lets get back to our roots..

11^th Mumbai Film Festival organized by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images was a treat of World Cinema. The festival kicked off from 29th October to the Closing ceremony in J W Marriott on the 5^th November. The festival was divided into five categories that are International Cinema, Dimensions Mumbai, Retrospective, Indian Frame, Above the Cut.

The category which excites the most to Indians is Indian Frame which opened with a regional Film “Rita” a directorial debut by Renuka Shahane . It was the most memorable and proudest moment for Renuka as well as the audience who made it to the morning 10 o clock show. The cast and the crew of Rita were present during the screening. Throughout the festival for the Indian Frame section regional films kept the audience brewing for more. Films like “Gandha” by Sachin Kundalkar, “Vihir” by Umesh Kulkarni, “Natarang” by Ravi Jadhav, “Abhomaan” by Ritupornasen Ghosh, and “Janala” by Buddhadeb Dasgupta were applauded by the film lovers around the world who attended the festival. Every film inspite of the language barrier connected to its audience in a most conventional way.

Regional films strike a chord within every Indian heart more than any international film. Every image on screen conveys its flavor to the person watching the film. You feel for the character in the film with whom you cry or smile with while watching the film. It is always seen in regional films that the filmmakers keep in mind all the distinct details with regard to the story, location,cast,music, dialogues etc while making movies. Regional films are the roots of Indian cinema and are authentic in their mode of expression.

In India regional films are neglected in comparison with our very own “BOLLYWOOD”. International filmmakers find Indian cinema completely different where they agree to the fact that Indian movies are Paisa Vasool movies. Film festivals are a platform to show the true talent and creativity of an Indian filmmaker who uses cinema as a medium of expressing emotions through cinematic techniques. Indian cinema is forgetting the roots and moving on to commercialization where the movies bank on entertainment value. The fact remains that regional cinema may not have expensive sets, loud music, or successful stars but it still has the depth in story, true emotion, excellent cinematography, natural sounds and a place for you to identify with the movie. One quality which differentiates Bollywood from regional films is that regional cinema are adaptiions of literature works which includes written texts, poems, short stories, novels etc. This is the rich quality which raises the standard of filmmaking and helps in contribution to cinematic excellence.