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T-town skewed act stings small filmmakers
The hype and hoopla and loads of appreciation pouring in from stars and directors for Baahubali and Kanche for bagging national film awards has given a reason for the industry to celebrate. But did the T-town treat the relatively small filmmakers who bagged coveted national award in the last one decade and more in the same way?
Even though Rajamouli and Krish are bombarded with appreciation for bagging national awards for Baahubali and Kanche for 2015, there are other unsung winners like Narasimha Nandi, Satish Kasetty, and Praveen Sattaru who had tough time to prove themselves as commercial filmmakers
Hyderabad: The hype and hoopla and loads of appreciation pouring in from stars and directors for Baahubali and Kanche for bagging national film awards has given a reason for the industry to celebrate. But did the T-town treat the relatively small filmmakers who bagged coveted national award in the last one decade and more in the same way?
“Frankly, there is little respect for national award winners in T-town,” rues director Narasimha Nandi, who bagged the national award for his film 1940 lo Oka Gramam. “Unlike in Malayalam, Tamil and Marathi cinema where national award filmmakers are treated with respect and hailed as highly-talented and stars wish to work with them, in Tollywood no big hero is ready to neither listen to our scripts nor a producer willing to make a film with us,” he said.
Narasimha Nandi further says that Telugu filmmakers don't even send their movies for national jury, since only 10 out of 100 films were sent. “That's the value they have for national awards,” he adds. Frustrated with lack of encouragement for quality cinema, Narasimha Nandi chose a sleazy route with loads of skin show in his subsequent films like ‘“High School’ and ‘Lajja’.
“These films were made out of frustration and High School made big money and I proved that I can make a money spinner but now I regret it,” he confesses. Similarly, even new-age director Praveen Sattaru who bagged national award for Chandamama Kathalu had to make a dark entertainer ‘Guntur Talkies’ to prove that he can make money-spinners too.
Whereas, another director Satish Kasetty who bagged national award for his film ‘Hope’, recently made a path-breaking film ‘Terror’ but won only critical acclaim. “T-town has double standards as far as national award is concerned. If an unknown director like me wins it no one bothers to appreciate us, but if a popular director wins it, they go hammer and tongs” he said.
However, another national award winning director Neelakanta begs to differ. “National award for best screenplay for my film ‘Show’ fetched me loads of appreciation since T-town treats award winners with respect. I could make my kind of cinema with films like ‘Missamma’ and ‘Maya’, so national award is like a new feather in your cap,” he concludes.
