Cosmopolitan ethos a must for Bangalore's economy to thrive

Subir Roy: Our films, their films
Business Standard

For over a month now Bangalore and Karnataka have been in the throes of a peculiar disruption. Cinema theatres have been forced to release new non-Kannada films only seven weeks after their release elsewhere so as to make sure that Kannada films get a chance to get out of the cans and be seen by audiences.

This is naturally not palatable to many film theatre owners and tension has been simmering, sometimes erupting into violence.

I don’t know what this does to Karnataka as a whole but I can vouch for the fact that this does no good to Bangalore. This sort of thing has every danger of deteriorating into a wider cultural rift between outsiders and others, which is quite anathema to a place like Bangalore that thrives on its cosmopolitan character.

If you take away the cosmopolitanism of the city then it will become a different kind of animal, unrecognisable to those who know it and would like it to remain the way it has been ever since the British shifted their troops to this salubrious plateau from Srirangapatnam.

What is most disappointing is that such strife that divides instead of including, is not new. If we could learn the lessons from the experiences of other places that have grappled with similar problems then the present round could have been avoided.

Most major cities in the country have had to face the issue of outsiders who have been seen to be dominant and locals who feel they do not own their city. Mumbai is the classic example.

Its politically organised movement against outsiders, particularly “south Indians”, has been fairly serious and in a way Bangalore has been the beneficiary.

IT in India did not start in Bangalore. The first educational computer in the country was installed in ISI, Kolkata, the first offshore development centre by an Indian company was set up by Tata Consultancy Service in Chennai and the first offshore development centre by a foreign company was set up by Citibank in Mumbai.

How did Bangalore come from behind and beat all these? I have asked this question to dozens of people and the best answer I have got is that its the cosmopolitan nature of Bangalore that makes it so easy for outsiders to settle down here.

Bangalore’s weather is a bonus, but if the lure of commerce could prompt the British to set up major cities in such unhealthy and inhospitable places like Mumbai and Kolkata, then weather alone could not have done the trick.

Another reason why IT could dig roots in Bangalore was the boost given to science studies in it by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). And how did the institution get built?

A Parsi, Jamsetji Tata, conceived of it, a Kannadiga, the then Maharaja of Mysore, agreed to provide the land and the Government of India piloted and saw through the whole idea. If IISc and through it Bangalore are not the symbols of the oneness of India then what is?

These days only a fraction of people go to a movie theatre to see a movie. It doesn’t really matter, does it, if new Hollywood and Bollywood film releases are not promptly released in Bangalore?

It does not, but it is the underlying mindset that is disturbing. There is an intermittent debate on whether bus routes written on buses should also be in English. Newcomers to Bangalore have trouble negotiating roads where the road signs are not in English.

I recall complaining to Madhya Pradesh officials why signages on national highways passing through the state should be only in Hindi. All I got in reply was defensive smiles.

What is the best way to protect and enrich a linguistic culture? It took a visit to Bangladesh that has gone far ahead of West Bengal in linguistic studies, which have so enriched the Bengali language, to convince me that love and dedicated attention to a language, rather than tokenism over it, is what enriches it.

Which is the best way to nurture a regional film industry? In the early 1980s, The Telegraph of Kolkata, where I worked, with the freshness of youth decided to relook at old problems, and posed the simple question: what ails the Bengali film industry and how to make it prosper?

After many articles by many experts the conclusion that emerged was quite unexpected. The wrong way to go about it is for the government to finance films by directors who are considered talented but have none to back them.

This is because, such films, once made, tend to rot in cans. The best way is for a state government to take over the running of a few movie theatres so that good films made in the local language get a chance to air themselves and their albeit limited but discerning audience get a chance to see those films.

I was, therefore, surprised to see a newspaper comment by well-known Kannada film director Girish Kasarvalli say that he was fully for the agitation and referred to a film of his which had won the praise of the aficionado but could not get a release.

The problem, to his mind, was that the film industry was controlled by outsiders. I could not help remember seeing in the papers some time ago that Puttanna Theatre, named after perhaps the greatest Kannada film director, which had been run or run down by the Karnataka Film Development Corporation, had been closed down.

I could not help wonder that if those who want the regional film industry to prosper cannot even get the state government to finance the running of a few cinema halls in the state to screen Kannada films, what good can any agitation by them do to their cause?

Again, the recent history of the Bengali film industry is instructive. It is experiencing a revival. Why? Good film directors have realised that watching a good film must be a pleasing experience to fairly ordinary people and must not go over their heads.

As it happens, West Bengal is also going through a process of opening its mind to the bigger world outside after passing through a phase of turning inwards. But the troubles of the film industry in Karnataka and the agitation over it are really a symptom.

The real issue is whether Kannadigas want Bangalore to be cosmopolitan and Karnataka a place where outsiders can come and work easily.