Cinema not fully exploited in India yet: Shabana Azmi

New Delhi, Oct 30 (IANS) Veteran actress Shabana Azmi feels that Indian filmmakers are yet to fully exploit the medium of cinema. She also says that in the pursuit of appealing to the international market, they have become confused about the kind of films that must be made.

"The diversity and the hardwireness of aesthetics come deeply from within our roots and gives a uniqueness to our film industry, but have we been able to live up to the challenge? Hundred years later, isn't it time to understand what our identity is," Shabana said at the CII Media and Entertainment Summit 2012 here Tuesday.

"In a bid to cater to the international market, there is a lot of confusion on what kind of films do we make in our cinema. Our cinema is unique because it is based in our roots, but we haven't risen to the sophistication of the medium itself," she added.

The critically acclaimed actress, who featured in films like "Ankur" and "Masoom", feels a lot of aspects of filmmaking are yet to be tapped, including judicious use of technology.

"We have adopted from theatre, drama, music but inherently cinema has not been exploited as a medium, neither in the genre nor in the technicalities.

"What we are doing with the latest technology is that we are making same films in cheaper form, instead of exploring it. It is a good time to revisit what we are doing and where are we heading," she said.

The actress spoke during a panel discussion on 'A century in retrospect: 100 years of India cinema'. She was accompanied by filmmakers Shekhar Kapur and Shyam Benegal.

While the discussion was to discuss about the journey of Indian cinema over 100 years, it ended up being focussed more on content and the business aspect of films.