'Indian films, music hold universal appeal'
By A Draft Correspondent
The five-day SCO Film Festival commenced on 27 January 2023 with a spectacular opening ceremony at NCPA in Mumbai. Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting Anurag Thakur, Minister of State Meenakshi Lekhi, actors Hema Malini, Poonam Dhillon, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Esha Gupta, Elli AvrRam were among the dignitaries who were in attendance.
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| Veteran actor Asha Parekh was felicitated at the SCO Film Festival |
Formed in 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is the world's largest regional organisation in terms of geographic scope and population, covering approximately 60 per cent of the area of Eurasia, 40 per cent of the world population and more than 30 per cent of global GDP. India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are member nations of this group.
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| Dignitaries and members of the film industry at the opening ceremony |
The SCO Film Festival will screen 57 films, in total, of which 14 films have been nominated in the Competition Section of the festival. These include Pan Nalin's Oscar short-listed Gujarati film 'Chhello Show' and Nikhil Mahajan's award-winning Marathi film 'Godavari'.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister Anurag Thakur said, "Indian movies are a rage across SCO countries and have played a great role in people-to-people connections." He said showcasing the diversity of films and styles of film-making from the SCO region is a major goal of the film festival that provides an incredible opportunity to forge cinematic partnership between the countries of this region.
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| Film-makers from the SCO countries were felicitated during the opening ceremony |
During the opening ceremony, the promo of the 52-part animation series, produced by Central Bureau of Communication in collaboration with Graphiti Multimedia on behalf of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, 'Bharat Hai Hum', was released. It is an attempt to tell the story of known and unknown freedom fighters to children and has been created as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. Veteran playback singer Sudesh Bhosale has given the voice over for the series.
'Creating Infinite Worlds using Animation'
Day One of the film festival began with the screening of the Gujarati film The Last Film Show along with screenings of Mom I’m Alive! From Kazakhstan, Podelniki (The Riot) from Russia, B for Busy from China and Marathi film Godavari.
A Panel Discussion was held on 'Creating Infinite Worlds Using Animation' where Director and COO of Graphiti Multimedia Munjal Shroff and CEO of Toonz Animation Jayakumar Prabhakaran shared their experiences in working in the Indian animation industry and their visions for its growth. The session was moderated by Vice President at Whistling Woods International Chaitanya Chinchilkar.
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| Panelists during the session on 'Creating Infinite Worlds using Animation' |
Jayakumar Prabhakaran took the opportunity to shed light on social dimensions of animation content. He spoke about how children pick up habits and entire ways of being from cartoons, which is why, cinema and television play a leading role in cultural invention.
The session focused on how Indian folkore has grabbed attention of audiences worldwide and characters like Tenali Raman and Akbar-Birbal have captured the imagination of several generations. Panelists also talked about the challenges they faced early in their careers to promote local content as partnerships with leading global brands and distributors proved economically unviable.
First In-Conversation Of The Festival
The first-ever In-Conversation session at Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Film Festival witnessed a packed hall. Panelists included film-maker Ramesh Sippy, film-maker and writer Rahul Rawail and veteran actor Asha Parekh who discussed Indian cinema’s rising popularity in the SCO region and the factors that make Indian cinema so endearing.
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| Panelists during the In-Conversation session at the film festival |
Rahul Rawail spoke about how film-maker Raj Kapoor was liked by people not only in USSR but also in Iran and Turkey. He added it was the simplicity of characters in cinema that blurred boundaries. While Asha Parekh insisted music was the reason behind such strong connections.
Ramesh Sippy also talked about his experiences while making Chandni Chowk to China and how he was mesmerised by the hardworking and cooperative nature of Chinese citizens. He also lauded the presence of Kung-Fu and action sequences in Chinese cinema.
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| The film festival aims to bring the best of cinema from SCO countries |
The panelists discussed how the charm of Indian cinema attracted viewers and that emotions are universal. Popularity of films like Secret Superstar in China is a testament to how stigma prevalent in society can be a common denominator for people across the region.
The Shanghai Cooperatiom Organisation Film Festival hosted veterans from the film industry in multiple sessions. In addition to film screenings, discussions were held on various subjects ranging from music to animation and intellectual property rights.
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