Cinema must tell present day stories says Director Thankar Bachan

Chennai, Jan 19: Well-known Tamil film Director Thankar Bachan today said cinema must tell ''present day stories'' rather than getting trapped in expressions ''commercial'' and ''entertainment''.

Addressing a press conference along with co Directors B Lenin and Vishnu Vardhan at the School of Media Studies at Loyola College here, the maker of sensitive films, said in India cinema has been reduced to intoxication, which when consumed keeps one hallucinating for three hours.

It was not used to educate and to awaken the people. Rather it is used to decimate language, kinships, culture and politics, he said.

Touching upon politics, he said there was nothing to be proud of after 63 years of Independence.

He lamented that in India directors were not even adapting stories from a third rate novel, but were lost in churning out the so called commercial films.

''In the whole of India there is no award for Best Adaptation,'' he pointed out and said that he had raised the issue of film award categorization for Tamil films and had suggested that the present Best Actor award be bifurcated into ''Best Hero'' and ''Best Actor'' award in Tamil films'', he said.

It has been accepted by the Directors Association here, Bachan, the director-actor, who champions the cause of ''films for social change'', said.

When a girl studnet wanted to know if she could enter the film world without ''compromise'' he asked her ''Is there a source of income for you? Unfortunately, unless you ensure a source of income for yourself, it is not prudent to be ambitious to become an actress today,'' he said.

He said he was waiting for a producer provide Rs 6.5 crore to film a movie on the life of Sri Lankan Tamils in five countries-''Thaaiman'' (motherland) for which his script was ready.