Good films lack exclusive theatres: Adoor

Admitting that Kathapurushan is semi-autobiographical, Adoor said: "I never participated in the communist movement, though I sympathise with them. The house where I shot the film is my ancestral home." He said his film was against any establishment which develops a system that becomes corrupt due to vested interests.

Talking about the so-called parallel film movement, he said, "It is a journalistic jargon cooked up to differentiate between realistic films and commercial cinema. "They probably feel that these films should be written and read about but not seen. I use the same finance, distribution, theatres and publicity as others do. Though audience for my film is less, I like more and more people to see my film." Talking about using stars in his films, Adoor said there is nothing wrong in using the popular actors if they fit into the roles.

"All Malayalam stars want to work with me even if it is a small part. Mammoty who has worked in two of my earlier films had played secondary role and hard-core villain in Vidheyan despite the fact that he is an established star who normally is concerned about his public image."

He dismissed the idea that actors should be given the script in advance to prepare themselves. "I give script only to my cinematographer and no one else. I rehearse the stars on the set and I don’t want my artistes to interpret the role in their style," he clarified.

Talking about the rising cost of production, he said, "My first film cost me only Rs 2.25 lakh." Still, he said, the struggle to make films persists.Meanwhile, addressing presspersons on Thursday, Italian director of Strange Stories Sandro Baldoni said there is no difference between rural life in India and Italy because the same exploitation of the layman exists in both the countries.

Baldoni said he had seen many Indian films including those made by Satyajit Ray and Gautam Ghose in Italy, which also depict the plight of the down-trodden. "Technically Indian films are simple, far away from gimmicks and special effect. Simplicity is better because it goes deep into the hearts of the people." While explaining the difficulties in making realistic films in Italy, Baldoni observed that two Italian companies monopolised the distribution and exhibition which made it impossible for independent film-makers to market their films unless they toed their line of film-making.