No child’s play

Nandita Das, who has taken over as chairperson of the Children’s Film Society of India,
plans to focus on quality children’s movies, says Vikram V K

Actress and chairperson of the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI), Nandita Das feels that the Indian film industry, despite earning the distinction of producing the largest number of films, has been unable to churn out quality children movies.

"While countries like Iran and China have set new standards in children’s cinema, Indian film industry is lagging behind in this arena despite churning out huge number of films," Nandita, who took over as chief of the CFSI recently, said here.

Outlining her agenda, the acclaimed actor-director said she wanted to fill this gap in quality films, focussing on children’s issues, adding that this would be the top priority during her three-year tenure. "It is not the numbers but the quality that counts. The CFSI has produced many films. We have almost about 300 films in our library of which 150-200 films are produced by the CFSI. It’s not enough to produce movies but produce good quality films for children," the filmmaker said.

As part this endeavour, Nandita is scouting for good filmmakers to produce children’s movies. "I have also changed the script committee. We are getting better people to choose the scripts because scripts are the backbone of any film. This year, we hope to produce better films," she said. "Also, I am trying to reduce the number of films that we produce but concentrate on better quality and for that we are also talking to various mainstream filmmakers," she said.

The actor also expressed concern over country’s mainstream filmmakers not focussing on children’s cinema. "The world over, you see so many children’s films and there is such a great demand as well. But, you do not see enough films coming out of India," Nandita said. She said the 16th Children’s Film Fest, being held here from November 14 to 20, would have an Open Forum on the theme ‘Why are Children’s Films Invisible in India?’

Nandita, a well-known face associated with parallel cinema in the country, has acted in several critically acclaimed films like Fire (1996), Earth (1998), Bawandar (2000) and Aamaar Bhuvan (2002).

The actor made her directorial debut with Firaaq (2008), which won a number of national and international awards, including Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) by Government of France. Nandita ruled out any plans to direct a children’s film during her three-year tenure at the Film Society.

"If I do a children’s film, then people might say I am misusing the Chairperson’s position. This is a learning process for me," she said.

"I do hope that after these three years, I will definitely be inspired and hopefully you will see a children’s film," she added. — PTI

HOME