It was the 118th birthday of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and not many know that it was Chacha Nehru who had started the children's film festival way back in the '50s.
Hyderabad has been a venue for the festival for the past seven festivals and this is the eight one. Nafisa Ali, who happens to be the chairperson of the Children's Film Society was all enthusiastic and child-like when it came to interacting with the little boys and girls who came for the inaugural function at the Lalita Kala Thoranam. A special song and dance show was put up by kids of various schools. Various politicians such as Dr Dasari Narayana Rao and Anam Ramnarayan Reddy were present apart from the CM Mr Rajasekhara Reddy.
Mr Reddy opined that the success of the Harry Potter series should be taken as an example to make enticing and message-oriented films for children. He said that the film's success spoke of the huge market open for children's films.
Central Minister Dr Dasari Narayan Rao pointed out to the various lacunae in the organizational set up of the festival. He also said that not enough care was taken to include more local or south Indian films. He was also agitated by the fact that the CFSI did not use the land donated by the Andhra Pradesh Government for the construction of an auditorium to show the films during the festival. State Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy said the industry could concentrate more on making good and meaningful children's films.
Jayasudha too was present and said that she regularly watched films at the Children's Film Festivals. She said she enjoyed the variety and tried to catch up on as many foreign and national films as possible. It will no different this year, she said.
The CM released the mascot and tri-coloured balloons filled the air as the celebrations ended. The inaugural film was a Thai animation film titled Khankhulay (meaning Banana Skin). A full-length animation film, it is about a cute little elephant In all, over 119 films will be shown within a span of seven days from over 30 films.