Children's films treated with respect in West, says Kukunoor

Filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor, whose acclaimed film "Dhanak" featuring two child actors hit the screens on Friday, says children's movies need to be approached with intelligence in India.

Apart from "Dhanak", Kukunoor has earlier worked with children in his memorable movie "Rockford".

"In India, when we make children's film, we pull it down saying that only kids can watch it. Whereas in the West, even adults enjoy watching children's films," Kukunoor told IANS.

"The way they approach kids' films is great. You have to approach it with intelligence. Children's films are treated with a lot of respect in the West," he added.

The movie releases with the much talked about "Udta Punjab". Kukunoor says he is aware that his project is "nowhere near on the scale of the Shahid Kapoor starrer".

Asked about the difficulty directors faced in getting a good umber of screens when they have a film like "Udta Punjab" releasing on the same day on this, Kukunoor said: "This is something we all knew."

"Having said that, we are nowhere near on the scale of 'Udta Punjab' and we are catering to an entirely different audience. We will get our due."

He also believes the fight between filmmakers and the censor board will continue.

"Nothing has changed over the years. There will be people who will be saying what we should not be doing, but we as artistes need to fight for it."

"'Udta Punjab' should celebrate whatever has happened to it and we should try and use it as a precedent. The fight goes on," Kukunoor said.