Film producer pleads for industry tag

A personality from the film industry has said that the Kannada film industry in Karnataka is looking forward to some dynamic decisions relating to the ailing film sector.

One hope is that the film industry in Karnataka will get the industry tag on a par with the neighbouring states. Recognition as an industry will go a long way in bettering the prospects of the film industry which had been a leading sector in the 1970s and the 1980s.

Reviewing the past and the present status of the film industry in Karnataka in Mysore on Monday, veteran film producer and a spokesman of the film chamber S V Rajendra Singh Babu also urged the state government to liberalise the theatre policy, support and encourage multiplexes and mini-theatres, simplify rules and regulations relating to setting up of theatres, enforce Goonda Act to check video piracy as has been done in the other states.

While pointing out that the urgent need for the industry recognition, Babu said that the Reserve Bank of India had already done so. Karnataka government alone had failed to give the status to the film industry, he said pointing out that the film industry had become a corporate sector today.

The lack of recognition of the sector as an industry had put a financial burden of around Rs 3 crore required for producing a Kannada film on one producer. The producer's concern therefore will be on the revenue prospects of a film and as a result quality became a victim, Babu said.

He also suggested subsidy for good novels which can be turned into good and quality films.

Babu, who has produced over 50 films, including a few in Hindi, recalled how Kannada films had set a trend in the 1970s and 1980s, but is in a dismal position today. "While Tamil Nadu has 2,700 theatres, Karnataka has only around 900,? he said, citing an example.

He also pointed out that between 15,000 and 20,000 people were engaged in the industry.

Explaining the hassels faced by the film industry in Karnataka, Babu lamented that no Kannadiga has launched an exclusive Kannada channel in the state and consequently the industry had to be at the mercy of TV channels of other states.

"Even Vijay Mallya has launched a channel in Tamil. It is not difficult for business magnetes to launch a Kannada channel in Karnataka," he said and welcomed the reported proposal of 'Kannada Kasthuri' channel by chief minister H D Kumaaraswamy.

Rajendra Singh Babu pleaded again that Mysore be made the Hollywood of Karnataka and Bangalore, its Los Angeles.

"Mysore has the requisite facilities for being revived as the film industry capital of Karnataka. No one will come if a well-equipped film studio is set up some 50 miles away from Bangalore. Besides, studios are not a successful proposition in Bangalore. Mysore is the right place and the chief minister is interested in this proposal," he added.