Can film literature be part of literary meets? This is a question that has been debated upon since ages as such meets usually do not give importance to film literature although film literature has immense power to move the audience.
For the first time, a unique experiment was conducted at the 13th National Literary Meet organised by Kadambini at KIIT campus in Bhubaneswar on Sunday, January 20, where in award winning Kannada film director P Sheshadri was invited to present a paper on film literature.
Substantiating his claim as to why film literature should be part of mainstream literature meet, Sheshadri said, “I am basically a film director with nine movies to my credit. Of the nine movies, I have penned the story for five movies. However, it still does not qualify me to be a writer because the literary world does not really recognise film writing as “true literature”. Since I began my career as director, I have loved making society-oriented movies. Only two of my movies were based on stories taken from the literary world and the rest dealt with issues and aspects of our society. The problems or contradictions we see around us. I could make such films surrounded by who consider films are a mere medium of entertainment.”
Thanking KIIT and KISS founder Dr Achyuta Samanta for taking a bold step by including film literature in the prestigious meet, Sheshadri said, “You (Dr Achyuta Samanta) still have invited me here to be a part of this event (National Literary Meet), which is meant for writers. It means you recognise and appreciate our film literature. I am thankful to you for bestowing this honour to me.”‘
Presenting his paper, Sheshadri said he was now mulling the subject for his next film. “I was recently stumped by a school student who wanted to know why great Indian leaders and freedom fighters were identified by some as representatives of a particular caste/community. The student said he was confused by these contradictions and now he asked me whom should he trust? I was really shocked by his question and did not have any answer. When I discussed the issue with my friends, they suggested me to make a movie on intolerance as this is the current subject that has been debated the most. My friends are confident that if I make a movie on this subject, it will surely win awards. My question is what next? What to do if I win one more award when we are in the midst of Award wapsi movement?”
During the event, the meet’s founder Dr Samanta lauded the efforts of Sheshadri for his contribution to Indian cinema and how his stories have always been debated the most and focussed on the issues plaguing the society.
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