NIRDPR hosts film fest on rural development

Rajendranagar: The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) hosted the 4th National Film Festival on Rural Development on Wednesday.

As a part of NIRDPR 61 Foundation Day, the event was organised as a platform to inspire young filmmakers to showcase their talent and promote films based on rural issues and document films on rural development.

The chief guest of the event, Dr Rajkumar Upadhyay, Additional DG, Doordarshan & AIR (South Zone), noted that films have lasting imprints on the minds of the viewers. He lauded the efforts filmmakers for their contribution to the rural development sector, which would impact rural India. He stressed the media's role in promoting various developmental schemes provided by the government to help in structural transformation of rural India.

Dr Upadhyay noted that programmes and skill certification schemes under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) were enabling a large number of Indian youth to take up industry-relevant skill training that would help them in securing a better livelihood.

"With the data revolution in the country, internet has become available to nook and corners. More movies should be made on the best practices by government so that a majority of the population gets to know about them. Majority of India resides in the villages and if the villages are developed, then the country will progress inclusively," he said.

In her opening remarks, Radhika Rastogi, Deputy Director General, NIRDPR, said that movies have a strong impact on the viewers and can easily impart knowledge among the people.

"Films as a medium have massive outreach across the country. In India, movies are made in large numbers and even the Hollywood movies like Avatar and Matrix draw their ideas from Indian philosophy. From the days of Dadasaheb Phalke's Raja Harishchandra to the Bahubali era, the Indian movies have a universal appeal. They strike an emotional note with the audiences across the globe," she observed.

Recalling the instance of a woman sarpanch who had carried out mosquito eradication in her village and threw a challenge to pay Rs 1000 to anyone who could find a mosquito in the village, Radhika Rastogi said movies should be made, based on such interesting happenings.

Joining the meeting via video conferencing, Dr W R Reddy, DG, NIRDPR, said that despite sarpanches in India doing phenomenal work, seldom the stories of such works reach media and others across the country. Prof Rekha Pande, University of Hyderabad, Seema Muralidhara, Director-Producer, Beacon TV, Mumbai and Jyoti Kapur Das, independent writer-director, Mumbai, took part on deliberations. Dr. Akanksha Shukla, Head, Centre for Development Documentation and Communication and also the Coordinator of the Film Festival, presented the concept note.