PIFF Forum Inaugurated In Presence Of Govind Nihlani And Rohini Hattangadi

Jyothi venkatesh

At the 17^th Pune International Film Festival, PIFF Forum activities kick started  after the formal inauguration of the forum at the hands of Govind Nihalani, renowned Director. Rohini Hattangadi yesterday inaugurated PIFF and Govind Nihlani, renowned Director was awarded with ‘PIFF Distinguished Award’.

Govind Nihlani

1. The atmosphere has changed and everything has become digital. We have to be receptive of what technology is offering us. Initially we used to work on Celluloid and I love the look and feel of it. But the other alternatives offered to us are really good. We are getting a new way to create image. We are going to be challenged by technology. The challenge is ‘Create or Perish’. But there is also an opportunity to create as much as you can.

Ravi Gupta, Govind Nihalani, Dr. Jabbar Patel & Rohini Hattangadi

1. Speaking on his experience with Vijay Tendulkar he said, The influence of Tendulkar as a writer and as a scriptwriter is seminal. I have looked at cinema as a director but it has been because of my association with Tendulkar. I’ve learned a lot from him. his contribution for the perspective of Indian film development is huge.
2. When we study anything, the only important thing is literacy but creative writing involves your thought process . You cannot teach thought process to any person.
3. (He was asked about his views on the current sociopolitical situation as well as the ongoing issue of Nayantara Sahgal. Answering that, Nihalani without mentioning any direct context, said that, )

Time is continuously changing, we are very dynamic democracy and not static. We are going through that phase that democracy is evolving, and it is the most important issue today.

5. Gandhi is a story of 80 years written magnificently for a 3 hour film. I recommend each film student to read the script of Gandhi.

Rohini Hattangadi

1. I took my basic training in National School of Drama. If you are trained only in cinema then the technique becomes more powerful. An actor needs to develop their basic character. Technology can be learned following that. Basic training in theatre is very important. National School of Drama gave me what I am today.
2. Speaking about Ebrahim Alkazi as a teacher, she said, He was a complete teacher and knew each one of us personally. He created a need in us for a purpose to be on stage. He taught us discipline and never had a casual attitude.

Rohini Hattangadi and Govind Nihlani

1.  Narrating her experience about Gandhi she said, I was quite thrilled to get the role. Though that time I did not know magnitude of Gandhi. I was just very excited and happy to be there. Indeed Bhakti Barve and Smita Patil are very good actors who were auditioned for the role of Kasturb, but Sir Richard found me the closest in looks of kasturba. For this role my training in National School of Drama came handy as I started searching for everything about Kasturba before the start of movie.
2. Telling about the movie ‘Saransh’, she said, We shot only for 2 months for this movie. Rajashri produced that film and they wanted Sanjeev Kumar in the role which was later played by Anupam Kher. But Mahesh Bhatt thought that he’ll come with a lot of baggage of stardom and may not feel convincing in a role of a middleclass old man. For all of us, the film was really ours as we used be on sets all the time.

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