It is gratifying to note that the present Karnataka Government has taken a step forward with regard to formation of Kannada Chalanachitra Academy, a step which was pending for implementation for a long time after the recommendation made by V.N.Subba Rao committee in its report on State Film Policy.

The Academy has many laudable objectives and it needs a systematic approach on the part of this newly constituted body to implement it in a meaningful way. It should be noted that as the name itself suggests its activities are more academic in nature and definitely not a body that is created to find panacea for all the ills of the Kannada film industry.

It merits importance to recall here the exuberance with which we welcomed the formation of Karnataka Film Industry Development Corporation several years back when it was formed. Its objective was purely to address all the problems of the Film Industry. It is not known now what role it has so far played and what its present form of existence is.

The first film enquiry committee headed by S.K.Patil in its report, in 1951, strongly recommended formation of a Film Council (Similar to Academy) to develop a healthy film culture in the country. Though most of the recommendations like Starting Film Institute, Institution of Awards, conducting Film Festival, formation of FFC(NFDC), starting Children Film Society etc were implemented, this major recommendation of Film Council never got the attention of the Central Government in spite of repeated appeals made by the Federation of Film Societies of India and many other eminent film personalities. This was a major lapse because today we do not have a Film Akademy like other Akademies at the Centre to supervise and guide the film industry to develop a healthy film culture in the country. This would have also helped better coordination with the State Acadmies in a complimentary role. Later, in early 1980s the Shivarama Karanth film policy committee again recommended formation of Chalachitra Academy which was supported by the working Group of the Ministry with a blue print for implementation. For reasons best known to it, the Central Government never bothered to give due attention to it and it is left in the cold storage.

As on today, Kerala State has its Academy, West Bengal has NANDAN, a house of film culture and now Karnataka joins them with its objectives. Let us wish and hope it will achieve success in implementing its avowed objectives.

H. N Narahari Rao
Editor

There are many good reasons why Slumdog Millionaire drew so much attention worldwide. The movie is entertaining, with a good story, good acting, interesting characters, arresting locations from the top of a moving train to the bottom of a pit toilet … and to the investigation room of a police headquarters; from the squalor of overcrowded slum areas to modern high rise buildings; from the Taj Mahal in Agra to a primary school in Mumbai. Above all, Slumdog Millionaire is meaningful.  It inspires hope with a deep feeling of appreciation and even love for others.

What retains my attention is that SM is an astounding instance of the globalization of culture. The movie revolves around a television program, “Who wants to be a millionaire?” The name of the program is inspired by a 1956 song of Cole Porter in the film High Society (did we slide from high society to slums?).¹ The song emphasizes the desirability of love over material possessions: "Who wants to be a millionaire? I don't. ... And I don't 'cause all I want is you," says the song.² Is this not the attitude of Jamal regarding both money and Latika? As in the original song, in the film Latika shares Jamal’s attitude. In the High Society film, the lovers sing to each other: “all I want is you.” Could it be that Cole Porter, Vikas Swarup (on whose novel this movie is based) and Danny Boyle have mindlessly used the phrase “Who want to be a millionaire?” with the values it alludes to? Just because they are catchy? Surely not. Then what do we do with the movie? Do we ignore its meaning and focus our attention on trivia?

The television show originated in the UK in 1998. It fast became popular and a franchise was created. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is the most internationally popular television franchise of all time, having aired in over 100 countries. As of now no other franchise has ever reached this milestone.³

The Indian game show “Kaun Banega Crorepati” ("Who wants to be a crorepati") based on “Who Wants to be a Millionnaire?” first aired in 2005 on the Star Network throughout India and shared the same success as its foreign counterparts. After a brief stint in politics in the mid- 1980s, Amitabh Bachchan gained a new generation of fans as host of the television game show Kaun Banega Crorepati?

It is not surprising, therefore, that a film like Slumdog Millionaire has been made in India by British filmmakers. It shows how widely spread popular cultural themes are, and the rising importance of India on the world screen, and more importantly on the world scene. That India is not just an image, but a fact central to the world today was exemplified by the exhibition “Building India” held in Amsterdam from 14 November 2008 to 24 January 2009. The exhibition was organized by the Amsterdam Center for Architecture (ARCAM) and focused on five Indian cities: Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kollkata, Mumbai and Bangalore. In the journal brought out by ARCAM on the occasion of the exhibition, the following lines can be read:

behind one of the mounds. After the whole man emerges, as do others from behind other mounds, we gradually understand that there are holes behind the mounds of earth and these holes actually constitute a gold mine in which miserable workers toil day in and day out in the hope that the bags of earth they transport manually to the surface will contain enough traces of the precious metal to transform their lives.

The protagonist is Mocktar (played convincingly by Makena Diop). Mocktar is a refugee from the neighboring country Niger, a man not particularly striving for anything as much as escaping an unhappy past even though this escape means survival through hard struggle. Mocktar seeks employment in an Essakane mining camp, run by a greedy and cowardly overseer. The mines that he and his fellows work in are holes in the desert, dug straight down without supports or safety equipment. Miners are given flashlights that they strap to their heads for light and digging tools. All of Mocktar's co-workers are digging for tiny scraps of gold in order to survive but have dreams of a better life: marriage, education, wealth and hope. Mocktar befriends Coumba (Fatou Tall-Salgues) a young window & mother, attempting to raise her young daughter, amid the squalor and poverty of a mining camp. Coumba dreams of sending her small daughter away to Paris, to get an education and a better life.

takes in the faces of the characters as it does the landscape – not as actors playing roles but as real people living real lives.

It is easy to see why Dreams of Dust has been more celebrated across the world than any example from Indian art cinema in the past several decades. What the film does is to pay attention to an actual way of live and deal with actual people instead of trying to turn the information it contains into some kind of melodramatic fiction inhabited by overfed actors and actresses. The film approaches its subject matter with no preconceptions in mind on what moral position it should take - except that it should be for humanity.

One cannot believe that India, with all its diversity, its color and its capacity to startle cannot provide subjects for cinema of this quality. But to do this the Indian filmmaker should perhaps become more observant instead of only being preoccupied with the familiar ‘issues’ in the public realm.

enthralling. The music for the dances is very well tuned and it is highly entertaining to even for those who are alien to this type of music. The groups that perform the flamenco dance narrating the episodes have given their best performance. In one of the numbers a group of women singers sing a song for the dance to the beats of fingers on the table for a rhythm which is haunting. Though the film is inspired by the novel, the actual story that takes place on the screen is different, it revolves round the personal story of the performers told through dance and actual incidents.  But the episodes that are rehearsed and some of the actual happenings are almost replica of the original. The rehearsal in which Carmen stabs Cristina, her rival is similar to one such instance and Carmen moving away from Antonio is another. It is coincidence that the dancer’s name is also Carmen. Sometimes it is quite confusing, particularly when Carmen’s husband Jose performs dance with Antonio after the poker game. More than the story that is narrated, it is the music and dance that gives an unforgettable entertainment for the viewers. It is a well documented work giving a good insight into the nuances of Spanish performing art.

This film is the second part of the trilogy that Carlos Saura has made on this subject of Choreography, the other two being Blood Wedding (1981) and El Amor Brujo (1986).

The film has won many international awards, including Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Best European Film, Best Artistic Contribution and Technical Grand Prize at Cannes. The film is available on DVD.