Filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli speaks duribg in an interaction programme organised by Bahumukhi in Shivamogga on August 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Eminent and award-winning filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli has said that none of his films were flops commercially. “Almost all of my films did well commercially, too,” said Kasaravalli, considered the doyen of Indian parallel cinema, in an interaction in Shivamogga on Saturday (August 24, 2024).
His debut film, Ghatashraddha, based on writer U.R. Ananthamurthy’s story, had a budget of around ₹2 lakh. For reasons, the budget went up by ₹20,000, which was a lot of money in the 1970s. “However, later, the film earned around ₹8 lakh. Now, the same has been restored by spending about ₹40 lakh, and it will be screened at the Venice International Film Festival (August 28 to September 7)”, he said.
Except for Illiralaare Allige Hogalaare, which has not been released so far, Mr. Kasaravalli said all of his films saw a good commercial run. “There have been a few hundred Kannada commercial films so far. Of them, hardly a few were a huge success financially. I know many producers lost their houses and other properties after making investments in films,” he said.
A commercial venture
Mr. Kasaravalli lamented that filmmaking had turned into a commercial venture. “As the process of making a film begins, it is seen as a product, not a piece of art. The purpose of art is to enlighten, not just to entertain. Unless it does not respond to the present (sadya) and the everlasting time (sarvakaalika), it does not become a piece of art,” he suggested.
Responding to the recent trend of making reels using new technologies, Kasaravalli said the advances in technology opened access to all and, in a way, democratised filmmaking. “However, filmmaking is not just a technique. It needs an understanding of history, tradition, among several other things,” he stated.
He said that at present he was working on a film based on Ananthamurthy’s another story, Akasha mattu Bekku.
Bahumukhi, a forum of people interested in art, literature, theatre and films, organised the interaction programme.
