Make high quality movies to avail subsidies:Ba Ma Harish

By: Rithu Dravid /NT

Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce represents film producers, distributors and exhibitors working in the Kannada film industry. It also coordinates and resolves disputes related to the various sectors of stakeholders in the Kannada film industry. Ba Ma Harish has been elected president of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, defeating Sa Ra Govindu by a huge margin of 410 votes. In a chat with News Trail he lays bare his future plans.

As the elected President of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce what are your plans in the near future?
I want the producers to come up with high quality movies and get subsidies for our movies. Movies that come under any genre other than movies with sexual content should get subsidy. Remake movies or dubbed movies should also be kept out from being given subsidies. Since people are focusing more on content than quality, we need to produce good content movies and everyone in the film industry should support and protect our producers.

Lots of movies are being dubbed in Kannada, so are the original Kannada movies losing importance?
The dubbing market is not growing. Open markets for dubbing have been established in the state. Initially this was a big issue but at present it was not. So original Kannada movies are being produced and the audience continue to watch these original movies. The audience have realised that dubbing is a failure and our native audience give prominence to Kannada movies.

Movies like KGF 1 and recent KGF chapter 2, 2022 an Indian Kannada-language period action film written and directed by Prashanth Neel, and produced by Vijay Kiragandur under the banner Hombale Films have been a global hit. Earlier it was Hindi language movies that became blockbusters but now our sandalwood movies have taken over. This has made the sandalwood industry so proud. Such movies have opened up the portal for sandalwood to make its mark. The film is being produced by K.P. Sreekanth of Venus Entertainers and G. Manohar of Lahari Films. Upendra’s new directorial project film titled UI, produced by K.P. Sreekanth of Venus Entertainers and G. Manohar of Lahari Films is being made as a pan-Indian film. This movie will also have a universal appeal.

Any political influence on the Kannada industry?
All political parties have been a part of the film industry. They are not only movie lovers but also supporters and members of our Karnataka Film Chamber. D.K. Shivakumar, H.D. Kumaraswamy, B.C. Patil and even our respected Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai have been very supportive. There has been no discrimination based on anything in our film chamber. Actors like Tara, Shruthi, Jayamala, Rockline Venkatesh, Shivanna, K.V. Chandrashekar , Ragavendra Rajkumar, and everyone in the film industry should collectively put forth their ideas and present them to the government. This will enable us to come up with more interesting stories. 

How many movies have got subsidy so far in Kannada?
So far only 125 movies got subsidy and now it has been extended to 200 movies. But we produced 400 movies. Out of these the ones that are dubbed, remade or have obscene content should not be given subsidy. But romantic genre movies with right messages to the audience should be given subsidies.