Films on Gandhi should be screened regularly: Benegal

Mumbai: National award-winning filmmaker Shyam Benegal feels films on Mahatma Gandhi should be screened more often as the lack of it would dwindle his memory forever.

"These films (on Gandhi) are important but they should be showed consistently, in schools, colleges and also on television. Unless there is a constant input of this kind, Gandhiji`s memory will become less and less as time goes on," the 77-year-old said here Tuesday at a film festival titled ‘Bapu’ organised to commemorate the 143rd birth anniversary of the Mahatma. This film festival runs Oct 2-5. Benegal had directed 1996-film ‘The Making of a Mahatma’. It was a joint Indo-South African production. It was awarded the National Film Award for best feature film in English while actor Rajit Kapur, who played Gandhi in the film, was honoured with the National Award for best actor. However, Benegal believes that as films are a costly affair a filmmaker cannot work according to his whims and fancies, and therefore, needs to be more creative while tackling such issues. "There are a lot of things we think we should do. But we also need to relate to the audience because films are a very costly thing," Benegal said. "So, when you make films there are two-three things which should be kept in mind. You have to be very creative in the manner which you do it so that the audience not only finds it acceptable but also enjoys the film," he added. IANS