‘Children’s Films in Indian Cinema’ was the discussed on day two of IFFI- 2017 by the panelist Prasoon Joshi, CEO-CBFC; Nitesh Tiwari, Director & Film Maker; Rajiv Chilaka, Founder and Managing Director of Green Gold Animation & Ms Devika Prabhu, Executive director of programming for Disney. The experts of this special panel threw the light on the importance of the making of a film for children and young adults. They also run through the ways in which the sententious strand of cinema can gather heft and a momentum in our rapidly changing times. The state of children’s cinema has witnessed many ups and downs over the years but it has never lost its relevance nor has it lost its appeal as the source of entertainment. This panel discussion was curated by Vani Tripathi, Member, Steering Committee of IFFI 2017 and Mr. Sunit Tandon, Director IFFI 2017.
Prasoon Joshi, who moderated the panel discussion along with Nitesh Tiwari, Rajiv Chilaka and Devika Prabhu started off brilliantly by pointing out a valid question, that if there is a difference between a film about children and a film for children? Whether the Children’s’ films are about children or for the children? To which, Nitesh Tiwari replied that, it depends on the content, subject and the intention with which film is made. Further, Mr. Tiwari said that, the movie like ‘Taare Zaameen Par’, focused on education which was portrayed in an entertaining and lighthearted manner. Commercial success and lack of creativity is what’s stopping filmmakers to make movies for kids. It is sad that the production budget is now decided not according to the script but according to who stars in it.” he added.
On talking about thinking a special way of making films for children, Nitesh added that, the movie ‘Chillar Party’ which he directed was predominantly made thinking, that it will be consumed by kids more than the adult audience but the movie was loved by all. When one makes films thinking more about children, one needs to make the film in a certain way and add certain elements. Further he added that we need to make more films for children but it should also resonate with the people of all age groups.
Dr Rajiv Chilaka, the Founder and Managing Director of Hyderabad-based Green Gold Animation and the creator of cartoon TV programs including ‘Krishna Cartoon Series’ and ‘Chhota Bheem’, said that, the kids’ world is a fantastic world and expressed happiness that a lot of people have gathered here for a session about children’s cinema. He mentioned that the 50 percent of the television audience is below the age group of 14, so there’s a huge market for children’s content and we should try making more films for everyone, especially children which everyone should enjoy. He added that they have made four animation films and the kids who came to the theatre enjoyed it and the movies got high TRPs.
The 48th Edition of IFFI will take place till 28th of November, 2017 in the beach state of Goa. IFFI is India’s biggest and Asia’s oldest film festival, making it one of the most prestigious in the world.