Friday, February 18 2005 22:28 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Eminent filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan today (Feb 18, 2005) said that the Union Government was confused between entertainment and titillation and was promoting the wrong kind of films in gross violation of the basic ideology of filmmaking.

"We are confused between entertainment and titillation. Anything that draws a big crowd to a cinema hall is supposed to be entertainment now. The Government thinks that these are the kind of films that need to be promoted," Gopalakrishnan said at the inauguration of the fourth conference of 'International Social Communication Cinema', in Kolkata.

Stating that there had been erosion in the attitude for promotion of good films in the name of sheer entertainment, he said that instead of worrying why good films were not coming, the Government must question its attitude towards promotion of films.

"In the national arena, cinema is getting a lot of promotion these days and Indian films are going international. But there is a negative approval by the Government which filmmakers of my generation are fighting against," he said.

Adoor said that Doordarshan had played a promotional role in its fledgling year by telecasting regional films.

"But slowly these have been called off since these films are no great box-office grossers."

Speaking on the occasion, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said that the social communication cinema conference would feature a package of great Satyajit Ray's documentaries on the occasion of the 50th year of the making of 'Pather Panchali'.

A retrospective of filmmaker Gautam Ghosh's documentaries and a package 'The fall of Fascism' would also be screened during the conference.

The films being shown in here highlighted issues of existence, survival of common people, violence against vulnerable groups like women and children, human rights and entertainment.