Poor subtitles, prints let down Indian films on global stage, says British film critic

Indian films suffer at international platforms because of their poor translation of subtitles and low-quality prints, said British film critic Derek Malcolm at the 10th Bengaluru International Film Festival on Wednesday.

"I have talked to the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) about this. The quality is improving now, but even the prints of movies by directors such as Satyajit Ray are awful. People remember when you make a mess," he said.

If South Korea can send movies with articulate subtitles and good prints, India should also be able to do it, Malcolm said.

Rajendra Singh Babu, chairperson, Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, said they had been fighting with the government for three years to restore about 60 national and state award-winning Kannada films. "These films, including those by director Puttanna Kanagal, were just lying in a godown. They were in control of the information department and we were asking the government to transfer the rights to us," Babu said.

Now, the films are in the new building of the academy and once the rights are transferred, work on restoring the films will begin, he said.

Malcolm said that in the US and Europe, with newspapers losing business, film criticism is also becoming a dying art.

"When I used to work in The Guardian as a film critic, only four or five movies would release every week in London. We had a lot of space to write about them. Now, at least 15 movies are released, but there is hardly any space to write," he said.

People only look at the number of stars in movie reviews and no one reads film criticism anymore, he said.

"Even in India, when I used to come here before, there were several good film critics. There are not many now," Malcolm said. He added that in the UK, it was very difficult to get distributors for Indian films because the only   people   watching are the Indian diaspora.

Kannada film director T S Nagabharana released book 'Kannada Movies-Redefined' in English and Kannada. A book to mark the completion of 10 years of Biffes was also released.

The valedictory function of the festival will be held at 6.30 pm in the Banquet Hall of the Vidhana Soudha. The winners in various categories will be announced and awards will be presented.