Cinema goes green

[1]

A still from I am Kalam; Nila Madhab

For someone whose heart belongs to the remote village of his birth in the “other India”, filmmaker Nila Madlab Panda draws inspiration from his humble roots. That’s probably why he has always felt strongly about telling stories of the real people and their issues. “I feel it’s important to use the medium of cinema to raise social issues in an entertaining way,” says Orrisa-born Nila.

The thinking-man’s filmmaker is now taking up the green cause. With “green cinema campaign” — Green Screen Lab, he’s aiming to go environment-friendly while making films for children.
While India is one of the largest film-producing countries in the world, Nila is concerned about the strain film-production puts on the environment. “The film industry can help to save the earth by using energy-efficient technology,” he says.
Thus, the “green cinema” movement starts with “Screenplay Lab” for children’s cinema to be held in Bhubaneswar during August 10 to 20. “For example, if we can do much of the shoot using natural and available light, we would be using minimum artificial energy, thus reducing the use of generator and minimising pollution during filmmaking,” he explains.
Instead of going overboard with technology and high on budget, the script can be made the soul of a good film, says Nila. “Technology and star power actually help the story come to life through a sensitively executed script. Star power definitely helps in making a film visible, but all of us know a number of films with big stars that have failed to score at the box office,” says Nila, CEO of Eleeanora Images.
With nearly 35 per cent of India’s population belonging to the under-15 age group, Nila feels that film fraternity is in a position to make children’s cinema that has a huge market potential. “When children like a film, they pull their parents along to watch it. So the market size of children’s cinema is really huge if we can make quality children cinema and also promote and release them to the extent they deserve,” he adds.
Moreover, Nila is disturbed that none of the leaders, including the founding fathers of independent India, stressed on the importance of primary education. “Whatever was said, mostly remained in speeches and policies, while millions of our children remained outside school,” he says talking about his critically acclaimed I am Kalam.
“We had this example of how access to education can help a poor boy from Tamil Nadu, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam rise to the level of a top scientist and become the President of India,” he says. “It is only now that we are talking about right to education, whereas if that had been made a fundamental right when our Constitution was being written, the shape our country would have been much better. I am toying with several ideas right now, from small, independent films to big budget adventure films involving international stars,” Nila concludes.