‘National Award is no yardstick for great cinema’

He was the chairman of the 39th and 54th National Awards’ jury. Yet, ahead of the presentation of the 62nd Awards on Sunday, filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta insists that the Award is no yardstick for great cinema.
A five-time recipient of National Award for Best Film and two-time recipient for the Best Direction, Dasgupta says almost all National Award winning films earlier would get invited to prestigious festivals.“But today’s winners aren’t even selected to the third rung of festivals abroad. National Awards is no yardstick for great cinema,” he says. Sarcastically, he refers to how only obscure international festivals pamper these films. “The recent fad is to have posters with palm leaves flanking names of these obscure festivals! We never did it. Worse are those dishonest Bengali directors who screen at the Cannes market but make misleading claims back home!”
Dasgupta comes down heavily upon some jury chairpersons too. Says he, “An actor used to send me messages threatening to commit suicide unless given an Award! Chairpersons can’t crack under pressure. Saeed Mirza’s ‘Naseem’ was rejected by a group. Reason? A weird religion card. But I recalled it. It won the Best Direction award. Decisions of some chairpersons are questionable. Saif Ali Khan may be a good actor but his performance in ‘Hum Tum’ didn’t deserve the Best Actor award.”
National Awards and Indian Panorama jury members aren’t sparred either. “Some have IQ level problems with no cinema literacy. A film illiterate MP was twice selected as a jury chairperson. Once, a jury member had left to get married to a minister. She returned many screenings later!” he claims, suggesting the jury be chosen from all fields to avoid vested interests from working overtime.
Dasgupta, however, rubbishes the ‘cash for awards’ rumours. What about the Award lobbyists? Many insist there’s only been a change in the constituents of the influential lobby! “It’s incorrect. Nobody knew a Girish Kasaravalli or a Rituparno Ghosh when they got awarded,” he says. If all was fair earlier, why did Ghatak get only one National Award (‘Jukti Takko Aar Gappo’)? Even Dasgupta’s ‘Grihajuddha’, which won the Fipresci Award in Venice, was ignored. “Literary awards are fraught with controversies too. I don’t consider V S Naipaul to be a great author. But he got the Nobel. As a poet, I don’t think Gitanjali is Tagore’s greatest work. He wrote profound pieces later on but Gitanjali fetched him the Nobel. Jibanananda Das never got any award,” he says. “Genuine oversights and not agenda-driven omissions have occurred for earlier films. Soumitra Chatterjee was long ignored till I took the initiative during my chairmanship. ‘Podokkhep’ (that won him the Award) may not be remarkable but his performance was overwhelming.”
Doubts over recent personal disappointments triggering his criticisms don’t bother him. “I only care about honesty towards cinema,” he insists. What does he say about Tollywood’s recent Golden Lotus recipients — Srijit Mukherjee and Aniruddha Roychowdhury? Where do their movies stand in comparison to his Award-winning ‘Uttara’, ‘Bagh Bahadur’, ‘Charachar’, ‘Lal Darja’, ‘Mondo Meyer Upakhyan’ and ‘Kaalpurush’? “Jury members had their reasons for awarding ‘Chatuskone’. Now, my views are redundant. Definitely, Srijit can make a good film. My mother would say creativity needs time for a refill. Srijit should stop being in a rush to make movies. Aniruddha’s ‘Anuranan’ is a good film but not great cinema. The latter makes us bow down in reverence,” he says.
And Kaushik Ganguly who won a National Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues this year? Or Aditya Vikram Sengupta whose ‘Asha Jawar Majhe’ got the Best Debut Director in Venice Days and won the National Award for Best Debut Film of a Director? Or Churni Ganguly’s ‘Nirbashito’ which won the National Award for the Best Bengali Feature Film this year? “Aditya’s ‘AJM’ is special. He is the only one now to have got both international and national acclaim. Unfortunately I haven’t watched ‘Nirbashito’. Despite its flaws, I liked Kaushik’s ‘Shobdo’. But he can do better. Great cinema should make our jaws drop. Directors shouldn’t try to please masses and classes. Only Charlie Chaplin could do that. I couldn’t. Ray couldn’t either,” he points out.
Finally, he smiles to say, “I had once made latches out of my awards! Who remembers where ‘Uttara’ got which award? What matters is whether it transcends borders and decades.”