Flaws in the art of interviewing

interviewing a person is an art not easy to master. the interviewer must never impose himself or herself, allow the subject full play and if there is some target to be reached to that with skillful questioning. and the interviewer must be sure of the facts. this was not quite the case with the person who had opposite him deepankar mukherjee the nfdc managing director, last saturday on dd (bangla).the seventh calcutta film festival was also inaugurated the same evening and our interviewer got himself all tangled up with this and the national film festival because he did not know that the two are different entities. it was also obvious that he was not aware of the fact that the national film development corporation was not a sick child like many other public sector bodies but had got handsome returns on its investments. it was very much a case of the subject dominating the interviewer. the latter thought he was being contemporary in his views when he wondered why films and film festivals should have to depend on government patronage only to be quietly reminded that the arts have always needed patronage, dating back to the days of bikramaditya and his navaratna. despite the geetakrishna committee report mukherjee had no hesitation in insisting that in the absence of an alternative it was the government which had to be the patron of film festivals and any comparison with cannes or other places was meaningless. the coup de grace came when he pointed out that pather panchali would not perhaps have been made if the west bengal government had not come forward and indian cinema would not have come of age. it was deepankar mukherjee all the way leaving behind an interviewer who either did not know his subject or had not done his homework. incidentally for those who have nothing good to say about education in the state, mukherjee was full of praise for the film appreciation course that is a part of the university syllabus here. talking of films, none of the local channels thought it necessary to bring to viewers news of the homage to ritwik ghatak paid in london and the task was left to star news and its weekend limelight programme. what could have stood in the way of the kolkata media ? ritwik of course has not been forgotten. going through the channels one at times comes across facts which should not have been forgotten but have been. thus the other day when artist prakash karmakar said in course of an akash bangla programme that his father prahlad karmakar, also an artist, had won the bronze medal at a san francisco exhibition one felt embarrassed at not knowing this. the gold had been won by none other than the great matisse. prahlad was a teacher at the government art school and the good news had been brought to him by the principal atul bose who also perhaps has been largely forgotten these days. a shame if that is so. coming back to the subject of interviews. vir sanghvi did a fine job with zubin mehta across the table. any interviewer could have been overawed and make a mess of things but sanghvi just allowed his subject to coast along, gently steering to ensure that the conversation had points of interest for all kinds among the viewers. mehta of course was wonderful as he looked back at his family, career, the people around him and music in general in a manner which established a rapport with his unseen audience. right now he is planning the tour of japan scheduled for 2006. you have to plan ahead as it is so difficult to get halls there which are always booked. a most enjoyable half hour on a wet sunday evening.