Basanth Kumar Patil's plans to improve Kannada Films Industry

Finally, the election for president of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) is over after a year"s delay and producer Basanth Kumar Patil, who has produced several National Award winning art films like Gulabi Talkies, has replaced Dr. Jayamala as the President of KFCC.

The producer has loads of dreams about the Kannada film industry and he has already met the Chief Minister of Karnataka, BS Yediyurappa with some burning issues like piracy and decreasing number of theatres. On Wednesday, he organised a press meet at KFCC to announce his plans to improve the industry.

Basanth Kumar Patil spoke about the issue of pirated CDs and DVDs and his decision to stop it. He said, “We have taken this piracy issue seriously and very soon we will put an end to it. Earlier, I had done 22 raids and caught Rs. lakhs worth of pirated CDs and DVDs, when I was heading the anti-piracy committee. I've already spoken to CM Yediyurappa sir regarding this issue and he has assured me to pass the Goonda act in Assembly."

He added, “We want to send a serious warning to the people those who are involved in this illegal act that we won"t tolerate them any longer and we'll continue to raid and take necessary action against them, until the Karnataka government passes the much-expected bill at the Assembly."

The newly elected president further said, “A couple of years back, there were 1000 theatres in Karnataka, but 400 of them have been demolished and only 600 theatres are in the working conditions. We don"t have enough number of theatres to screen our Kannada films, which is one of the reason for the failure of the industry."

He added, “I"ve brought this to the notice of CM sir. We"ve several investors, who are ready to put their money on new theatres, but the space is biggest problem for this plan. I"ve spoken to Yediyurappa sir about space problem and he said that he would recognize empty place for this purpose. So within a year, we will build 400 mini theatres (Janata theatres), which will have 400 to 500 seats arrangement."

Meanwhile, BS Yediyurappa has invited Kannada film industry to take part in the Bangalore Festival and make it successful. The CM had said, “The Govt has planned to celebrate Nadaprabhu Kempegowda"s birthday as Bangalore Festival. The Fest is held from June 16 to 18 and I want the Kannada film industry to hold some entertainment programmes on June 17." So Basanth Kumar has decided to announce holiday on the day so that all actors and technicians can take part in the colourful Fest.

However, Basanth Kumar spoke his plans to make strict rules on simultaneous release of non-Kannada films in Karnataka, which is main responsible reason for failure of Kannada films. He also spoke about strict actions against dubbing of Non-Kannada films in Kannada and controlling remake movies.

As a producer, Basanth Kumar has been successful in making a few award winning Kannada films. Now, he has hundreds of dreams to improve the suffering Kannada film industry. But the fulfillment of his vision depends on the kind of actions he takes. Do you think he will make effective rules and regulations and implicate them in a proper way to improve the industry? Write your comments below.

Anyway, let us congratulate our newly elected president of KFCC, Basanth Kumar Patil and may all his dreams about Kannada films come true very soon.