Noted
playwright
Girish
Karnad
believes
Indian
cinema
has
successfully
warded
off
Hollywood
invasion
because
of
its
song
and
dance
tradition.
"If
we
would
have
made
films
like
Satyajit
Ray,
continued
without
song
and
dance,
we
would
have
been
swallowed
up
by
Hollywood
by
now," Girish
Karnad
told
reporters
in
Delhi.
"Italian
cinema
is
gone,
Japanese
cinema
is
gone
and
even
French
can't
compete
with
Hollywood.
"We
don't
have
to
worry.
Our
songs
and
dancers
have
protected
us.
So,
why
should
we
give
up
our
strength?" Karnad
added.
Karnad,
who
recently
acted
in
Bollywood
movie
Ek
Tha
Tiger,
said
Indian
cinema
was
doing
extremely
well
and
it
should
not
be
judged
by
Western
parameters.
Girish
said,
"I
think
the
films
that
are
being
made
are
very
good.
We
should
not
judge
by
Western
standards.
We
say
why
don't
our
films
get
Oscars?
Why
do
we
need
an
Oscar?"
"Suddenly,
AR
Rahman
becomes
great
because
he
got
an
Oscar
but
he
was
great
even
before
that.
I
gave
the
example
of
Ship
of
Theseus.
It
would
have
been
impossible
to
make
something
like
this
10
years
ago,"
Karnad
quoted.
The
Jnanpith
award-winning
writer-director-actor,
75,
who
was
here
to
deliver
the
26th
Jawaharlal
Nehru
Memorial
IFFCO
lecture
on
Indian
Cinema
and
the
Creation
of
A
Nation,
highlighted
how
Hindi
cinema
went
about
in
building
the
nation
without
realising
it.
Karnad
said
in
their
effort
to
find
maximum
audience,
Hindi
cinema
went
about
creating
new
idioms,
new
language
and
new
music,
which
could
be
consumed
all
over
India.