Daijiworld Media Network — Udupi (HB)
Udupi, Aug 31: Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy organized a one-day seminar on the topic ‘Challenges of Kannada Film Industry’ in collaboration with Manipal Media Network Limited and Department of Information and Public Relations at T A Pai Management Institute auditorium, Manipal, on Saturday August 29.
S V Rajendrasingh Babu said, “There is no rental system in the entire nation except in Karnataka state. Nearly Rs 700 crore is going out with little return. The film market has developed and single screen theatres are declining. Now-a-days content is king in a film and not characters.”
He wants Mysuru to become a film city and a proposal has been sent to the state government demanding 300 new theatres in the state.
Dr Sandhya S Pai, managing editor, ‘Tharanga’ magazine said, “Human interest stories are touching the feelings of audiences. Kannadigas are very sensitive about emotion and they welcome good content films in good theatres.”
Dr Gururaj Kediyur, professor and dean of academics, T A Pai Management Institute, Manipal, said the Kannada film industry is running in loss. “There is no innovation and the Kannada film industry is facing tough competition against other regional languages. Kannada films have a limited market and are facing shortage in capital investment,” he added.
Nearly 500 theatres are available for Kannada cinemas of the total 900 theatres. As many as 120 films are being released every year.
A consumer study report says that about 80 percent of the people like comedy films, 60 percent watch Kannada movies, 90 percent of people would like to watch 1960s-70s films (theme-based), 68 percent of public opined stories are not good, directors of 50 percent of produced films have no originality. The audience complains that Kannada films are not releasing at multiplex theatres.
Gururaj further said, “CM Siddaramaiah has supported all our milestones and the government needs to take an active role in helping Kannada films survive. The subsidy amount must be increased and the CM should intervene in multiplex rates.”
Approximately 650 students have worked in preparing the survey report. They have collected 514 samplings in two months. The samplings collected were as follows— Bengaluru-111, Mysore-111, Mangaluru-91, Hubballi-100, and Kalburgi- 101.
Natraj, Goutham Pai, director, Media Network Limited, Prashant V Y, associate professor, Thomas D’Souza, president of KCA, Rohini K, information department officer and Vinod Kumar, Media Network Limited were present.