Great Movies and Brilliant Conversations, the trend continues on the second day of the Jagran Film Festival

Eminent directors talk about what they look for in actors, Investors speak about the bright future of Indian cinema at JFF today

 

6^th July, 2014: The red carpet has been rolled back but the thunder of falling footsteps continues! With the fantastic start that Jagran Film Festival (JFF), got yesterday, the event is set to attain great heights in excitement this year! With great movies playing and industry star waltz at every nook and corner, the festival has indeed become bigger this year!

The second day at JFF began with aspiring actors getting a crash course on the inner workings of the man that directs the show. In the session called ‘What do the directors look for?’ veteran directors like Sudhir Mishra, Anubhav Sinha, Subhash Ghai andAtul Tiwari along gave their insight about the Do’s and Don’ts during casting calls and a general overview of the kind of acting skills and actors required in today’s day and time. Needless to say that scribbling of pens was creating quite a ruckus during this session!

   

The afternoon was reserved for talks on the business of film making. The session titled ‘Investing in films a losing venture or a viable option?’ was chaired by eminent members of the film financing world namely, T P Aggarwal (Vice President, FFI), Ravi Kottaraka (President, FFI), Hansal Mehta (Director, Shahid), Hariharan (Director, Kerela Verma Pazhassi Raja) along with Manoj Srivastava (Consultant, JFF). The discussion revolved around the changing tastes of the Indian audience, the competition Indian cinema receives from other forms of entertainment and Hollywood as well the evolution of cinema itself. The verdict was in favor of our beloved cinema and it seems like it still is a good investment for anyone interested in the creative side of things!

The festival started with the showcase of Kanyaka Talkies (Virgin Talkies), a malyalam movie. The movie is a debut by the renowned K R Manoj, who is also a national award winning documentary film maker. Kanyaka Talkies revolves around a B-grade movie theater of the 80s and 90s. While weaving a gripping story around the transformation of the theater into a church, the movie delves deep into the matrix of body, desire, pleasure and guilt.

The other movies shown included the much appreciated Shahid, Gulab Gang based on the power of women, the non-conformist Shudh Desi Romance.  The day ended with the much awaited movie Manjunath, which is the real life story of the celebrated 27 year old dead Manjunath Shanmugham, who was brutally murdered for exposing the petrol adulteration scam by the fuel mafia in Uttar Pradesh in 2005.

Tomorrow, all you independent film makers get ready for a super charged up discussion with the likes of Vijay Raaz, Amol Gupte, Shyam Benegal and Feroz Abbas Khan, about the future of Independent cinema in the country with the session ‘Is independent cinema taking over bollywood?’. The meet, moderated by Atul Tiwari, will start at 11 A.M sharp.

Also, enjoy an animated discussion with Kireet Khurana, Director Of Toonpur Ka Superhero in the session ‘Animating Images’ at 2 P.M, tomorrow. This discussion is a must for all you future animators and animation movie enthusiast.

Phew! With such wonderful and truly moving piece of cinema, discussions that changed perspectives and fellow movie lovers, the second day of JFF was indeed a success. There are two more days to go. So gear up and be a part of the inspiration!

About Jagran Film Festival:

Jagran Film Festival (JFF) is an initiative by the Jagran Group towards creating a culture of cinema appreciation. JFF is an honest and sincere attempt by Jagran to spread this culture, and create a platform that connects great content with audiences across the country. The festival screens films across genres, documentaries and world classics apart from student films and ad films. A unique feature of JFF is that the cast and crew of a few select films are invited to a discussion with the audience on various elements of the film. An important aspect of the festival is to generate a discussion on the various aspects of Cinema and its impact on society and popular culture. A series of Panel Discussions will be held with deliberations by eminent personalities from the film industry.

For further details please visit  http://www.jff.co.in/

For press registrations and queries, please call:

Tejal Daftary | 98204 04 621 | tejal@crisscross.in

Esha Chikhalikar | 9870128220| esha@crisscross.in