The contribution of popular cinema is immense as it connects entire India, actor Sharmila Tagore said here on Tuesday. If she wrote her memoirs some day, she would throw more light on this subject, Ms. Tagore added.
“I have learnt quite a few things from my film-scholar friends on how to look at popular cinema. We always criticise popular since but I think that the contribution of popular cinema is immense as it really connects entire India and tell us stories in a different way,” Ms. Tagore said while interacting with presspersons at the 21st edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF).
Positive trend
Describing cinema as the “most popular and easily available form of art”, she said the portrayal of women in mainstream cinema had been changing, and there was nothing to feel desperate about.
“The general perception about portrayal of women in films is changing,” she said referring to Bollywood films such as Piku, Kahani and Dil Dhakane Do. All Bollywood films could not be held guilty for wrong portrayal of women.
She did admit that male actors were paid more than women, but said the gulf was wider a few decades ago.
Spotlight on women
Ms. Tagore, who heads the jury at the KIFF, said the festival had become better over the years. The jury would select the best woman director and the best film out of 14 films in competition directed by women.
Refusing to attribute much importance to the competition, which does not have a single film from India, she said the festival was not only about competition, which was only one of its parts.
On Bengali films, she said their marketing had improved since the days of film-makers like Satyajit Ray when they could find no market outside West Bengal and had been shown at film festivals alone. Ms. Tagore said films of directors like Aparna Sen and Rituparno Ghosh had found a better market.
No comments:
Post a Comment