Five national awards for Kannada films

Kannada films have bagged four National Awards, including the best children’s film. Manu Chakravarthi has bagged the best critic award, the second time the honour is coming to Karnataka after MK Raghavendra.

Hejjegalu, written and directed by PR Ramdas Naidu, has bagged the Golden Lotus for the best Children's Film. Bettada Jeeva (see the picture) directed by P Seshadri won the best film on environment award.

The film also got a special jury mention for its writer, the late K Shivarama Karanth. Both the films are produced by Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce president Basant Kumar Patil.

Puttakkana Highway, directed by B Suresha, was named the best regional film in Kannada.

This is the sixth consecutive National Award for P Seshadri. His films had won the national awards in various categories for the last five years.

As usual, the awards have been bagged by 'art-house' films which lack popular appeal. Admits Seshadri, “No one is asking us to make movies. We are making it for our own interests. It is a bigger challenge to promote these films than to make them. None of the four films have yet been released for public viewing. Only Puttakkana Highway will be released this week.”

B Suresha, the director of Puttakkana Highway said, “I urge people to watch the film in the first week. The market does not permit a long run if there is no opening.”