by S.N.Venkatnag Sobers
Every person dreams of walking the Red Carpet at premier film festivals or at least to be a part of the festival in some way or the other. This is a talented Mysorean has had that opportunity.
Vaishak Vasanth Kumar, son of Rajyotsava awardee Vasanth Kumar Thimkapura, city’s renowned Agricultural Scientist, has just fulfilled his dream of walking the Red Carpet at Cannes Film Festival held this year.
A student at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, Vaishak was one among the 30 students selected to be a part of the Cannes Film Festival from the University.
Vaishak has been pursuing his studies in Bachelor of Arts with Political Science and Economics as his major subjects in the University.
Speaking to Star of Mysore, Vaishak said that every year his University gets 30 invitations from the organisers of Cannes Film Festival and the University conducts a selection process which includes writing essays and one-on-one interviews to select the team to represent the University at the Cannes Film Festival.
He added that he was the only student from India and the only non-American to be a part of the student delegation.
“The interview involves writing about the history of cinema and the Cannes Film Festival as well. Only after getting through the two rounds I got an opportunity to be a part the team which visited Cannes,” said Vaishak.
During his 13-day stay in Cannes, the student team was given the task of watching 25 films screened at the festival. But, Vaishak making good use of the given opportunity watched 30 movies one among them was the ‘Winter Sleep,’ a Turkish movie, which won the prestigious PALME D’OR (Golden Palm Award) this year.
He added that it was his first visit to the Cannes Film Festival and said that he got an opportunity to meet the representatives of Warner Brothers and Disney.
Vaishak also added that he also met actors James Mc Avoy of X-Men fame, Jassica Chastian of Zero Dark Thirty fame, Salma Hayek, Zoe Saldana and Indian actors Ranvir Shorey and Shashank Arora.
Speaking about movies, Vaishak said that when compared to Hollywood movies and films from other countries, Indian movies had very little international appeal as it is made only for the Indian audience and it was very hard for the producers to pitch in the Indian movie for international audience.
“There is much more to be done in Bollywood if Indian movies have to be showcased in International Film Festival like the Cannes. The only movie which was showcased was ‘Titli’ of Yash Raj Films. People in Hollywood and film makers around the world take risks while scripting a movie, but in India such risks are not taken. There is a need for film fraternity in India to also give importance for parallel movies compared to the mainstream commercial movies,” said Vaishak.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles /by S.N.Venkatnag Sobers / May 29th, 2014