People are in the pursuit of scientific truth says Gurdeep Singh Sappal

Trivandrum: A round table conference on “Challenges and Opportunities for Science Film making in India” coordinated by Prasar Vigyan under the auspices of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on behalf of the Seventh International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala  commenced at Hotel Keys. The two day conference started off yesterday with the welcome address by Bina Paul, artistic director of the fest. Dr.T.V. Venkateswaran, Scientist F, Vigyan Prasar introduced the conference to the audience. The frame work of the event was given by Nimish Kapoor, Scientist D, Vigyan Prasar. Gurdeep Singh Sappal, Chief Executive Officer, Rajya Sabha Television, New Delhi rendered the Inaugural address. He opined that scientific approach is intelligent and modern and people are often in the pursuit of scientific truth. India spends one percent of its GDP on science. He asked the gathering whether we can make science for entertainment. We must try to give scientific explanation for the things happening in life. He concluded with an optimistic note that if we succeed in this venture, greater challenges will lie ahead. Rajendran Nair, Secretary and Executive Director, KSCA delivered the vote of thanks.

The second session chaired by Dr. T.V.Venkateswaran began with a paper on “Challenges of Science Film Making” by Gauhar Raza, Professor, Chief Scientist and Head, SCM, CSIR-NISCAIR. Being the lead speaker, Guahar stressed that challenges of different era are different and the consciousness is going against science which has an authoritarian acceptance. People try to justify their superstitions based on science. He focused on the point that we have a responsibility to pass on democracy to the posterity. It is our bounden duty to safeguard it. But the major fact is that the nation has never entered into a discourse on scientific temper. He concluded his lecture stating that India is under great threat and the road to curb this issue is not easy as it is to be created.Matiur Rahman, Independent Fulltime Science Filmmaker, Seema Muralidharan, Television Director-Producer- Science Communicator, Beacon Televisiion, Abhay S.D. Rajput, Scientist –c,Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology(IITM), Pune and Fatima Nizaruddin, Research Scholar, University of Westminster were the discussants in this session.  The second session opened with a paper by the lead speaker Indranil Bhattacharya, Professor, Film and Television Institute of India, Pune on “Communicating Science: A Roadmap for the Digital Age” .The discussants of this session include Damodar Prasad, Director, Educational Multimedia Research Centre, University of Calicut, Madhu K.S, Managing Director, Hibiscus Digital Media Private Limited and K. Rajendran, Senior News Editor, Kairali/People TV. The other discussants in yesterday’s session were Farhat Basir Khan, Professor, AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi, Y.S.Gill, Film maker, Journalist and Science Communicator, Romesh Chaturvedi, Science Film Maker and Christy Leema Rosa Mary E, Department of Media Sciences, Anna University, Chennai .All the discussants pointed out that there is a pre conceived notion that science is unglamorous, bumbling, boring and unwanted. We have absolutely no need to ape the western countries. Every man is rational irrespective of literacy or non literacy disparities. It is high time that we break down our prejudices. Moreover science media needs a properly worked out ecology. There is a scientific basis in language, anthropology and history.”Nostalgia for the Light” directed by Patricio Guzman, “Human Face” produced by BBC and “Kaku- Universe in Nutshell” were screened in between these sessions.

The conference will come to an end by today.K.P.Madhu, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Siva Kumar, Film Director and Faculty, Department of LV Prasad Film and Television Academy, Nandan Kudhyadi, Director, ISB and M school of Media, Member, Academic Council of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, T V Sajeev, Head, Forest Entomology, Kerala Forest Research Institute and Biju Mohan, Executive Director, MBL Media School will present their papers.” Charles Darwin and The Tree of Life “and “Flow: For Love of Water” movies will also be screened today.