From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bangalore, Jun 30: Samskara, Ghatashraddha or Bangarada Manushya may have won acclaim and laurels for the 150-year-old Kannada film industry in the recent past. But ever wondered why do Kannada movies rarely figure in the national or international awards list.
``Excessive portrayal of violence in Kannada movies is responsible for the poor quality of films churned out by the state’s film industry,’’ says outgoing Regional Officer of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) A Chandrashekar.
And Chandrashekar, who completed a five-year-term as Regional Officer of CBFC in Bangalore, should know because of his deep association with the film industry.
In an interaction with the media on the completion of his eventful term, he lamented at the high percentage of crime and violence-based films produced in the State.
``People find it (scenes showing violence and bloodshed) disgusting. Unfortunately, the producers don’t seem to understand,’’ he said mentioning names of a few movies with multiple scenes of murder.
The percentage of crime and violence based films produced in Bangalore was high compared to other cities such as Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Trivandrum. The percentage of crime-based movies in Bangalore rose from 15.3 in 2004 to 19.4 in 2005 and 20.6 in 2006 before reaching 24 in 2007.
While the percentage of crime-based movies in Kannada was increasing and had reached a record 24% in 2007, he said the Mumbai film industry considered as Bollywood and known for its largest number of films was adopting a more professional approach to film making.
In sharp contrast to the situation that prevailed in the Mumbai film industry a few years back, the number of crime-based movies was gradually declining to touch a low of 1.6% in 2007.
However, even in Bangalore the recent trends suggested a decline in the percentage of violence-based movies, he said.
``There has been a perceptible decline in the percentage of such movies since last year,’’ Chandrashekar said and wondered whether the dip could be attributed the Censor Board’s strict policy against portrayal of violence and obscenity in films.
``Obscenity is another bane of Kannada films,’’ he said.
``The liberal dose of double-meaning dialogues and obscene dance numbers are doing little good to the quality of films produced in Karnataka,’’ he said.
Chandrashekar said there had been a steep increase in the number of films made in Bangalore region during the last three years in the aftermath of the success of films like Mungaru Male and Duniya in 2006.
The number of films jumped from 75 in 2006 to 111 in 2007 and 165 during 2008, he said adding that certificates to a total of 105 films had been issued so far with another five months to go.
Unfortunately, Chandrashekar felt the success rate of films as judged from box office collections had dipped since 2006. ``If 22.6% of films had succeeded in 2006, the figures were 14.41% and 9% during 2007 and 2008 respectively,’’ he added.