Nandita, your choice is right. What's the use of doing the film which can't satisfy yourself as an artist. On the contrary, still sometimes you need to pick those subjects, may be not that satisfactory but good to provide bread and butter.

I don't know or understand Italian or spanish but I enjoyed 'Life is beautiful' and 'Motorcycle diary' better than most of the hindi movies. That means for any movie expressions are more important than language.

The post seems to have been resurrected.I had posted my comments to this post in your earlier blog lest this one should not appear again.

Nandita
Taking a cue from max,I am posting my comment to your post on regional cinema here. Wonder why it was deleted.

Kannathil Muthamittaal was genius. very contemporary..had this lyrical quality to it..offered a fresh perspective to the strife in sri lanka...( an issue that does not occupy as much bandwidth on the blogosphere as say iraq) keerthana was excellent. For once, mani ratnam seemed to get nearly everything right. deserved an oscar nomination..selecting the scream-o-mania called devdas over KM is a bigger joke than the paheli issue.

One of my fav scenes in the film is the love scene between JD chakravarti and yourself. In the midst of the romantic play, he asks your character if there is anyone/anything that you love more than him, and you scoop a fistful of the earth and smear it on his face. very dramatic..very powerful..i could see a tamil militant there.

Thanks Nandita for doing KM.

Nandita,

"Do they mean to say that all the people of Kerala, or Tamil Nadu or Bengal, or Karnataka or any other region of the country, don't matter at all?!"

Probably such statements should be ignored as it is coming from people who are ignorant about diversity in language, religion, etc.

I agree with you fully. Many of the "regional" movies are far better than many of the movies in English or Hindi. In fact, the usage of the term "regional" for Non Hindi movies itself is wrong. In fact, even Hindi movies have only regional following. Well, whatz the point in arguing these things with ignorant people.

Taking my cue from Pawan, ;^), I shall repost my comment here:

My initial reaction to this post was depression. I am trying to build up my collection of your work (I'm looking forward to buying Fleeting Beauty in January), but reading that it is very hard to get non-Hindi films on DVD even _in India_ was very saddening.

I would like to offer some encouraging words, though. Friends and acquaintances have variously recommended Kannathil Muthamittal, Azhagi and Shubho Mahurat to me, so I think it's nice to be able to show that there are many people who _do_ value your choices. Among afficinados of Indian cinema, recognition of the value and importance of non-Hindi films is widespread.

I hope that you continue to show the same courage and conviction in your artistic choices in the future. Your body of work to date shows that your gut instincts have been good, so keep up the excellent work and don't let any naysayers put you off. And if you find a NZ distributor of your non-Hindi films, let me know! 8^)

Thanks all of you for being such supporters of "regional" cinema. I too find the word a little patronising and inappropriate, as every region is eqaully important and every part of India is just as "Indian" as say, Bombay!And this is true internationally as well. Films coming out of Iran,China,Taiwan,Poland, Columbia or wherever are just as, if not more, important and beautiful as they are from the US or England. generalisations can be scary!
By the way I too very much enjoyed doing KM. if you want to know the other films that I have done in various Indian languages, you could check out mt website- www.nanditadasonline.com
Max, if you are in NZ, you could contact Shuchi Kothari, The writer producer of Fleeting Beauty and I am sure she will help you get a copy. Its a short film with an interesting take on Colonisation of the past and that of today, in the context of India. her email id is s.kothari@auckland.ac.nz

Thanks, I've already made contact with Ms Kothari, she was kind enough to let me know when the movie will be released on DVD.

why this caste system among languages all language r equal when we will see ladakhi or manipuri film industry create jobs for locals

Hi Nandita,

your post always connects... there is an uncanny delight in diversity and I'm glad you've attained it.

Way to go..

Shrutii

Dear Nandita

I agree with you on your thoughts. Sometimes less is more, and the 'limited' audience gets bigger and bigger. 'Regional' movies often offer inspiring and enriching insights. It is so interesting to discover new aspects in cultures that I am not so familiar with. It arouses curiosity and understanding about the beauty, customs, way of thinking and way of life in the portrayed societies but also on their constraints, rules, and problems.

I think to look back on ones own surroundings or oneself through the eyes of someone else, especially if it takes place in another culture than ones own, is particularly effective to reach ones heart and soul. It prevents barriers to be raised that might be built otherwise. It opens the way to stimulate thinking to seek solutions for ones own society, but also to better understand the motivations and problems of people in other regions. Despite differences, similar problems affect people of many cultures, realizing this, helps to overcome 'national' or 'patriotic' fundamentalistic feelings. Hopefully this leads not only to a better dialogue, but also to a better collaboration between people of different regions and cultures. Although being raised and immersed in different environments with different philosophies we humans share so much, without even realizing it. And we could make more use of these similarities to understand each other and hereby find more motivation to fight injustice in many ways.

'Regional' films watched outside 'their' region allow creating a balance between local identity and global awareness. In this respect, but also for reasons I mentioned in my earlier comment on your post 'the Long Night', I hope for a wider distribution of 'regional' films and hope for many more movies with you. More (international) filmfestivals are being organized and are a sign of a ever increasing interest in movies from a large variety of cultures. I am sure that through your excellent work, your ideas and thoughts, you reach the heart and souls of more and more people all over the planet - which makes a difference!

Wishing you all the best,
Reza - a strong supporter of your work and 'regional' movies

nandita u have done lot of fantastic roles,but i still feel there is abundance of talent that is not exposed by the known directors only a few of them could do justice with your talent i had seen clips of the tamil maovie that u did and u were fantastic with a regional language that was foreign language to you.thats the mark of a honest actor wishing you some great roles for you . i really appreciate the way you experiment with your roles. keep the spirit going.bye

Nandita,

I fully support and encourage you to do "regional" films! They are real! They bring out your talent within you that's likely to be suppressed during shootings of mainstream cinema. If it does turn out to be good, it may be few and far in-between, although, I did enjoy your film "Bas Yun Hi" but it was a little different from the rest.

I checked out your website and have never come across the films you've done like "Dhaad", "Vishwatulasi", etc. where can I find these, I'd love to see them in each and every language, hope it has subtitles! :)

Thanks much, your big fan!

Rupal.

The only time I ever got to see regional Indian films was when they had a Satyajit Ray film festival in New York several years ago showcasing 8 of his films. The festival was very well thought out in the sense that each film ran for one whole week so it was possible to see all of the films. It was organized by Martin Scorsese. I remember seeing an interview of his at the time where he talked about how impressed he had been with Ray's films and felt compelled to make them available to a wider audience.

It would be wonderful if someone in India took on a similar venture. Perhaps a DVD box-set of 4 films or something. It should be backed by some Bollywood bigwig with a lot of clout and a lot of cool so it can be marketed for a fancy-ish price. Regional cinema should try and find a niche outside its region and one target could be the elite in the cities. I think there is enough of a demographic there for this to be feasible. I would love to have a set or two of films in different regional languages. The only question is - are the films good enough for anyone to stake their name on the regional brand? The Ray festival was fabulous but other than that I have no knowledge of regional cinema.

Why have the seperation between 'regional' and Hindi films? I prefer to differentiate between 'intelligent' and 'stupid' films, and the vast majority of those that emerge from Bollywood firmly belong in the latter category.

A good film is a good film regardless of language. I've lately been watching quite a few Chinese, S Korean and Spanish films. Mmmmmm.... heaven.

Sunny, you are right. The diffrentiation is stupid. It doesn't make any sense.

Language-based bigotry is rampant, though. While labelling non-Hindi films with the condescending "regional" tag is counter-productive, it's only symptomatic of a wider chauvinism about language. It's another example of differences dividing, rather diversity uniting, sadly.

I don't get it. Where is the bigotry is calling bengali bengali and tamil tamil? What am i missing?

The bigotry comes from the use of implicitly pejorative labels such as "regional". Rather than simply saying, "bengali" or "tamil", an objective statement about the film's language, the use of a word like "regional" carries overtones of condescension. It also implies that Hindi cinema is, in contrast to the "regional" films, "national".

Hindi is not the only language-group guilty of this sort of mindset, though. You can see the same sort of thing here:
http://www.languagehat.com/archives/001589.php

Recently some Hindi-speaking friends from Poona were very dismissive when I was talking about Kerala's high literacy rate. Their response was that it wasn't "real" literacy because it was "only in Malayalam, and that to be "real" literacy it would have to be either Hindi or English. That is the mindset that lumps non-Hindi films into a "regional" basket.

Max, this is what I meant when I talked about the ignorance of diversity in languages, etc.. Unfortunately, there are many people with such ignorance in this world. It is the existence of such people that leads to "pseudo nationalism" claims in language, culture, religion, etc.

Max - Regional implies bengali, and tamil and kannada, etc. It is a collective noun as opposed to the singular nouns naming one specific language. There is no option but to use this word if you are talking of an inclusive category. The word regional is meant to distinguish such films from the super-mega-ultra-over-the-top phenomenon that Bollywood is.

There is no comparison between the two genres so it is a valid distinction and does not merit such harsh chastisement as "condescending", "pejorative" or "bigoted". Most people use this word perfectly innocently.

There is an option, "non-hindi", which has the advantage of being solely a defintion of a film's language. I'm not anti-Hindi at all, (I'm currently struggling to learn it), but I can see that, while not inherently negative, the word "regional" can be used in that sort of way.

In fact, even Hindi films have only limited coverage. There is no need to use a generic term for other films. Some film is either a hindi film or bengali film or tamil film or (fill in the blanks) film. I am not against the use of the word "regional". I am against the categorization itself. I don't see any difference bwteeen using "non-hindi" or "regional". More than the word, it is the categorization that I think is wrong. How is usage of non-hindi better than regional?

" How is usage of non-hindi better than regional?"

Well, how about this: It is not specific enough. Hindi is itself a "regional" language, albeit also the official language of the entire country. If we strip "regional" of any pejorative associations, and use a baldly objective defintion, then hindi films also fit that defintion, since they are made from the Hindi-speaking "region". So, if one feels that one absolutely must use a catch-all phrase for all cinema produced in languages other than Hindi, non-hindi seems to be both specific enough and neutral.

I didn't intend to ask that. Anyhow, my contention is that the categorization into Hindi and Non Hindi is itself unnecessary.

Let's not be too dismissive of Hindi speakers.... Tamils are also known for their condescending attitude towards Hindi. I lived for three years, and had to make do with English most of the time!

>Anyhow, my contention is that the categorization into Hindi and Non Hindi is itself unnecessary.

I agree, which is why I said that "if" such a distinction had to be made, etc. There are many Hindi fims that are not run-of-the-mill Bollywood, and (so I'm told) plenty of mediocre commercial pap coming out of Chennai as well as Mumbai.

Yes, there are crap movies coming from all places.

Sunny, I do agree that Tamils have condescending attitude towards Hindi. As I have said before, people don't understand diversity and it leads to "whose language is better fights" (similar to whose culture is better, whose religion is better, etc.). I just hope that all languages are treated on equal footing and understand that India's greatness lies in the diversity.

Nandita,

I am out of my state for more than fifteen years due to studies/work. I sometimes feel like watching a nice oriya movie.All I get to see while I am on short trips to Orissa is pathetic copies of Hindi movies on TV.(I dont get Oriya channel here).Even serials are more of Balaji kind.I am hopelessly out of touch.I dont know who could be having good old Oriya DVD in Delhi/NCR
By the way have you got any plans to act in Oriya cinema?Oriya is not such a difficult language at all.
All the best for your acting career.

Nanditha,
First of all thanxs for acting in the "Regional movies".Apart form ur hindi movies i have seen kannathil, azhagi and kannagi.I was surprised to see u in a low budget malayalam movie like "kannagi".I kept wondering why she acted in a movie like that?.Now i know.I hope this thirst to act in quality movies stays with you.

Guys,Like you all I also felt that people are hardly comming out of there regional mind sets to apreciate quality movies.I have created a blog just to list the quality movies.check it out
http://parallelcinema.blogspot.com/

fyi.. Tamil is not a 'regional' language. It is a national language in Singapore,Srilanka and Malaysia apart from India. If people don't respect the diversity, my sympathies are with them.

I see the thought police is alive and well!! It finally dawned on me. All this while I've been thinking this was a language-related issue. How out of touch am I?! I don't think I'll let myself be browbeaten into using scare quotes each time I utter the word regional. For the record, I have no problem if movies from my part of India (if they even make movies) are referred to as regional movies. And I fail to see how using scare quotes around the word regional displays sensitivity. Assuming sensitivity is what people are trying to display. Do take care not to go brain dead in the process.

Even 'non-hindi' is a biased term as Hindi is thought to be the National language of India, it isn't to a lot of nationals of India. I have nothing against Hindi, however, there are those that do in India and prefer to be in their own comforts of their own dialect. Most do not speak, read or write Hindi, period. Can they embrace other dialects at all?? Speaking of language only for now, let alone the cultural, etc. differences that come with being of a "region". We must first embrace our brothers and sisters as just that, individuals and not group them. Then only appreciate the differences, including films.

Well said Rupal.

I think it behooves me to apologise for my role in dragging this off into semantics, since it is apparent that on the issue of the merits of "cinema in languages other than Hindi", we are in agreement.
माफ़ कीजिएगा (ironic conclusion).

rupal is there single hindi speaker who speaks any "regional" southern eastern western whatever language? then talk. why shld rest bow 2 hindi. all languages r equally good 4 communication v have english becoz its neutral language no advantage 4 any indian specially hindi speaker

Nandita, we (your admirers) are definitely happy with your choice and would only want you to remain steadfast on it! I am sure the fans you have definitely admire you for the kind of movies you do - no vulgarity, simplicity personified and ofcourse acting abilities!

More than Kannathil Muthamittal, I personally liked 'Azhagi'. I was very surprised - especially because the character which you portrayed was that of a country-side girl and you, having no connection with Tamilnadu, gelled so well with the role! Hats off!!

The word ‘regional’ has been used for a lack of any better word. So let’s not digress from the real issue. I am so glad that many related issues have been sparked off and some very insightful thoughts have come up. I by no means wish to denigrate Hindi films/language or for that matter any other. In fact, the whole idea is to celebrate diversity and pluralism. My earlier posts on ‘identity’ came from a similar desire to understand and respect diversity without being begetted and intolerant.

Suchismita, I have done 1 Oriya film and will do another only if it’s an interesting project. I see films as good or bad, and that too is so subjective!

I am glad that ‘alternate_movies’ has created a blog on parallel cinema. I am sure we all will benefit from it.

The real issue? That regional films ought to be as popular as Hindi films? But the market determines popularity. It is a niche market and must necessarily be so. That's all for the better in many respects as you yourself point out since people are not pressured by commercial factors and don't compromise as much.

There is nothing "disdainful" about referring to this genre as regional films. Please state your reasons if you have any. The only thing disdainful about this is that people insist on politicizing a non-issue. Not to mention the fact that they impute "disdainful" motives on to those who are simply using a perfectly legitimate word to refer to a perfectly legitimate concept.

Alternate_movies - great site.

i think its regrettable, but inevitable. i wonder why this is so? is it just bcz more people speak hindi in india, or english in the world, etc? or is it bcz the majority of the movies made in these languages / industries are of a kind that will appeal to a greater number of people? For example, I think, movies like the chinese 'spring in a small town', 'decalogue', 'hajaar chaurasir ma' will never be popular with a huge number of people, however heartstoppingly exquisite some people find them, these people will be fewer in number. Why would the average bengali kid in Calcutta rather watch "Dus" than "mehge dhaka taara". They make more movies like Dus. Whatever the rationale, hope you keep making the great movie choices you do. Loved watching Shubho Muharat - found it very different and really good. Another bengali movie I liked a lot was Nishi Japon recently. But see, the fact is at the end of the day, I speak / understand only Bengali and Hindi and bit of Marathi. Most people around India understand Hindi and if thats not their 2nd language, one more language - their mother tongue. That too many kids dont understand that well. Having said that its only natural that hindi as a medium will have more appeal / saleabilty. How many people are interested enough in film to watch movies in unknown, strange languages which they dont even understand. Just like, how many actors, like u, are interested enough to learn and then make movies in a language they dont even know?

Nandita, I must take credit/blame for starting off another round of discussions on this thru my recent post (http://chennaicentral.blogspot.com/2005/10/there-is-nothing-called-regional.html) after seeing your post on this subject. Senthil (http://jackofall.blogspot.com), who does an excellent job of covering off-beat films (mostly Hindi, which is where my grouse is :-)) joined issue with what I wrote and wrote another post on it with his perspectives.

My problem with the word "regional" is that it is not just used as a figure of expression, but in the eyes of most "Bollywood worshippers", it does smack of contempt for anything other than the language they understand. Also when seen in the Tamil movies context (where you have fair-skinned actresses imported from the North but dark-skinned actors), such bias taken on racial tones (meaning "fair" equals "superior" and "dark" equals "inferior"). I have seen this bigotry at close quarters and hence my post.

Of course, it were to develop into a Hindi vs. Tamil discussion, I can take on any one any day to prove that even with all the "numbers" behind it, Hindi as a language is definitely the new kid on the block compared to something as old as Tamil which has a rich liturgical, historical, cultural and literary past. Rajeev Srinivasan in rediff.com has covered this more extensively (http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/sep/13rajeev.htm and http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/sep/22rajeev.htm).

Thennavan - This is an arbitrary statement - "but in the eyes of most "Bollywood worshippers", it does smack of contempt for anything other than the language they understand". The roots of such statements typically lie in the politically correct mannerisms that Indian society has adopted. If you scratch the surface to examine the source of the grievance you discover that it is not based on observation or experience but on an exotic theory of politically correct speech that the Indians have imported from the west.

Let's say I am a Bengali and I am interested in watching only Hindi and Bengali films. It's not worth the effort to me to read subtitles. I just want to chill and relax. You see, Thennavan, what the "scare quote brigade" does, it demonizes people who are simply expressing their tastes and preferences. You, Senthil, Nandita and all others who sit in judgment of people who use the word regional just because their preferences happen to be to watch mainstream films. There is simply no need for this.

Words like contempt, disdain, and bigotry, are being used. Do you realize this is hate speech? Hate speech directed against the unwashed country bumpkins who don't know enough to put quotes around the word regional. What's amazing to me is that this entire set of people takes the contempt theory totally for granted without providing an example of contempt in this context. All you can do is repeat in one form or another that people have contempt for non-Bollywood. Hey, it could be that people are just not interested. What are you guys, the forced appreciation squad? People are quite happy with their own tastes.

Divya, I argue on "fine" points and you don't seem to get the crux of the issue. It is not about what preferences people have and they may all vote for Hindi films with their wallets for all I care. It is the attitude in thinking "Bollywood equals mainstream" and all others are "niche". That is not really true. Bollywood is a niche in itself (if only a larger niche). It cannot lay a claim to represent "Indian" cinema. Kaps (http://sambharmafia.blogspot.com) had written something in his email comments to me which captured the essence of this: "But the world sees India thru Bollywood movies....when we say IIFA awards....it denotes only Hindi movies although the term IIFA says that the awards are for Indian movies. I hope the so-called regional films also reach the non-Indian audience."

What I am saying is for both mainstream media and e-zines to stop referring to non-Hindi movies as regional. Rather they should have it as non-Hindi or Tamil/Telugu etc. since their level of coverage itself smacks of their lack of awareness that these non-Hindi movie industries are themselves huge. If the first Hindi film came out in 1913, the seeds for the first Tamil one were sown in 1916 and the movie came out in 1917. There has been a procession of big time actors, actresses, comedians, junior artistes etc. in Tamil (about which I speak more since I am most familiar with it) moviedom and many movies have won awards. National awards have been bagged by actors like Kamal several times and recently Vikram too got it. So, even if these media houses (mostly the north-based ones) have erred in ignorantly bunching other cinemas together as "regional", it is time to correct those mistakes.

Thennavan - the blogspot link you provided did not work but I looked up the IIFA site as well as the Filmfare awards site. The Filmfare awards used to be the big thing in my day. Don't know if they mean anything now, but at least they're still around. Anyway, from what I could tell, both of these sites are dedicated entirely to Bollywood, and make no mention of regional films.

I think we can draw a rough parallel with Hollywood. There is a separate category for Best Foreign Film and the criteria here is that the film must be in a language other than English. Perhaps the Indian award ceremonies should include a non-Hindi film category in their Best Picture awards. Since the award ceremonies have wide exposure, the winner of the best regional film as well as all of the regional nominees for that year will get exposure to a large audience.

From what I understand, such decisions are made within the industry. It is up to the Bollywood academy to propose such a thing. Most of the rules, reforms, awareness campaigns in Hollywood are taken up as personal pet projects of a handful of actors, directors, etc. We would require a similar effort on the Indian side.

I don't think the media have much of a say in this. They only reflect the level of interest of the populace and the industry. Nor do I accept that the North must pay homage to regional cinema. It's up to regional cinema to assert itself on the strength of its own merit. Regions will naturally lump all languages together apart from the only one they understand. Thus, in the U.S. anything other than English is termed a foreign language, even though half the country speaks Spanish. The day Spanish films can compete with Hollywood we may get to see equal billing.

Seems to me, it's the goodwill of the Bollywood insiders that is required to turn things around. Someone needs to take up the cause to promote these films. Referring to films as regional or non-Hindi will not make one iota of difference.

"Thus, in the U.S. anything other than English is termed a foreign language, even though half the country speaks Spanish."

HALF! Never the facts get in the way of your agrument, eh? According to the US census site, as of 2004
"Hispanic or Latino (of any race)40,459,196"

Percent of population
14.2"

14.2% is "half the country"?

Okay - 14.2 (plus another 14.2 for the illegals :)). What percentage do the regional languages of india add up to?

>What percentage do the regional languages of india add up to?

Presumably something like 60-70%, given that estimates of "Hindi as first-language" tend to be in the 350-400 million range. Sadly, census India does not appear to have that datum available, at least not gratis, which is the upper limit of what I'm prepared to pay for it. 8^)

Max, that's precisely my point. 40% in a country may "know" a language, it may not even be their mother-tongue. But that is still 60% of non-Hindi speakers out there and this 40% seeks to control the other 60% thru the simply stupid calculation of "major" minority. Divya, regional cinema is not dependent on Bollywood for any recognition or favors. That is entirely missing my point. Non-hindi cinema doesn't need benevolent "Hindi dadas" to take care of "we poor, meek, weak folks" (sorry about the sarcasm :-)) and so they don't need Bollywood's stamp of approval for anything. They are asserting themselves as they have historically done. It is upto certain ignoramuses in the "Hindi-belt" of the country (and I don't say all of them) to realize that whether or not they treat other language movies (the contempt of which basically stems from the language-bigotry issue) on par with Hindi movies, the fact is that they ARE on par and so it is best not to bury their head in the sand and be in a denial mode.

Thennavan - I do think I am completely missing your point. I know I am out of touch with the Indian scene and that is probably the reason. I thought this article was about promoting awareness of regional cinema. I assumed it was in the interest of regional cinema to attempt to achieve wider distribution.

Divya, that's fine. I don't want it to be a "rant and rave" session too (although it feels unjust when thinking about the issue) :-)

Hi Nandita, how are you? I stumbled upon this blog by accident today and was pleasantly surprised to find you listed. Really enjoyed your posts.
You'll have to dig through your memory a bit to place me, but see if you can :)

Anjali

I know half a dozen Anjalis! Whats your last name?

Hey Nandita,
It is very sad to look at the various arguements here about regional languages and movies in India. I guess one way of resolving this issue is to expose the audience all over india with movies from different languages (I hope subtitles would work). Such differences in opinions arise just because we have given separate identities to different film industries in India like Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood etc., the list seems endless. We should ideally just have one film industry producing films in different languages, it is sad that not a lot of movies are made in Assamese or even for that matter Bengali. The current Indian film industry only produces films in three major indian languages, Tamil, Hindi and Telegu (I apologize if someone found the order offensive). The various artists from different parts of India also need to showcase their talents. It was a pleasure reading all the discussions here but it was also sad and sickening that we still argue about regional differences and that too in our movies. I hope people understand the importance of following certain basic gandhian principles.
I hope that you will honor me with a reply and a visit to my blogsite.
adios

Apropos of nothing except the fact that this blog has a wide readership, I offer my thoughts and prayers from 13,000 km away to all those affected by the tragedy in Kashmir.

I think it is context that will help, not the last name: think akash, monisha, deepshikha, ayesha ...
for the last name, of course, you just need to click on the link to my blog :)

Quite honestly, the only reason I guess 'Kannathil Muthamittal' didn't get the famme it deserved was becausee it comes in a non-English or non_hindi language. It deserved much more. But then, its tough for people to embrace cultures... it doesnt sound all that easy.

Dear realist:

From what I can make out of your writing, it isn't a competition to find a Hindi speaker who can speak another Indian dialect. It's also not about "bowing" to Hindi. It's a common communication tool withing this vast country called India which houses so many different dialects that to communicate better, Hindi is known to be the National communication tool. I'm proud to know Hindi as well as another dialect of India fluently, in addition to of course English :) !

While on the topic of regional films from this forum, ironically my hands caught the "regional" film, "Shwaas" this weekend. What a gem! I honestly didn't recognize the dialect it was in (it wasn't my mother tongue nor Hindi), but thanks to the wonderful people who put up subtitles, I enjoyed it thoroughly! I encourage everyone to seek out this movie and see it.

Now I'll most likely watch regional, independent, foreign and small budget films as now I'm "focused" in that directions, thanks to Nandita's post.

Rupal.

i have just returned last night from Pusan International film festival in korea where my film Parzania was screened. Parzania is an English film from India -Usa. For the majority watching the film at Pusan(korea)- a film in english about india from usa is a regional film !! So whats a regional film now ? Its stupid to define region in the first place because everything is a region and nothing is a region, and then to say that regional cinema is inferior or superior... God !! Since when did cinema start having boundries ?

Cinema should have no boundaries. Anyway, talking of regional cultural output makes sense to distinguish it from and compare it to the output of other regions, without attaching a value to it.

'Region' can be defined in this context as a

A broad geographical area distinguished by similar features

(Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary)

Humanity evolves into a more and more multicultural society at many places - a fact I find very enriching and desirable. However, this makes it important to communicate not only cultural similarities but also differences, in order to display cultural characteristics as means of preserving regional identity and giving a basis for their understanding. The path between intended preservation of cultural characteristics and change is a delicate one and very difficult to set out. Naturally, change is inevitable. Films are an excellent way of communicating this path.

I think nowdays the concept of "good cinema" is more popular due to multiplex/dvd distrubution patterns whereby regional or foregin content are easy to access.

Good films will have more demand as we move ahead.

Sameer Bhardwaj
Dubbing/Subtitling
Consultant

Unfortunately, there is no distribution in place for these films outside the particular state they come from. .........

Nandita - In some cases it is impossible to find good Tamil movies in TamilNadu even :-).
That is such a pity - just today I was thinking I want to watch 'Veedu' a move by Balu Mahendra p'bably.

It is about the struggle of one middle class woman who is trying to buy a house - a veedu of her own.
Archana won the National best actress award for this I think. The background score by Illayaraja is haunting.

Finding the DVD will be next to impossible.

On the subject of films in Indian languages other than Hindi, Nandita, how does this situation
http://www.cinesouth.com/masala/hotnews/new/25112005-4.shtml compare to your own similar experience in connexion with Chokher Bali?