National Film Awards: A case of up-the-down-staircase all the way?

When the National Film Awards were announced a while ago, my dear Bollywood-basher, iconoclastic friend rang up pronto, roaring with laughter. “Is nothing sacred? The one legit award that salutes true-blue excellence and not star-dazzle or armpit rhetoric, once again succumbed to market forces. Manoj Bajpayee’s award for Bhosle was spot-on [long-overdue & much-deserved] but Kangy Ranaut’s for her hysterical portrayal of the Warrior Queen [Manikarnika] and the nut-case – [Panga] respectively? Has the jury totally lost it? It’s like putting the great Bhimsen Joshi and Daler Mehndi in the same platform! They sure have their own specific target groups but ... pray enlighten me, oh wise one!!” As always, he was mischievously provocative but somewhere his words struck a chord.

Cut to the National Flm Awards back story. It was established in 1954 with a definite agenda. A government-sponsored felicitation, it was mandated to identify, recognise and honour artistes and films with content - based on a set of liberal-humanitarian values with progressive solutions to urgent problems. Demonstrate a sensitivity to the plight of children of a lesser god and faith in the movement of man towards change. Uphold the spirit of a cinema of social significance and artistic sincerity through a human perspective more deep and durable than the single-minded entertainment –driven commercial fare. Also, most importantly, explore the forever ignored regional cinema that spoke of recognisable situations that invested in its characters depicting a relatable social identity that mirrored life. Low budgets, shot on locations with new actors, this cinema was envisioned to be a template for movie-buffs at home and abroad, designed to win global acclaim and bring honour and prestige to a land known more for quantity than quality. A cinema that showcased the best of Indian cinema, irrespective of region, language, star-power or commercial success. A cinema that offered truth 24 times per second!

Have the National Film Awards lived up to this vision and values in spirit, word or deed? Over the years, have these noble ideas been followed, ticking all the boxes and joining all the dots? In the early editions, one has to admit, all flush with patriotic fervour and idealism, keen to establish its own identity, fresh and wonderful work indeed occupied centre-stage. Film-makers, writers, music directors and actors connected in seamless fuse to offer visual experiences that entertained, enriched, even empowered. With time, however (especially in the recent decades) the genie in the bottle seems to have escaped and quietly sneaked into this hallowed space. Our selection of films to go to the Oscars and other hi-ticket festivals has had several sane people going comatose or worse, heading for the ICU! What happened? From the sublime to the ridiculous??

Fact is, wherever there are [Film] awards, controversy will follow, because perceptions, opinions and POV will be coloured by the jury members’ cultural, intellectual, artistic and social mindscape. Also, vested interest cannot be fully ignored. Even the globally swooned-over Oscars and most high-ticket festivals like Cannes, Venice, Berlin and others have not been able to escape this allegation, accusation and snide. Besides, we don’t have the presence of gigantic figures like Ray [who was frequently invited by the I&B Ministry to advise them on the National Awards and Film Festivals] Sen, Adoor, Benegal and their like to ensure that the winners are selected completely on merit and cinematic worth in keeping with the vision and value of the National Awards template.

Purists believe that the National Awards (NA) has been solidly devalued and sold down the river if the likes of Amitabh Bachchan – for his gimmicky & showy performance in Agneepath – and Vidya Balan for her titillating, masala-dripping role in Dirty Picture – grabbed these awards. Confusion further gets confounded when a world class performance by Manoj Bajpayee in Aligarh gets aced by renowned non-actor Akshay Kumar in Rustom. Ajay Devgn too picked up an award for a film which was clearly nowhere near his magnificent effort, Zakhm. Mercifully this year, Manoj after giving up all hope, got lucky but Kangana’s award has put the true-blue NA watcher on the ventilator, one more time!

There is more. Evolved critics have warned us that if this is progress, it’s time we pause and concern ourselves with a future doomed to be more imperfect than we feared. In every area – and why should NA be excluded – it’s not the genius of vision, artistry and accomplishment but the larynx of the ones with vested interest. Pitch of decibel and dimness of imagination could soon determine what the people see, hear and buy into. The lunatic fringe may become the mainstream and frighteningly, vice-versa. Veteran director Shyam Benegal is clear on this point. The path-breaking director believes that every award should not and need not be populist, catering to mass tastes. There should be niche films, actors and awards that need to be seen and rewarded for their audacious originality of thought and exploration of the language of cinema. These awards are special and salute the muse, not mammon. The NA is perhaps the only award in India that qualifies in this space and stamps it’s fearless, legitimacy, ignoring star-power or box office success.

In all fairness, there is a flipside to this too. Time and people move on. So do Jury members and benchmarks. The era of giants and luminaries gracing the committees of these august bodies is history and change being the only thing that is permanent, stares us in the face, every day.

Everything considered, people do complain that for sections of the movie-going constituency, there is a distinct, expressed – and unexpressed – tendency to summarily dismiss any film or actor who does not belong to their “charmed circle” – the art house universe. This is both unfair and betrays blatant cultural and intellectual snobbery. It implies that the NA basically is the territorial imperative of one kind of film and actor and any mainstream actor entering this space is guilty of trespassing and deserves to be prosecuted!

The fact is, apart from being an outrageously inaccurate observation, many believe that it has racism written all over. After all, a good film remains a good film, irrespective of genre. Why should only grim, dark, esoteric content helmed by directors inspired by European masters and acted by theatre actors, be wowed? What’s wrong with light-hearted, breezy, charming films, well portrayed by stars and enjoyed by the masses? Why should they be found unworthy of a NA nomination? Wasn’t the biggest superstar of all, Rajesh Khanna, brilliant in Anand, Bawarchi, Namak Haram, Safar? Wasn’t the deadly Angry Young Man amazing in Jurmana, Bemisaal, Mili, Chupke Chupke? Closer home, wasn’t Badshah Khan in – many consider the best of his career – Swadesh, Chak De India, My Name Is Khan worthy of an award?

So, as expected, the opinions are polarised. While transparency, accountability and quality are demanded, so are the intangibles which state that the true worth of any piece of art today is interpretive, not writ in stone. Be that as it may, the question is, are our audiences interested, aware or care about the prestige and honour connected with National Awards? About outstanding talents from regional cinema being honoured? Unlikely.

Their eyes will only light up if stars are involved, hooked as they are to the other glitzy, glamorous, media-house-driven awards dedicated to dazzling and bharpoor manoranjan! So, at the end of the day, for the stars, NA means respectability. As for the regional cinema awardees, it is nothing more than Do din ki chandni!

Views expressed are personal