Adoor calls for 'good cinema'

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 28 (IANS) Renowned filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, one of the most honoured Indian filmmakers after Satyajit Ray, wants good cinema to be promoted.

Born in Kerala, 65-year-old Adoor was conferred the Padma Vibhushan ahead of Republic Day.

"The need of the hour is to promote good cinema and for this it needs to be incorporated in the academic curriculum," Adoor, last year's Dadasaheb Phalke award winner, told reporters here Saturday.

According to him, appreciation of good cinema was very important.

"The government should ensure that award winning films are screened in theatres and must not just wait for box office receipts. The (state-owned) Film Development Corp has theatres which should screen good films. If that does not happen, good films will continue to languish," he added.

Adoor, who made an impressive debut in 1972 with "Swayamvaram", has won the national award for best director four times and the best scriptwriter award thrice.

"I see these awards as recognition for the new wave Malayalam cinema and these are not going to haunt my work. Rather, the recognition is a definite morale booster for all filmmakers who aspire and dare to tread a different path," he said.

His films were among the pioneering efforts in new age cinema, his work defining so-called "parallel" cinema that competed with commercial films.

He said he was finishing work on a 70-minute documentary on 'Mohiniyattom', a dance form.