Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NR)
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje

Mangalore, Sep 22: An interactive meet on director Nagathihalli Chandrashekar’s latest film “Maathad Maathadu Mallige” was organized by Dasajana here, on Friday September 21.

Participating in the meet, Chandrashekar informed the gathering that 70% of the movie-goers looked upon films as entertainers, to relax from the daily grind of life. And according to him it is a challenge for film directors to give a social message in a medium which is governed by its own “commercial grammar”, has declared expansively.

Regular viewers are not particularly inclined towards films as a vehicle of social change. Most of the movie goers over the years have become used to clichéd cinema atmosphere having routine songs, action, fights and chase sequences, he opined.

Further according to him, directors, who attempted to tickle the grey cells of the viewers slightly were taking a very big risk, he pointed out.

Moreover he stated that films such as ‘Maathad Maathadu Mallige’, which tries to deal with serious issues such as problems faced by farmers in the wake of globalization, was “difficult to sell”, he rued. Drawing viewers to such films is a difficult task and involves a tightrope walk for producers and directors. These films in his opinion were tagged as “art films” and accordingly have to settle for an award or two, coming their way, Chandrashekar declared, deeply disillusioned.

On a query as to why cinemas, in general, are not able to bring about social transformation, Chandrashekar responded by saying that it would be foolish to think they could do so. According to him even a film such as ‘Maathad Maathadu Mallige’, could only briefly touch upon few of the problems faced by an individual in particular and the society in general. A cinema, at best, could set a thought process in motion and hope that society would take it forward, he hoped wisely.

Chandrashekar however lauded the efforts of people involved in making his film. He proudly stated that for the first time they had a full-fledged research team, which went into each and every aspect of the film in detail,” he added.