Film chamber tells producer to change title

BANGALORE: The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) asked producer G Krishnappa of the Kannada movie 'Mysore Mallige' to change the title following objections raised by director TS Nagabharana whose movie of the same title was based on 'Mysooru Mallige', a book of poems by noted Kannada poet KS Narasimhaswamy.
In a letter to Krishnappa, chamber president B Vijayakumar said Nagabharana's movie released in 1992 had won the national award as best regional movie and won acclaim at the international level."Considering that Nagabharana has taken objection to the title, we asked the producer to change the title,'' Vijayakumar told TOI on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Nagabharana had written to KFCC that every movie has its own significance and people have no right to ruin it and the Kannada film industry had not become bankrupt of ideas for not getting better titles for movies. "I request you to kindly to ask the producer of the movie to change the title. I also want the chamber not to disturb the original title of the movie by approving similar titles to other movies,'' he wrote.
KFCC has made it clear that as per the rules, if the original producer fails to register the name of the movie after 10 years, there is scope for approving the same title for others. The chamber has given the example of 'Nagarahavu' and 'Minchina Ota'.
'Oscar' Krishna, the director, said the movie with a tagline 'An unusual love story', is about a how a lonely woman undergoes sweet and bitter experiences in life and how she faces up to the situation. "I spoke to Nagabharana on Thursday and told him my movie would in no way affect his movie of the same title. My entire story takes place in Mysore and we have called our heroine (Roopa Nataraj) as Mallige as it is relevant to the title.''
Criticspeak
Kannada critic Narahalli Balasubramanya, who has done a doctoral thesis on KS Narasimhaswamy's complete works, said the ttle is being misused as it's very popular. "The title reflects Kannada culture and has become part of Kannada literature. There is a place for it in literature. Why do they want to call it 'Mysore Mallige'. Why can't they call it 'Mysore Sampige'. I think it's exploitation of the name which shouldn't be allowed.''