Documentaries can bring change: Naseeruddin Shah

Pic Courtesy: IANS

Mumbai: Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah says documentary cinema has the power to bring about a change in the society.

The actor was present here on Wednesday, along with eminent filmmakers like Nandita Das, Rajkumar Hirani and Rahul Dholakia, on a panel discussion hosted by the Indian Documentary Foundation.

Sharing his viewpoint, Naseer said: "I think I started watching some of the good documentaries when I went to FTII, Pune... Though I have been part of many films that addressed social issues and with the intention of bringing change in society, I think I have understood that documentary films can bring a change in our society."

"They used to run documentary films before every feature film and they were so boring that people used to reach the cinema theatres late. They have done more harm to documentary films. Common people have the notion that documentaries are boring.

"However, (after) watching some of the international documentaries along with some made by Shyam Benegal, Mani Kaul, I realised their importance," he added.

The panel discussion was conducted by Javed Jaffri, actor and co-founder of Good Pitch India, a non-profit organisation that support documentary filmmakers. They also launched a campaign called #FILMSFORCHANGE.

Good Pitch India has also selected four socially-relevant documentary films -- "Climbing Uphill", "Her Song", "#MISSINGGIRLS" and "Writing With Fire", whose filmmakers will be introduced to corporate companies, NGOs, campaigners, philanthropists, etc., at an event.

The event will take place at National Centre of Performing Arts (NCPA) on April 4, and will be moderated by Kiran Rao.