ndia is in need of robust National Awards

Just about every country presents national awards for films. The difference with India is that they are all homogenous countries, speaking in a single tongue, not only in terms of the actual language spoken but the film language used. From China to Spain, they do not go through the excruciating exercise of pitting an Aamir Khan film in Hindi against a Priyadarshan film in Tamil. How do you appraise the two? What is the yardstick you use? How do you compare the film language used in Shivajee Chandrabhushan’s Frozen with the Aditya Chopra-produced Chak De! India?
Apparently, to distinguish “artistic” cinema from the “popular” one, our National Awards authorities have adopted a system of having numerous categories: “Wholesome Entertainment”, “Best Film on National Integration”, “Best Film on Family Welfare”, etc. Here, it is the content that matters — with quality of filmmaking, of course, taken into consideration. But the film language varies so dramatically that judging is an onerous task, particularly in view of the huge number of films entered for the awards. And then, if there is an Adoor Gopalakrishnan or a Shyam Benegal or a Mani Ratnam film in competition, few would have the temerity to ignore it while deciding upon the prizes. Yet, no one can produce a masterpiece each time, and it has to be recognised that once in a blue moon, a young newcomer can come up with something so powerful, so original that he or she deserves to prevail over the well-established names. It has happened in big festivals like Cannes, Berlin and Venice, but is unheard of in our own national competition. Perhaps a rule should be introduced that the Best Film and Best Director can be won by a single individual no more than three times!
Parallel to the National Awards are the state film awards in each language. How do National Awards for best “regional language” films compare with the awards presented in each state? It would be interesting to study the differences in perception between the state awards and the National Awards. It’s somewhat like a comparison between national and international awards. A striking recent example is the Filipino film Engkwentro which got a Jury Special Mention at the recent Cinemalaya film festival in Manila and went on to garner two awards at the Venice film festival. The jury at Cinemalaya was composed of three Filipinos and two foreigners, while the two juries in Venice which gave Engkwentro a major award each — the Luigi De Laurentis prize for Best First Film and the Horizons award for Best Film — had no Filipino member. Does that tell us something about the way we look at our own films? In India that would apply to the regional awards and members of the National Awards jury who come from all parts of the country. There is a fundamental question here on the understanding of cultures.
Once I was dismissive of a Bengali film proposed for inclusion in a film festival of which I was the Director. “No”, I said categorically. “Too sentimental, too wishy-washy — even if sensitively shot”. To which the very bright, cinema-literate young Bengali working with me responded, “But Aruna di, most Bengalis are like that”. It got me thinking about the absolute necessity to understand the cultural diversity in at least our own country and to take that into consideration when judging the quality of a film. It is not necessary that each film conform to an international — i.e. European — definition of cinema. To really judge a film, one needs to understand the language, culture, history, politics and the very ethos of the country where it comes from and, in India, the region where it is made. And, in addition, bring to this judging an understanding of cinema as a form. No mean task. A well-nigh impossible one, in fact.
The National Awards this time have been mercifully free of controversy — no doubt a great relief to the organisers in view of the court case they had to face and which is the reason the awards have been delayed in the past two years. One of the jury members went to court saying she did not agree with the prizes agreed upon. That is inadmissible and should not, in fact, have been entertained as a valid complaint. As a member of the jury, one is committed to go with the majority decision, however much one may disagree with it as an individual. What does, however, need to be examined by the organisers are the recommendations of the juries; examined, and the decision for or against, made known before the next round of awards. The next round of awards is, imminent. Because of the delay in the 2007 awards, which have only just been announced to be followed soon by the presentation ceremony, the 2008 awards will also be judged before the end of this financial year. Presented as it is by the President of India, a National Award has an aura and prestige that all film people across the board yearn for. The ceremony itself remains a rather staid affair. Without making it a glittering, glamour-filled occasion, perhaps, something could be done to invest it with the pomp and majesty of a state event.