Children’s Film Festival should be an annual affair: Gulzar

Lyricist and veteran filmmaker Gulzar who has been on the forefront when it comes to promoting and encouraging children’s films hoped that Children’s Film Festivals are conducted on an annual basis. “They should be held in every state. It would be difficult for children of North India and other parts of the country to come and catch the festival in Hyderabad,” he said. He was speaking at the press meet organized by Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI) just before the 18th Intentional Children’s Film Festival (ICFFI) was officially declared open on Thursday inHyderabad.

Accompanied by the Festival Director and CEO of CFSI, Dr Shravan Kumar and Bollywood Superstar Ranbir Kapoor, he blamed the Indian filmmakers for not associating with children’s films on a regular note. “We are making less films compared to West. We don’ have theatres that screen children’s films any longer. Television should also give a space to screen children’s films since it is the medium that kids tune into after school,” he said and added, “I will be meeting the concerned ministry soon. I will not stop making my efforts.”

Sharavan Kumar assured that best of children’s films, which have received international acclaim, would be screened during the festival. “Besides receiving 26 films from South America, a first of a kind from the region, we have sourced films from Cannes Film Market. The festival will be superior to all the previous festivals in terms of both content and the projection quality,” he said and added that special attraction would be the lecture on marketing master class. “An international expert would be giving his inputs on how to market out films globally.”

“The festival will also host a section, special focus on children with special needs, delivered through dedicated film screenings”, he added further.

Ranbir, who expressed his happiness on sharing the dais with Gulzar for the first time, said the festival is a platform that encourages entertainment apart from imparting education to children. “Children are the toughest individuals to be impressed upon. They are the best judges of a film. Anything that is done to them will not go as a waste. We should be able to make movies that they can relate too,” said Ranbir. He cited the example of Hollywood film ‘Shrek’, which was made for children but had a universal appeal.

Stating that he enjoyed watching ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ and ‘Rani Aur Lalpari’ when he was a kid, he said that he is making a film ‘Jagga Jasoos’ for children. “It is a children’s detective film. I am playing an 18-year-old kid in the film. Anurag Basu will be directing it,” he revealed.

He cautioned that if a filmmaker wants to cast a child in his film, he should be able give time for the kid to balance his studies on shoot. “For a child, education should be the top most priority,” he said.

On a lighter note, when asked why he is producing ‘Jagga Jasoos’ on Picture Shuru Production instead of his grandfather’s (the late Raj Kapoor) iconic banner RK Films, he answered, “I’m producing the film along with Anurag. Therefore, we thought it would be fair to start a new banner. If there’s an opportunity in the future, I would definitely revive RK films,” he assured.