The Reckless Attitude

I was really surprised; In a shocking and absolutely a chauvinistic move, the Kannada film producers have gone for a resolution to ban movies of any other language other than Kannada for first 8 weeks of release. A Non-Kannada movie can be screened only after 8 weeks of its release in other states. Kannada people get to see Non-Kannada movies only after 8 weeks , when entire country gets to watch them much before.

The reason being the policy makers in the state of Karnataka recently reduced entertainment tax for non Kannada from 70% to 40%. It seems this will encourage distributors to screen more other language movies and they will not screen the native Kannada language movie. Hence to resolve this, Ban every other movie from every other language so that people are forced watch Kannada movies, regardless of the quality.

Today, Bangalore being a top cosmopolitan are one among top movie distribution hubs. By this ban, the most affected will be Tamil and Telugu industries, where the distribution is much wider than Kannada production.

Instead of fighting over false language chauvinism I would rather go and explore why there is no big market for Kannada movies. Many of my friends are from the state of Karnataka, most watch Tamil, Hindi and Telugu movies; they often tell me there is no great quality production from Kannada as in these languages. They feel for it but at the same time they don’t mind cross culture. Kannada people in whom I know are really broad minded.

For an Indian movie maker, if he or she has the censor certificate and permission, they have every right to screen any movies in place or location they want. I hope Kannada film personalities are still part of Indian Union, their talent does not grow by suppressing other Indian Talents,

I agree Tamil Nadu had problem in taking Hindi, however no producer in Tamil Nadu went for a ban for Hindi movies in the state. They did not sit and brood over Hindi domination. Talent cannot be suppressed, Tamilnadu gave Ilaayaraja, A.R.Rahman, Mani Ratham, Kamalhassan, the Rajinikanth phenomenon, and many more top film personalities with genuine talent are thriving in the film south Indian film industry. Same goes with Telugu, many top producers and super stars are from there. Both the industry work together today.

Moreover when Hindi industry went international, producers and directors in Tamil and Telugu improved drastically to match the standards. Today from an international point of view, Bollywood takes the first place in India, However Tamil and Telugu are closely behind Hindi in production quality. Hindi industry is facing a tough competition from southern ranks; this is a healthy competition where industries of all the three languages thrive.

I am very sure, if Kannada producers provide the same quality, natives of Kannada will go for watching Kannada movies. It disheartens me when I see a ban on movies produced in the same country by a fellow Indian.

Kannada movies makers need to improve in their production quality rather than insulting their country men.