A Kannada film releasing next week has a father and daughter in the lead. Activist groups are outraged by the casting, and fear it may encourage improper behaviour. Will it, MiD DAY asks social scientists
A Kannada film releasing next week has a father and daughter in the lead. Activist groups are outraged by the casting, and fear it may encourage improper behaviour. Will it, MiD DAY asks social scientists
A man and his daughter are facing extreme hostility for acting as the hero and heroine of a Kannada film releasing next week.
B P Srinivas, lead actor and director of Mussanjeya Gelathi (Twilight Friend), is gearing up for protests near cinema halls on Friday.
"Some groups are against us, and one group has lodged a complaint in Chitradurga saying our film shouldn't be released," Srinivas told MiD DAY.
The film has been approved by the censors and has received a U/A certificate. "I have not appeared in any romantic sequences with Shalini. We have tried to do justice to our roles and it won't affect our real-life relationship," Srinivas said.
Srinivas plays a professor who falls in love with his student, played by his real-life daughter Shalini.
Fraternity shocked
When he invited Jayamala, chairperson of the the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, for the audio release, she turned him down saying what he was doing was wrong.
"She even said she would join the protesters," he said. "I wonder why they have biased minds."
Good publicity?
Srinivas hopes the controversy will help the film's publicity. "I am not worried about the protests," he said.
Most people are outraged by the idea that a man and his daughter could be acting in sexually suggestive scenes. They are also worried it might encourage incest.
"It would shock me if they appeared like a typical movie couple," said Suvarna (26), a Kannada movie buff.
"There's a line fathers should not cross."
'Wrong signals'
M Shridhara Murthy, who teaches psychology at NMKRV College for Women, said, "Cinema has a strong impact on society and reel life often influences real life. This film can send a wrong message if it has sexually explicit scenes."
He believes people should not oppose the film if it is done with "artistic values" in mind.
He recalled the Tamil film Apoorva Ragangal, where couples of different generations fall in love. "It was made well," he recalled. "And no one was offended."
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Bonds of blood: B P Srinivas and daughter Shalini at the audio release of their film. This is Shalini's first film
pics/u00a0KN nagesh kumar |
Beyond biases
Dr Sudha Sitharaman, sociologist, is puzzled by all the brouhaha.
"Indian mythology has stories about unusual relationships. Theatre and cinema should go beyond all biases," she said.
Sudha is intrigued that no one minds when older heroes act opposite young girls.
"It is very strange that we worry about propriety only when the hero and heroine of this film are father and daughter," she said. "Why don't we say anything when a 50-year-old actor pairs up with a 16-year-old girl in romantic scenes?"
Doesn't the hero feel she is like his daughter, Sudha wondered.
