasant ambience.<br />Finally, the health of a festival can be gauged by the health of its market, so it is surprising that Aparna Sen''s Mr and Mrs Iyer and Deepa Mehta''s Bollywood Hollywood, both slated for local release,went missing in the festival. <br />And as usual, you could count the Mumbai directors and actors who attended this international festival in their own backyard on your fingers. As Bollywood faces up to globalisation, that itself speaks volumes. </div> </div>