I have written about this subject several times in Kannada. This time I am writing in English to reach some Kannadigas who cannot read Kannada, but who can talk and understand Kannada. This article is written with each major section that is directly or indirectly affecting our Kannada movies and Kannada language.

What people talk about Kannada movies?

I have heard most of the Kannadigas and non-Kannadigas talking about Kannada movies badly. They always complain that there are no good movies made in Kannada. They start complaining about Jaggesh and Kashinath movies. For them, my question is, how many movies does Jaggesh act in every year? 3, 4 or 5 maximum ? That’s all. Kashinath stopped acting in movies long back. How can they just take Jaggesh and Kashinath as reference and criticize the whole of Kannada movies?  Is that the correct way of reviewing Kannada movies? If we go with this kind of comparison, there are similar actors to Jaggesh and Kashinath in every language. I don’t see any difference between Jaggesh and Govinda. Only difference is Govindas’ skin is white and he speaks “Hindi”.

Why people talk about Kannada movies like that?

Is it because of false propaganda or lack of advertisement, marketing or the bias reports of news media, magazines or is it because of lack of “Abhimaana”?

Most of the people (including Kannadigas) who talk bad about Kannada movies have not seen good Kannada movies or they just go by the newspaper and/or magazine’s reviews and believe that. Our Kannada newspapers criticized movies like “A” and ”OM” too. People who believe in newspapers certainly will not turn towards Kannada movies.

And one of my Kannada friend was not aware that in Kannada they make close to 80 to 90 movies every year. He was under the impression that, the numbers of total movies made every year are 4 or 5. That shows Kannadiga’s awareness about Kannada movies. But same people keep track of every other language movies and details up to date.

Actual Statistics

In Kannada, every year 80 to 90 movies are made. Out of that at least 10 movies will be good. Another 10 movies will be “Okay” kind of movies and remaining 60 will be junk. No doubt about that and I too agree with that. Okay, now we will go to our neighbors Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and our national language Hindi movies. The reason I am bringing our neighbors here is, our critics and people are comparing our Kannada movies against these other language movies.

I did some research and verified with my Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam friends. The above statistics match with Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam movies too. In last year there were only 4 “Hit” movies in Tamil. Being a Telugu as my mother tongue, I know what Telugu movies are up to?  2 heroines in every movie with some 6 songs and the same crazy names ending with “Mogudu”, ”Pellam”, “Dhonga”. (No creativity in naming also).  And god knows what’s there in Hindi movies except glamour. Hero or Heroines are born and die in Europe in every movie these days. Hindi movies are made specifically for NRIs these days. They don’t want to show our true India picture any more, because they don’t care about India. Do they?

Critics Comparison (With respect to What ??? )

So, our “critics” compare Kannada movies with these Tamil, Telugu, Hindi movies. Why such comparison is needed in the first place when Tamil, Telugu and Hindi movies are also rotten. Most of the Hindi movies are not only shot in Europe, USA but they also copy tunes, dance steps and everything from English Movies. Is that the creativity? Do our reviewers ever understand the difference between creativity and copying? Our Kannada critics have double standards in reviewing Kannada and other language movies. God knows what is the politics behind that.

 TV Media??

Okay, I will give a break about Kannada movies and it’s quality. What is happening with our Kannada TV media?  TV media is equally strong media like movie and it need not depend 100% on movies. It can cover vast subjects. Why can’t some Kannada entrepreneurs start some Kannada TV channel? When outsiders like Sun TV and ETV can open a Kannada channel, why can’t our own Kannadigas start some our own Kannada channel? Are we lacking “something” here? Do we have technical difficulties?

(Bangalore is Silicon Valley of Asia, Isn’t it?), Don’t we have enough resources for this? Don’t we have enough millionaires to invest in this kind of venture? Then what’s preventing our Kannadiga entrepreneurs to start some Kannada channel? So, without any analysis or study we can easily tell here that, it’s the problem with “our Kannadigas” in enterprising/exploring new things.

Who is preventing “criticizing Kannadigas” to step into and venture in making some new, good movies or starting a TV chancel? None. It’s just in our blood that, we just keep on criticizing our own people, culture, movies, media, everything and keep on praising what our neighbors do and we won’t take necessary steps at all to do some new things.

Newspapers

Who said Deccan Herald (DH) is Karnataka’s newspaper? They are located in Bangalore, for namesake. And they are located on MG Road and they can’t come to KG Road to review our Kannada movies or activities of Gandhi Nagar or write some encouraging articles about good Kannada movies. Many workers in DH are Tamilians. So, why would they write about Kannada movies? Every week there will be a article in DH in “Entertainment” section about every artist including clap boy from Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam or Hindi movies. But you can’t find an article about our directors like Desai, Nagathahalli, Upendra or music directors Hamsalekha, Gurkiran or not even about one of our best actors in India, Ananthnag. If this is the case, they can as well move to Andhra or Tamilnadu. Finally it looks like some of the news media in Karnataka are trying to kill Kannada movies systematically.

Do we ever advertise or take credit for our  “Achievement”?

Last year Punith Rajkumar’s maiden movie “Appu” was a huge hit in Kannada and this movie was remade in Telugu as “Idiot”, which was also a huge hit. Now this movie is being remade in Hindi and recently in interview in Sony TV the entire movie crew of Hindi version of “Appu” movie gave the credit to Telugu version of “Appu” (Idiot) and not even a single member of them mentioned about the original Kannada movie Appu. Same thing happened to Dr.Rajkumars’ movie “Anuraaga Aralithu” which was made in Telugu (Garana Mogadu), Tamil (Mannan) and then in Hindi (Jamai Raja) and finally credit went to Telugu/Tamil version. Same thing happened with many other Kannada movies. What it shows?   It is lack of campaigning about our own achievement? We are restricting our limits to Karnataka itself and sometimes not even with in Karnataka. Most of the people outside Karnataka don’t even know that Dr.Rajkumar is a singer too. Is it the fault of news media or achievers themselves or who else????????

People – What is the ethnic distribution in Bangalore ?

Everyone knows that there are only 45% of Kannadigas in Bangalore and the remaining are non-Kannadigas.( The definition of non-Kannadigas is left to individual here)  Interesting thing and fact here is, the other 40% or 45% of the population of  Bangalore who think they are non-Kannadigas are living in Bangalore for more than 50 to 100 years.  Their mother tongue is Tamil or Telugu or Malayalam or Hindi. Do they consider themselves as “Kannadigas” or not? That is left to the individual. Being a Telugu as my mother tongue, I consider myself as a Kannadiga as I was born and brought up in Karnataka. Does majority of such non-Kannada speaking people consider themselves as Kannadigas? If they consider so and if they start watching Kannada movies or start thinking that they too belong to the place where they live from 50 years, then it will be all together a different story. Unfortunately it is not that presently.

Mathadhana –50 Days. But any average Tamil/Telugu movie–100 Days,25 weeks.

It is very sad that the great movie Mathadhana couldn’t even complete 100 days and that means it has not reached many, many people. Also it means that not all Kannadiags are supporting good Kannada movies and other non-Kannadiags who are in Karnataka from last 50-100 years are also not supporting/watching Kannada movies. And these non-Kannadigas support their “mother tongue” (Tamil,Telugu,etc.) movies in Karnataka irrespective of the quality of the movie.

Mathadhana movie had a good story and neat narration and excellent acting by great actors Ananthnag,Devaraj and Avinash. But the movie was NOT shot in Europe or USA and the movie was made in Kannada language. Probably this is the reason why it didn’t run for even 100 days in Karnataka. But most irritating part here is even 3d class and average Tamil,Telugu,Hindi movies runs for 50-100 days easily in Bangalore.

Tamil, Telugu movie land – Are they really big market ?   How ?

Our cosmopolitan Kannadigas criticize Shivaraj Kumar because he is dark in complexion, where as in Tamil/Telugu people don’t care for the skin color of the hero. They support every hero irrespective of their color and there is no chance to screen other language movies in those states. So, naturally the native movie land grows there. And their cousins who are settled in Karnataka from last 100 years still go and watch “only” their mother tongue movies. That’s how their movie land is growing big. In Tamil movie land people support heroes like Vijayakanth, Parthiban, Pandyan,Vijay, etc, etc. And Telugu people are really happy and will encourage any Telugu movie as long as there are 6 good songs, dances and 2 heroines. But we Kannadigas keep on criticizing for every movie. With our attitude problem, will the Kannada movie land ever come up?

Root Cause?

It is definitely Kannadigas and Kannadigas’ lack of Abhimaana for their language.

When we don’t have concerns about our own language, outsiders can easily take up and occupy our place, position and we will be outsiders in our own land very soon.

Whom to Blame?

Producers of Kannada movies have to be blamed first.  They should fight for screening good Kannada movies and restrict the Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam movies to only limited theatres. Why good Kannada movies are removed from the theatres even when they were doing well at box office and given to other language movies. But why our producers are also keeping quite about this? This is a big puzzle for me. Why can’t at least producers and directors of good movies come out and protest against such things?

Was there any sincere effort made to promote at least good Kannada movies in Kerala, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh or Maharastra any time?  And our people will watch Roja movie in theatre 3 or 4 times and will watch a great movie like “Mutthina Haara” in T.V.

What can be done to improve our Kannada movie land ? Some Suggestions..

One measure is to stop screening some rotten and junk Tamil, Telugu movies in Karnataka and start giving preference to good Kannada movies FIRST. If they enforce this rule strictly, good movies like Mathadana, Naaga Mandala, and Amrutha Varshini can reach more and more people including both Kannadigas and non-Kannadigas.

Dubbing of Tamil, Telugu movies to Kannada language should be introduced instead of directly releasing in their languages. By this means at least producers and distributors of other language movies will think twice before dubbing all their movies. This will also give at least some jobs/work to Kannada artists and local non-Kannadigas will start learning Kannada at least by this means.

1) By Government

When they make close to 100 movies per year in Kannada movie industry why can’t somebody or government start a state-of-the-art  Movie Institute in Karnataka so that new local talents can study, explore new things in movie industry. When there are 100’s of engineering and medical colleges exists in Karnataka why can’t  film studies be taught like professional courses too. A state which has 5 crores population definitely deserves one good film institute

2) By Kannadigas

I haven’t seen many Kannadigas talking proudly or educating non-Kannadigas about our good Kannada movies like Om, Amruth Varshini, Nammoora Mandara Hoove, America America, Naaga Mandala, Mathadana, Beladhingala Baale, A, etc, etc. Because they themselves haven’t seen above-mentioned good movies. They just keep on praising other language movies.  It’s high time that our Kannadigas should start feeling proud about good Kannada movies and stop assuming that “all other language movies” are “always good”, which is not the case.

Another important thing is Kannadiags and some people within movie land should stop “asking” or “questioning” about Dr.Rajkumar’s contributions to Kannada movie land and start doing something constructive instead of just blaming Dr.Rajkumar for everything. No one can take control of such a big industry (60 to 70 crores turn over every year). There is no point in blaming Dr.Rajkumar for everything. Dr.Raj has given his contributions to Kannada movie in his own way. We can’t ask/demand only Dr.Raj for every good thing to happen in Kannada movie land. There are many others too. And should we depend upon a single person for everything? We shouldn’t. Blame game will not take us anywhere. It is important that everyone take the initiative to start correcting the problems. At the same time Raj family should seriously think about making DVDs or VCDs and original video cassettes of Dr.Raj movies for NRI-Kannadiags first.

3) By producers and distributors of Kannada movies

Our Kannada producers/distributors should start aggressive marketing. There are some extraordinary movies made in Kannada too and those movies struggled to run even 50 days sometimes. That is because of theatre problem, advertising, reviews, word of mouth, etc,etc. Producers have to be more aggressive and they have to fight in getting good theatres first. They should screen good Kannada movies in some good theatres. If I want to watch a good Kannada movie in good theatres like Urvarshi, Lido or Pallavi, it’s a dream or impossible. But for a Tamilian who is living in a hut or on footpath in Bangalore can watch his favorite hero MGR’s movie in a class theatre like Pallavi where morning shows is reserved for MGR, Shivaji Ganeshan’s movies.  This is extreme. Shame on our Kannadigas who are sitting quietly and watching all these happenings.

Most irritating part is when other language people come and ask us “Why there are no good Kannada movies made in Kannada?” Those people haven’t seen any faces other than their state heroes. They don’t know that there is an actor called “Ananthnag” in Kannada.  They haven’t heard about Vishnuvardhan much. That means in their states Kannada movies are not at all screened and nothing is written in their local newspapers.  By watching only their language movies how they can come to the conclusion that Tamil or Telugu or Malayalam movies are superior over Kannada. Aren’t they frogs in the well?  At least we Kannadigas have a chance to do a comparison between 4/5 language movies and can say which are good and which are bad. I am really surprised when other state people come and criticize our Kannada movies without knowing a bit about good Kannada movies and background. Whom to blame for this? Why there is no effort to screen good Kannada movies in Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradhesh,Kerala or Maharastra ?

Excellent, class movie “Om” was released exactly 10 years back in 1993.  Till now there is no original video cassette or VCD or DVD released by the producers/authorized rights holders of this movie. If this is the kind of marketing we do, when and where our Kannada movie land will expand or grow? Even though I have watched the “OM” movie 6 times, I am ready now also to buy the original video cassette or VCD or DVD of “Om” movie at least 25 copies for me. (I would like to give it as a present/gift to friends on occasions) Is anybody in movie land listening to my request/suggestion? I am sure there are many movies like Om. There are no original video cassettes/VCDs/DVDs of many, many, many good Kannada movies. And surprising thing is, we can’t find even Dr.Rajkumar’s original movies collection in video format in USA too.  This shows how poor we Kannadigas are in marketing our own strength.

Finally it is the “Chicken or Egg Problem” with our people and the movie land. Without proper and aggressive marketing, we can’t expand our market and we ourselves without encouraging good Kannada movies our movie land will not grow/expand.

To say in simple words, we have problem at both the ends. Kannadiga’s attitude has to change and at the same time producers should change their marketing/distributing techniques to reach more Kannadigas and to make Kannada movies more popular.

(Comparison made with other language movies here are only for giving the facts and not to criticize the other language movies. Good and bad movies are made in every language including English/Hollywood. People just should not assume that bad movies are made only in Kannada and good movies are made in all other languages except Kannada.)

 Lakshmikanth V
vlakshmikanth@yahoo.com

Below are some of the questions asked by many kannadiga friends regarding Kannada Cinema, its quality and the recent issue of three week moratorium on non-kannada movies in Karnataka. I have tried to answer to these questions sincerely. Please think about it…

Please find the brief history of Kannada Cinema at the end of FAQ.

Question:  It is very foolish to ban non-Kannada movies in Karnataka, especially in Bangalore. It is a right of an Individual to see what he wishes.

Answer:  The Kannada film industry is not demanding a complete ban on Non-Kannada movies. They are just demanding a three week moratorium on non-Kannada movies.  As a Kannadiga we need to support this three-week Moratorium on Non-Kannada films. If you think it is foolish to ban non-Kannada movies for three weeks in Bangalore, please think about how many Kannada movies are screened in other cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ooty, Hosur etc., where many kannadigas are living.

If you talk about the right of an individual, is it not the denial of right for a Kannadiga living in other states not able to watch Kannada movies, as even good Kannada movies are not screened there?

RULE is inevitable for the survival of any industry. Kannada Film industry is not an exception. For example, English Medias are hiding under such rule and protecting themselves against invasion of Foreign Medias. Similarly due to Prasar Bharati Act

DD is getting the benefit of telecasting Indian Cricket matches solely.  Everyone talks that the Constitution does not allow for the moratorium to be implemented. But we have many instances where the Constitution is amended to include the needs of the Modern day.  So the moratorium needs to be implemented even if a new legislation act has to be formed and the Constitution has to be amended. The same thing holds good for controlling the unhealthy migration of non-kannadigas in to Karnataka, which is the basic problem that needs to be addressed.

Question: How much quality do Kannada movies carry?

Answer: People only comment about quality of Kannada movies. Has anyone thought of the quality of non-Kannada movies? Out of nearly hundred movies produced in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi each, only two or three movies will be good and the remaining majority is the flop movies which will not be released in Bangalore and we do not come to know.

Majority of Hindi and Tamil movies are direct copy of Hollywood movies or being inspired (nothing but remake) by them. Recent Bollywood and Tamil movies like Jism, Julie, Boys, Naach and other majority movies are full of Sex and violence. Even the so called Great director Manirathnam adds cheap songs to sell his movies and there would not be a good story in them. Coming to Telugu movies we see two heroines running around a hero who says Bobilli puli, Narasimha Naidu, Dongudu, Kondaviti Donga and other rubbish things.

Comparatively in Kannada we had good movies like Chigurida Kanasu,  Kushi, Excuse Me, Kanti, Mani, Heartbeats, Aptha mithra, Partha, Preethi Prema Pranaya, Paris Pranaya, Abhi, Appu, ChandraMukhi Pranasakhi, Nanna Preethiya Hudugi etc., which where whole family entertainers. So only thing I want to tell is leave pre-conceptions about Kannada films and go and see good Kannada movies. Bad movies are produced in all languages not only in Kannada.

Question: Forcing someone to watch “this” and “that” movie is impossible. Come on. There are so many kannadigas who bring Tamil CDs and watch! Absolutely, there is no “youth” in Kannada movies except for some 1 or 2 at the max.

Answer:  Please be clear. No one is forcing to watch any movie. Kannada film industry is asking for theatres to release Kannada movies in its own land and not in other states. It is really sad that Kannada producers do not get good theatres like Urvashi, theatres in M.G.Road and  Brigade Road,  to release there movies. Theatre owners are giving step motherly treatment to Kannada Movies.  For example, Tallam Nanjunda shetty owns both “States” and “Abhinay” theatres. “States” theater is in a very bad state, no good audio system, no clean toilets. They give these type of theatres to Kannada movies, but they reserve Abhinay theatre with DTS and good facilities for Hindi Movies. Where is the justice?

Even good Kannada movies with new faces like Mayur, Murali, Sudeep, Darshan, Vijay Raghavendra , Naveen Mayur, are not seen by our Cosmopolitan Kannadigas. Otherwise good films like Kanti, Mani, Ninagoskara would not have flopped. Because of Kannadigas, who encourage non-kannada films, the Kannada film industry market has not grown.  Down with these type of anti-kannada sentiments.

Question: Piracy of non-kannada movies will increase if the three week Moratorium is implemented.

Answer: Talking about piracy, it already exists in large scale with Hindi, Tamil and Telugu Movies. The problem is more rampant with Tamil, Telugu and Hindi movies compared to Kannada movies. In Chennai because of low quality Tamil movies and piracy many theatres have been converted in to Kalayana mantaps. Bollywood movies are flopping due to the pirated CDs coming from the Gulf even before it is released.  So there needs to be a strict law by the governments to prevent piracy. Comparatively Kannada movies are not pirated as others and we only have the chance to see them in theatres. Sad state of Kannada movies is that getting Good theatres for good Kannada movies is itself difficult in its own land due the influx of non-kannadigas and their movies.

Question: Ambarish, Vishnuvardhan…etc are all senior actors. Imagine them being heroes in 1980s and heroes in 2004. Its so pathetic! Rajkumar’s family has a hold on Kannada film industry like it is their family!

Answer: Senior actors will act until their fans want them to act. So if you do not want to see Dr. Raj, Ambarish or  VIshnuvardhan in the new movies, do not see those movies. Amitabh Bachhan is doing all possible movies and ads only to clear his Debts. He is the one who has been given so much publicity which he doesn’t actually deserve.  Rajanikanth, Kamalhassan , Mohanlal, Mammoty are still acting in their respective languages.  So I don’t think it is wrong for senior actors to act in new movies.  Dr. Raj was at his best in Jeevana Chaitra, a big hit doing a role which suited his age.

Coming to Raj’s family having a hold on Kannada Film industry… It is a false assumption spread by the cheap gimmicks of people like Lankesh Patrike family and other vested interests who want to divide Kannada Cinema industry. No individual can take control of such a big industry.

Question: If there is competition, it is good. So, if there are good films from other languages, we must learn from that. We must compete with them by giving quality movies.

Answer: Yes competition is good if it is fair. But if you look at the fact, Kannada films have limited market only in Karnataka, mainly due to the negligent attitude of many of our Kannadigas in Karnataka and those staying in other states.

Bollywood movies have a huge market in North, West and Eastern India and South India especially Bangalore is bonus market for them. Coming to Tamil movies lot of Tamils migrated to Bangalore and other parts of Karnataka only watch Tamil movies. They have this advantage. Telugu people staying for generations in the border districts of Kolar, Bellary, Raichur, Tumkur, Bangalore watch only Telugu movies and they have a huge market in Andhra itself. All these do not make for a fair competition.

Another point to be noted is we see many Kannadigas residing in Chennai, Hyderabad and other places becoming part of the local culture by learning the local language, supporting local issues and encouraging the Movies of the land. But we can’t say the same for the people who have migrated to Karnataka from other states for their livelihood. They even do not have a little respect to the land and culture they are staying in, even though they are getting the benefits of the state. For example. a newspaper quoted that a group of North Indians were shouting  “Down with Kannada. Victory to Hindi” in front of Kaveri theatre. Our broadminded kannadigas neglect these things saying we should not become like them.  Don’t we Kannadigas have some self respect (Swabhimana)?

If good Kannada movies which I had listed above were released in Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and our Kannadigas staying there would have seen them and our Kannada producers would have had more profit,  then they could make more big budget, technically good and quality movies.  But sadly even good Kannada movies are not being released in other states. Where is the justice. So when Kannada movies have many disadvantages over others talking of competition is nonsense.

Question: If at all we are supporting the Kannada films for the sake of language, it is totally wrong.

Answer: Movies have great effect on the large mass of people. Whenever an outsider comes to a place he sees the posters and publicity pictures of Movies in the city. In Bangalore he only sees other language posters and he will think Bangalore is not a pure Kannada place. He thinks he can live in Bangalore without learning Kannada as Kannadigas are mild and weak and they don’t respect their own language and culture. Most sad thing is that when a group of new generation Kannadigas gather they talk about Sharukh khan, Aishwarya Rai etc., because of the effect of these movies on them. They do not see Kannada movies and do not know what is happening in Kannada movie world.

So protecting and developing Kannada filmdom is in a way promoting our language and culture.  Kannada Movies is also one of the many important issues of Kannada including the Job opportunities for Kannadigas, Regional Imbalances in development of different parts of these state etc., If you go to other places in India, they talk of their movies, actors, actresses. So we cannot neglect Kannada filmdom issue as it is part of our culture and has great influence on saving the language.

Question:  Tell me, in what way we must accept only-kannada-movies? For what reason? Is there any good song? Any good story? There are so many good artistes, but they are not brought up properly. In fact, they are ignored to such an extent that, they are forcefully pushed to look in other languages. Examples include Prakash Rai, Rajnikant, Soundarya, Arjun Sarja, Prabhudev, and so many.

Answer: Again this is a misconception. Tell me how many movies our Cosmopolitan Kannadigas have seen recently in the following list  – Chigurida Kanasu,  Kushi, Excuse Me, Kanti, Mani, Heartbeats, Aptha mithra, Partha, Preethi Prema Pranaya, Paris Pranaya, Abhi, Appu etc These containing good hit music by great Kannada music directors Hamsalekha, GuruKiran, Manohar etc.

We have new talented lyricists like Kalyan(Remember “ChandraMukhi Pranasakhi” Songs), Dr. Nagendra Prasad(Excuse Me) and  the great Hamasalekha who has written many good songs like “Maha prana Deepam” from Sri Manjunatha and national award winning coposition for Sri Ganayogi Panchakashari Gawai. Gurukiran gave good hit music in the moveis Kushi, Partha, ApthaMithra, Abhi, Appu and many more

The actors like Praksah Rai, Rajanikanth, Arjun Sarja, got opportunities in other langauge films and neglected the Kananda Cinema. Except Ramesh they didn’t seriously think of acting in their own language. It is not our problem. Ramesh came back to his home and gave good hits. But these so called talented artistes like Prakash Rai, Arjun are happy doing supporting roles in other language movies. We do not see them getting good roles in other languages too. If they had faith in Kannada they would have come back to their original place.

Question:  The Indian film chamber can ban the Kannada artistes in retaliation. Then? Have we ever imagined that? What if Kannada films are banned everywhere outside Karnataka? Many films of Kannada do reach US and UK. What if they are banned there also? Running a movie alone in Karnataka itself is so tearing our minds, what if they are banned anywhere outside Karnataka?

Answer: This is a foolish question. When Kannada movies are not released any where else outside Karnataka where is the question of banning it.  Even if they impose ban on Kannada movies the effect is negligible.

Question: Why are these artistes focusing on Bangalore like politicians do? Is Bangalore Karnataka? There are so many other places.

Answer: Do not forget that he Bangalore is the Capital of Karnataka.  People always say Bangalore is cosmopolitan City. Yes. So what? Even Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai are a cosmopolitan city. Why are they not commenting the same about these cities? I was working in Chennai for a year and even I wanted to see a Kannada movie their in a theatre but no they do not allow other languages there. We had a Kannada film festival in an auditorium for a week and I went to see Nammora Manadara hoove there and the Tamil organizations were protesting outside the auditorium. In contrast we see more than half the theatres in Bangalore screening Tamil and other non-Kannada movies without fear.

Leave this cosmopolitan syndrome my dear Kannadigas. It is the duty of every person who comes to Bangalore/Karnataka to learn the language of the state and respect the culture of the land. We need to create an environment such that they should learn Kannada to live here. Then only we can save Kannada in BendaKalooru.

Question: We are Indians first. Why should we hate other languages?

Answer: As I said earlier saving Kannada movies is an integral part of saving Kannada language. We are not separatists and do not hate other languages. But we want prominence to our language in our own state. If you say we are children of Bharat Mata then why others are giving step motherly treatment to Kannadigas. If you see any national news channels like NDTV, Star News etc., they do not cover the news related to Kannada and Karnataka as they cover the events of Tamilnadu, Andhra and other states. Why? Are we not part of India?

The English print media like Times Of India always write about the Cosmopolitan culture, Pubs, Discos and show semi nude pics in the name of fashion and modelling and New generation. They had written that screening Kannada movies in the high class area like M.G.Road is not good for Indian culture. They said what if the bad dressed kannada stars are seen by the foreigners and other high class people. According to them the dresses of bollywood item girls are in good taste and will project our great Indian culture in M.G.Road. All these are because of the non-kannadigas anti-Kannada propaganda in every field.

We need to remember Vivekandanda, Shivaji, Gandhi.  Right they are great people… no comments.  But do non-Kannadigas remember our Obavva, Kittur Rani Chennamma, Basaveshwara, Ranna, Pampa…    We kannadigas are so broadminded and think others are also the same. It is not true.

 

Question: Are we turning out to be fanatics of our state? Karnataka is a state which is made only for the ease of governance.  These flag flying, shouting, damaging public property is all an utter waste and shows we are turning out to be fanatics. Other states may or may not be state-fanatics, but, we must never turn out to be that way.

Answer: We had great films like Bangarada Manushya, Nagara Havu, Sri. Krishnadevaraya etc.,  Puttannas films were really great and he is one of the best directors Indian Film industry has ever seen. But who knows Puttanna outside Karnataka. They only talk about Satyajith Ray, Manirathnam, etc., We do not boast of our great personalities and non-kannadigas do not want to hear anything good about Kannadigas.

Shivaji statue was established in Bangalore few years back. Yes Shivaji was a great ruler, no comments. But did Maharashtriyans install the statue of Kittur Rani Chennama in Mumbai or Pune?  She was the one who first fought against the British? But North Indians only talk about Jhansi Rani? Krishnadevaraya even before Shivaji, saved our Hindu culture from the onslaught of Muslims. Then why We Kannadigas do not talk about our great history and rulers with the same fervor as the others do. These are just samples of how Kannadigas and their Identity are neglected by us and others.  If we Kannadigas do not wake up now and talk we will lose our identity.

If the fight for our language and rights are called fanaticism then the fight for Indian Independence is also a fanaticism and Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh and other patriotic are also have to be called Fanatics!!!

Brief History of Kannada Cinema till the 1980s

While writing about Kannada Cinema history the names that first come to our mind are the Great Kannada theatre personalities H.L.N. Simha,  Gubbi Veeranna and Subbiah Naidu (Father of the talented  actor Lokesh)  who pioneered in this area by producing the first of  Kannada Cinemas. Another great personality was B.R. Panthulu whose contribution to Kannada Cinema has to be remembered. Also we need to remember R.Nagendra Rao whose contribution to the Kannada film industry was of great importance in its beginning days.

Great Directors

Kannada Cinema produced great directors like,

·         B.R.Panthulu who gave good family value films like School Master, Postmaster, and the great historical movie Sri. KrishnaDevaRaya.

·         Hunsur Krishnhamurthy directed films of Mythology and Bhakthi Saints like “Babruvahana”, “Bhaktha Kumbara”

·         Siddalingaiah who gave prominence to the stories on the development of villages through his  films: “Bangarada Manushya”, “Doorada Betta”

·         Lakshminarayana whose film “Naandi” which dealt on the social issue of educating and training deaf & dumb people, won the national award.

·         Puttana Kanagal  a great director who made invaluable contribution to  Kannada Cinema through his films “Sharapanjara”, “Gejje Pooje”,  “Nagara Havu”, “Ranganayaki” and many more which mainly portrayed the plight of the women in the society.   He is one of the directors whose name is synonymous with the direction and the Karnataka Government as a mark of respect to this Great director,  has been giving the highest award for the best  director every year as “Puttana Kangal” award.

·         G.V.Iyer a great director who along with Dr. Raj, Balakrishna, Narasimha Raju formed a Kannada troupe and produced the first historical Kannada Move “Ranadheera Kanteerava”

·         He directed three films in Sanskrit on the three great acharayas Sri. Sankaracharya,

·         Sri. Ramanujacharya and Sri. Madhvacharya.

·         Director Duo Dorai – Bhagavan who gave great hits of Dr. Rajkumar including the first of the James Bond movies in Kannada “Jedara Bale”,   “Eradu Kanasu”, “Kasthuri Nivasa” and many more

·         K.V.Jayaram who directed many Cinemas based on Kannada Novels

·         Some of the other important directors are Geetha Priya,  Bhargava who directed Bhagyavantharu ,  Vijay Reddy of Na ninna mareyalare fame.

Great Writers

Kannada Cinema saw very good writers whose Story, Screen play and Lyrics had a great impact on the overall Films popularity in the earlier days. Some of the Great writers were,

·         Chi.  Sadaashiviah -Father of the great Chi. Udayshankar was the prominent writer

·         Hunsur Krishnamurthy -  Who penned good Screen play and lyrics for  Mythological and Bhakti Saint movies.

·         R.N. Jayagopal, Son of the great R.Nagendra Rao. His contribution to the Kannada Cinema literature is very great.

·         Chi. Udayshankar – He was the one who was behind the success of Dr. Raj’s films. He has penned record number of songs in the Kannada Cinema history.

·         Geetha Priya – a very talented story writer and lyricist.

·         Doddarange Gowda another great writer gave Kannada Cinema screen play and lyrics a folklore touch. He wrote songs in the language spoken by the people in the villages of old Mysore region.  Parasangada Gende Thimma, Beluvalada Madillali  are some of his popular movies.

Great Composers

The Great composers of Kannada Cinema were,

·         T.G. Lingappa – Songs of Babruvahana were composed by this great composer

·         Vijaya Bhaskar – He gave the Kannada Cinema music a melodius touch. Majority of Puttana’s Movies had his compositions which includes Belli Moda, Sharapanjara, Gejje Pooje, Nagara Havu, and many more,

·         M.Ranga Rao – This great composer used Veena in all his compositions. His music was very melodious with a classical touch. Some of his films were Kavirathna Kalidasa,  Mududida Tavare Aralithu, etc.,

·         G.K.Venkatesh – His compositions inclue the greatest of movies like Bangarada Manushya, Kasthuri Nivasa, Sampattige Saval, Premada Kanike etc., He was the Guru of the famous Tamil Cinema composer Ilayaraja.

·         The famous duo Rajan-Nagendra gave a modern but melodious touch to the Kannada cinema music. Their composition include Eradu Kanasu, Gandhada Gudi, Na Ninna Mareyalare,  Hombisilu, Bayalu Dari, Chandanada Gombe and many more.

All the above composers’ music is still evergreen in the minds of the Kannada Cinema music lovers.

Great Actors

·         The first heroes of the Kannada Cinema were H.L.N. Simha and Subbiah Naidu

·         Nagendra Rao, B.R.Panthulu all contributed to the supporting Characters.

·         Balakrishna and Ashwath are the two names which come to the Kannada cinema lovers mind, who contributed greatly to supporting roles. Without them Kannada Cinemas were incomplete.

·         Another great actor who is synonymous with comedy is Narasimha Raju. Even to this day he is remembered as a great comedian, the Kannada Cinema has seen.

·         Among the Leading actors, Dada Saheb Palke winner Dr. Rajkumar is the most talented and popular personality in the Kannada Cinema world.  He is called the living legend of the Indian Cinema. He is a versatile actor who donned variety of roles including the Devotional, Historical, Mythological, Social Characters. He is one of the few actors in India who is also a talented playback Singer. He got national award for playback singing for the song “Nadamaya” from the movie “Jeevana Chaitra”.  Karnataka Government has instituted an award in his name to recognize the contribution of the Kannada film artistes.

·         Uday Kumar and Kalyan Kumar were other great actors who with Dr. Rajkumar were called as “Kumara Thrayaru” of the Kannada Cinema.

·         Vishnu Vardhan and Ambarish are the other two talented actors Kannada Cinema produced. Both of them were the discovery of Sri. Puttanna Kangal and both of them came to fame through the Great Movie “Nagara Havu” and still they are contributing to the Kannada Cinema.

·         Gangadhar a talented actor was the choice of Puttana in many of his films.

·         Srinath a great actor showed his acting capabilities in “Manasa Sarovara” directed by Puttanna. He was the romantic hero of the yesteryears and is popular with the Kannada cine lovers as “Pranaya Raja”.

·         Lokesh, son of Great Subbiah Naidu was a versatile actor. Some of his movies include Parasangada Gende thimma, Boothayanna Maga Ayyu etc.,

·         The brother duo of Ananth Nag and Shankar Nag has to be remembered for their contribution to the Kannada Cinema as actors. Anantnag mainly acted in the family dramas based on the Kannada Novels and later he switched over to leading comedy roles.

·         Shankar Nag was one of the dynamic personalities Kannada Cinema had seen. He was also a director. He directed the famous Teleserial “Malgudi Days”. Kannada Cinema lost this talented personality in a Road accident in 1990.

·         Dwarakish is another Great Comedian and Producer whose contribution to Kannada Cinema has to be remembered.

Great Actresses

·         Jayamma,  M.V. Rajamma, Prathima Devi were the first leading ladies of the Kannada Cinema.

·         Pandari Bai was called as the mother of Kannada Cinema,   as she had portrayed the character of Mother in many films to all the actors including Dr. Raj.

·         Other popular actresses were Jayashree,  Advani Lakshmidevi,  Papamma, Ramadevi, Lakshmidevi, R.T.Rama, B.Jaya. who showed their talents as supporting artistes.

·         Leelavathi was another talented artiste who did many films with Dr. Raj in the 60s.

·         Dr. Raj and Leelavathi pair was very popular in those days.

·         In 70s and 80s Kannada Cinema had many new talented actresses like Kalpana who gave a superb performance as Kaveri in the film Sharapanjara directed by Puttana Kanagal.

·         Jayanthi was another beautiful and talented actress and she has the credit for acting in the highest number of films with Dr. Raj as his Herione.

·         Another beautiful and talented actress Bharathi acted in many films with Dr. Raj .  Dr. Raj and Bharathi’s pair was the most popular of all. Their popular films include Bangarada Manushya, Doorada Betta, Sandhya Raga and many more.

·         Manjula , Arathi, Jayamala, Padmapriya  were other talented  actresses  in the 70s and 80s.

Kannada Parallel(Art) Cinema

In the Indian Parallel Cinema, Kannada parallel cinema has great reputation along with the Bengali Movies and Malayalam Movies.

·         B V Karanth, Girish Karnad and Girish Kasaravalli spearheaded the Kannada parallel cinema.

·         M.S.Sathyu, G.V.Iyer, Dr. Chandra Shekara Kambar, P. Lankesh , Prema Karanth, Shnakar Nag, Ramesh Naidu, Nagabharana, are some of the other great directors of the Kannada parallel Cinema.

·         Samskara, Vamshavruksha, Paniyamma , Kadu Kudure,  Hamsageethe, Chomana Dudi, Accident, Ghata Shradhdha, Akramana  , Mooru Dhaarigalu, Tabarana Kathe,Bannadha Vesha,  Mane, Kraurya, Taayi Saaheba, Dweepa are some of the national award and state award wining Kannada Parallel movies

·         B V Karanth entered the world of theatre at the age of seven as an actor and later turned into a director producing for stage, the works of renowned Kannada playwrights like P Lankesh, Girish Karnad and Kambar. He introduced folk idioms borrowed from Yakshagana, a folk art, to the stage. He also worked as the director of the National School of Drama.

Karanth’s debut in cinema as a director was with Vamsha Vriksha and later made the legendary Chomana Dudi. He also scored music for films from directors like G V Iyer, Mrinal Sen, M S Satyu and Girish Kasaravalli.

Ø        Vamsha Vriksha (1971)

Ø       Chomana Dudi (1975)  a film based on Dr. Shivaram Karanth’s Novel.

Ø       Kalla Kalla Bachitko (1975)

Ø       Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane (1977)

·         Presently, Girish Kasaravalli stands out to be the only filmmaker in the highly commercialized Kannada film industry to take forward the legacy of Pattabhi Rama Reddy and B V Karanth who started a strong parallel cinema movement, which is a strong contender to Malayalam and Bengali cinema. A gold medalist from the Pune Film Institute, Kasaravalli made his first film Ghata Shradha in 1977, which won him the National award for best film. Girish Kasaravalli won the National award for best film four times including for his latest film Dweepa.

Below are his award winning films.

Ø       Ghata Shradhdha (The Ritual-1977)

Ø       Akramana (The Siege-1979)

Ø       Mooru Dhaarigalu (Three Paths-1981)

Ø       Tabarana Kathe (The Story of Tabara-1987)

Ø       Bannadha Vesha (The Mask-1989)

Ø       Mane (The House-1989)

Ø       Kraurya (Cruelty-1996)

Ø       Taayi Saaheba (1998)

Ø       Dweepa (The Island-2002)

·         Girish Karnad is a noted playwright. He wrote his first play Yayati while in England. He became well known as a playwright with well acclaimed plays like Tughlaq and Hayavadana in his credit. He joined films as a scenarist and lead actor for Samskara. His directorial debut was with Vamsha Vriksha, along with B V Karanth.

Ø       Kaadu (1973)

Ø       Ondanondu Kaladalli (1978)

Ø       Utsav (1984)

Ø       Cheluvi (1992)

Ø       Kanuru Heggadathi

·       M.S.Sathyu was born in Mysore, Karnataka, M S Sathyu moved to Mumbai during the ’50s and directed several plays there His best known works are Garam Hava  in Hindi and Bara in Kannada. M S Sathyu currently is associated mainly with television and stage.

Ø       Garam Hava (1973)  – Hindi

Ø       Kanneshwara Rama (1977)

Ø       Chithegu Chinthe (1978)

Ø       Bara (1980)

·         Pattabhi Rama Reddy founded Jayanti Pictures and made Samskara a milestone Kannada film based on noted Kannada novelist U R Ananthamurthy’s novel, Samskara launched a cinematic version of the literary ‘Navya Movement’. The film helped New Indian Cinema gain a foothold in the South.

Ø       Samskara (1970)

Ø       Sringara Masa (1984)

Ø       Devara Kaadu (1993)

 Sampige Srinivasa
Bangalore
sampiges@hotmail.com

I have written about this subject several times in Kannada. This time I am writing in English to reach some Kannadigas who cannot read Kannada, but who can talk and understand Kannada. This article is written with each major section that is directly or indirectly affecting our Kannada movies and Kannada language.

What people talk about Kannada movies?

I have heard most of the Kannadigas and non-Kannadigas talking about Kannada movies badly. They always complain that there are no good movies made in Kannada. They start complaining about Jaggesh and Kashinath movies. For them, my question is, how many movies does Jaggesh act in every year? 3, 4 or 5 maximum ? That’s all. Kashinath stopped acting in movies long back. How can they just take Jaggesh and Kashinath as reference and criticize the whole of Kannada movies?  Is that the correct way of reviewing Kannada movies? If we go with this kind of comparison, there are similar actors to Jaggesh and Kashinath in every language. I don’t see any difference between Jaggesh and Govinda. Only difference is Govindas’ skin is white and he speaks “Hindi”.

Why people talk about Kannada movies like that?

Is it because of false propaganda or lack of advertisement, marketing or the bias reports of news media, magazines or is it because of lack of “Abhimaana”?

Most of the people (including Kannadigas) who talk bad about Kannada movies have not seen good Kannada movies or they just go by the newspaper and/or magazine’s reviews and believe that. Our Kannada newspapers criticized movies like “A” and ”OM” too. People who believe in newspapers certainly will not turn towards Kannada movies.

And one of my Kannada friend was not aware that in Kannada they make close to 80 to 90 movies every year. He was under the impression that, the numbers of total movies made every year are 4 or 5. That shows Kannadiga’s awareness about Kannada movies. But same people keep track of every other language movies and details up to date.

Actual Statistics

In Kannada, every year 80 to 90 movies are made. Out of that at least 10 movies will be good. Another 10 movies will be “Okay” kind of movies and remaining 60 will be junk. No doubt about that and I too agree with that. Okay, now we will go to our neighbors Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and our national language Hindi movies. The reason I am bringing our neighbors here is, our critics and people are comparing our Kannada movies against these other language movies.

I did some research and verified with my Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam friends. The above statistics match with Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam movies too. In last year there were only 4 “Hit” movies in Tamil. Being a Telugu as my mother tongue, I know what Telugu movies are up to?  2 heroines in every movie with some 6 songs and the same crazy names ending with “Mogudu”, ”Pellam”, “Dhonga”. (No creativity in naming also).  And god knows what’s there in Hindi movies except glamour. Hero or Heroines are born and die in Europe in every movie these days. Hindi movies are made specifically for NRIs these days. They don’t want to show our true India picture any more, because they don’t care about India. Do they?

Critics Comparison (With respect to What ??? )

So, our “critics” compare Kannada movies with these Tamil, Telugu, Hindi movies. Why such comparison is needed in the first place when Tamil, Telugu and Hindi movies are also rotten. Most of the Hindi movies are not only shot in Europe, USA but they also copy tunes, dance steps and everything from English Movies. Is that the creativity? Do our reviewers ever understand the difference between creativity and copying? Our Kannada critics have double standards in reviewing Kannada and other language movies. God knows what is the politics behind that.

 TV Media??

Okay, I will give a break about Kannada movies and it’s quality. What is happening with our Kannada TV media?  TV media is equally strong media like movie and it need not depend 100% on movies. It can cover vast subjects. Why can’t some Kannada entrepreneurs start some Kannada TV channel? When outsiders like Sun TV and ETV can open a Kannada channel, why can’t our own Kannadigas start some our own Kannada channel? Are we lacking “something” here? Do we have technical difficulties?

(Bangalore is Silicon Valley of Asia, Isn’t it?), Don’t we have enough resources for this? Don’t we have enough millionaires to invest in this kind of venture? Then what’s preventing our Kannadiga entrepreneurs to start some Kannada channel? So, without any analysis or study we can easily tell here that, it’s the problem with “our Kannadigas” in enterprising/exploring new things.

Who is preventing “criticizing Kannadigas” to step into and venture in making some new, good movies or starting a TV chancel? None. It’s just in our blood that, we just keep on criticizing our own people, culture, movies, media, everything and keep on praising what our neighbors do and we won’t take necessary steps at all to do some new things.

Newspapers

Who said Deccan Herald (DH) is Karnataka’s newspaper? They are located in Bangalore, for namesake. And they are located on MG Road and they can’t come to KG Road to review our Kannada movies or activities of Gandhi Nagar or write some encouraging articles about good Kannada movies. Many workers in DH are Tamilians. So, why would they write about Kannada movies? Every week there will be a article in DH in “Entertainment” section about every artist including clap boy from Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam or Hindi movies. But you can’t find an article about our directors like Desai, Nagathahalli, Upendra or music directors Hamsalekha, Gurkiran or not even about one of our best actors in India, Ananthnag. If this is the case, they can as well move to Andhra or Tamilnadu. Finally it looks like some of the news media in Karnataka are trying to kill Kannada movies systematically.

Do we ever advertise or take credit for our  “Achievement”?

Last year Punith Rajkumar’s maiden movie “Appu” was a huge hit in Kannada and this movie was remade in Telugu as “Idiot”, which was also a huge hit. Now this movie is being remade in Hindi and recently in interview in Sony TV the entire movie crew of Hindi version of “Appu” movie gave the credit to Telugu version of “Appu” (Idiot) and not even a single member of them mentioned about the original Kannada movie Appu. Same thing happened to Dr.Rajkumars’ movie “Anuraaga Aralithu” which was made in Telugu (Garana Mogadu), Tamil (Mannan) and then in Hindi (Jamai Raja) and finally credit went to Telugu/Tamil version. Same thing happened with many other Kannada movies. What it shows?   It is lack of campaigning about our own achievement? We are restricting our limits to Karnataka itself and sometimes not even with in Karnataka. Most of the people outside Karnataka don’t even know that Dr.Rajkumar is a singer too. Is it the fault of news media or achievers themselves or who else????????

People – What is the ethnic distribution in Bangalore ?

Everyone knows that there are only 45% of Kannadigas in Bangalore and the remaining are non-Kannadigas.( The definition of non-Kannadigas is left to individual here)  Interesting thing and fact here is, the other 40% or 45% of the population of  Bangalore who think they are non-Kannadigas are living in Bangalore for more than 50 to 100 years.  Their mother tongue is Tamil or Telugu or Malayalam or Hindi. Do they consider themselves as “Kannadigas” or not? That is left to the individual. Being a Telugu as my mother tongue, I consider myself as a Kannadiga as I was born and brought up in Karnataka. Does majority of such non-Kannada speaking people consider themselves as Kannadigas? If they consider so and if they start watching Kannada movies or start thinking that they too belong to the place where they live from 50 years, then it will be all together a different story. Unfortunately it is not that presently.

Mathadhana –50 Days. But any average Tamil/Telugu movie–100 Days,25 weeks.

It is very sad that the great movie Mathadhana couldn’t even complete 100 days and that means it has not reached many, many people. Also it means that not all Kannadiags are supporting good Kannada movies and other non-Kannadiags who are in Karnataka from last 50-100 years are also not supporting/watching Kannada movies. And these non-Kannadigas support their “mother tongue” (Tamil,Telugu,etc.) movies in Karnataka irrespective of the quality of the movie.

Mathadhana movie had a good story and neat narration and excellent acting by great actors Ananthnag,Devaraj and Avinash. But the movie was NOT shot in Europe or USA and the movie was made in Kannada language. Probably this is the reason why it didn’t run for even 100 days in Karnataka. But most irritating part here is even 3d class and average Tamil,Telugu,Hindi movies runs for 50-100 days easily in Bangalore.

Tamil, Telugu movie land – Are they really big market ?   How ?

Our cosmopolitan Kannadigas criticize Shivaraj Kumar because he is dark in complexion, where as in Tamil/Telugu people don’t care for the skin color of the hero. They support every hero irrespective of their color and there is no chance to screen other language movies in those states. So, naturally the native movie land grows there. And their cousins who are settled in Karnataka from last 100 years still go and watch “only” their mother tongue movies. That’s how their movie land is growing big. In Tamil movie land people support heroes like Vijayakanth, Parthiban, Pandyan,Vijay, etc, etc. And Telugu people are really happy and will encourage any Telugu movie as long as there are 6 good songs, dances and 2 heroines. But we Kannadigas keep on criticizing for every movie. With our attitude problem, will the Kannada movie land ever come up?

Root Cause?

It is definitely Kannadigas and Kannadigas’ lack of Abhimaana for their language.

When we don’t have concerns about our own language, outsiders can easily take up and occupy our place, position and we will be outsiders in our own land very soon.

Whom to Blame?

Producers of Kannada movies have to be blamed first.  They should fight for screening good Kannada movies and restrict the Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam movies to only limited theatres. Why good Kannada movies are removed from the theatres even when they were doing well at box office and given to other language movies. But why our producers are also keeping quite about this? This is a big puzzle for me. Why can’t at least producers and directors of good movies come out and protest against such things?

Was there any sincere effort made to promote at least good Kannada movies in Kerala, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh or Maharastra any time?  And our people will watch Roja movie in theatre 3 or 4 times and will watch a great movie like “Mutthina Haara” in T.V.

What can be done to improve our Kannada movie land ? Some Suggestions..

One measure is to stop screening some rotten and junk Tamil, Telugu movies in Karnataka and start giving preference to good Kannada movies FIRST. If they enforce this rule strictly, good movies like Mathadana, Naaga Mandala, and Amrutha Varshini can reach more and more people including both Kannadigas and non-Kannadigas.

Dubbing of Tamil, Telugu movies to Kannada language should be introduced instead of directly releasing in their languages. By this means at least producers and distributors of other language movies will think twice before dubbing all their movies. This will also give at least some jobs/work to Kannada artists and local non-Kannadigas will start learning Kannada at least by this means.

1) By Government

When they make close to 100 movies per year in Kannada movie industry why can’t somebody or government start a state-of-the-art  Movie Institute in Karnataka so that new local talents can study, explore new things in movie industry. When there are 100’s of engineering and medical colleges exists in Karnataka why can’t  film studies be taught like professional courses too. A state which has 5 crores population definitely deserves one good film institute

2) By Kannadigas

I haven’t seen many Kannadigas talking proudly or educating non-Kannadigas about our good Kannada movies like Om, Amruth Varshini, Nammoora Mandara Hoove, America America, Naaga Mandala, Mathadana, Beladhingala Baale, A, etc, etc. Because they themselves haven’t seen above-mentioned good movies. They just keep on praising other language movies.  It’s high time that our Kannadigas should start feeling proud about good Kannada movies and stop assuming that “all other language movies” are “always good”, which is not the case.

Another important thing is Kannadiags and some people within movie land should stop “asking” or “questioning” about Dr.Rajkumar’s contributions to Kannada movie land and start doing something constructive instead of just blaming Dr.Rajkumar for everything. No one can take control of such a big industry (60 to 70 crores turn over every year). There is no point in blaming Dr.Rajkumar for everything. Dr.Raj has given his contributions to Kannada movie in his own way. We can’t ask/demand only Dr.Raj for every good thing to happen in Kannada movie land. There are many others too. And should we depend upon a single person for everything? We shouldn’t. Blame game will not take us anywhere. It is important that everyone take the initiative to start correcting the problems. At the same time Raj family should seriously think about making DVDs or VCDs and original video cassettes of Dr.Raj movies for NRI-Kannadiags first.

3) By producers and distributors of Kannada movies

Our Kannada producers/distributors should start aggressive marketing. There are some extraordinary movies made in Kannada too and those movies struggled to run even 50 days sometimes. That is because of theatre problem, advertising, reviews, word of mouth, etc,etc. Producers have to be more aggressive and they have to fight in getting good theatres first. They should screen good Kannada movies in some good theatres. If I want to watch a good Kannada movie in good theatres like Urvarshi, Lido or Pallavi, it’s a dream or impossible. But for a Tamilian who is living in a hut or on footpath in Bangalore can watch his favorite hero MGR’s movie in a class theatre like Pallavi where morning shows is reserved for MGR, Shivaji Ganeshan’s movies.  This is extreme. Shame on our Kannadigas who are sitting quietly and watching all these happenings.

Most irritating part is when other language people come and ask us “Why there are no good Kannada movies made in Kannada?” Those people haven’t seen any faces other than their state heroes. They don’t know that there is an actor called “Ananthnag” in Kannada.  They haven’t heard about Vishnuvardhan much. That means in their states Kannada movies are not at all screened and nothing is written in their local newspapers.  By watching only their language movies how they can come to the conclusion that Tamil or Telugu or Malayalam movies are superior over Kannada. Aren’t they frogs in the well?  At least we Kannadigas have a chance to do a comparison between 4/5 language movies and can say which are good and which are bad. I am really surprised when other state people come and criticize our Kannada movies without knowing a bit about good Kannada movies and background. Whom to blame for this? Why there is no effort to screen good Kannada movies in Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradhesh,Kerala or Maharastra ?

Excellent, class movie “Om” was released exactly 10 years back in 1993.  Till now there is no original video cassette or VCD or DVD released by the producers/authorized rights holders of this movie. If this is the kind of marketing we do, when and where our Kannada movie land will expand or grow? Even though I have watched the “OM” movie 6 times, I am ready now also to buy the original video cassette or VCD or DVD of “Om” movie at least 25 copies for me. (I would like to give it as a present/gift to friends on occasions) Is anybody in movie land listening to my request/suggestion? I am sure there are many movies like Om. There are no original video cassettes/VCDs/DVDs of many, many, many good Kannada movies. And surprising thing is, we can’t find even Dr.Rajkumar’s original movies collection in video format in USA too.  This shows how poor we Kannadigas are in marketing our own strength.

Finally it is the “Chicken or Egg Problem” with our people and the movie land. Without proper and aggressive marketing, we can’t expand our market and we ourselves without encouraging good Kannada movies our movie land will not grow/expand.

To say in simple words, we have problem at both the ends. Kannadiga’s attitude has to change and at the same time producers should change their marketing/distributing techniques to reach more Kannadigas and to make Kannada movies more popular.

(Comparison made with other language movies here are only for giving the facts and not to criticize the other language movies. Good and bad movies are made in every language including English/Hollywood. People just should not assume that bad movies are made only in Kannada and good movies are made in all other languages except Kannada.)

 Lakshmikanth V
vlakshmikanth@yahoo.com

Traditionally most of the Kannadigas in Bangalore reside in the North West (Malleswara, Rajajinagara, Yeshavantpura), West (Basaveshwarnagra, Vijaynagara), South West (Chamarajpete, Hanumanthnagara, Banashankari all stages, etc.,)  and Southern (Basavanagudi, Jayanagara, J.P Nagara, KuvempuNagara popularly known as BTM Layout) Parts of Bangalore and The North East(Cantonment areas like Fraser town, Cox town, Banaswadi etc.,), East (Ulsoor, Indiranagara, Jeevanbhimanagara) and South Eastern (Koramangala, H.S.R Layout)  Parts of Bangalore are mainly occupied by Non-Kannadigas who have migrated from other states.

These non-kannadigas are very intelligent. They know where the concentration of Non-kannada speaking population in Bangalore are and selected Airport Road(Innovative Multiplex) and Koramanagala (PVR Cinemas) for starting their multiplexes, so that they can target and cater to the Telugu, Tamil and Hindi speaking people who form the majority of the non-kannadiga population in Bangalore.

So you see Telugu, Tamil and Hindi movies running full houses in these multiplexes. But we can see that our Kannada films are having negligible number of audiences in these multiplexes, even though these films are running full house in Kempegowda Road theatres and other parts of Bangalore.

We are to be blamed for the poor performance of Kannada Movies at these multiplexes. More and more good Kannada movies should be screened in these multiplexes and more and more Kannadigas should come and watch good Kannada movies in these multiplexes. Else there will be no place for Kannada movies in the multiplexes.

Another worrying thing is that some of the Traditional Kannadiga majority places of Bangalore like Malleswara, Jayanagar, Banashankari are being occupied by many non-kannadigas and the kannada environment has started vanishing from these areas. You can see Sampige theatre in Malleswara screening Tamil Movies and Kamakya and Eashwari theatres in Banashankari (Kattarguppe) are always screening Telugu and other language movies. Coming to Jayanagar Puttana theatre is closed; Urvashi and Swagath are always screening only Hindi movies. So there is only one Nanda theatre left for Kannadigas in this area.

Many of our own Kannadigas who have migrated from other parts of the state have a tendency to settle in the Northern and Western parts of our City. For example most of the North Karnataka kannadigas are settled in Rajaji nagar, Basaveshwarnagar, Mahalaksmi Layout, Vijayanagara etc.,.

So Kannadigas need to equally distribute themselves across all areas of Bangalore especially in the North-east, East, South and South-east. Else we cannot stop these non-kannadigas from completely taking over these parts and make Kannada vanish from these areas in few years.

 Sampige Srinivasa
Bangalore
sampiges@hotmail.com