Bias accusations tarnish National Film Awards

MUMBAI: The 50th National Film Awards have come under a cloud, as some film-industry insiders have criticised the decision to select director Prakash Jha as chairperson of the jury in the feature films category.
Actor Ajay Devgan, who bagged the national award for Best Actor for his role in The Legend of Bhagat Singh, has the main role in one of Jha’s forthcoming releases, Ganga Jal.
Jha,whose film is due to be released this month, said he did not vote in any of the categories. He said that the rules prevent people from participating only if they had a stake in any of the entries.
However, K.D. Shorey, vice president of the Film Federation of India, said that professional propriety demanded that Jha should have opted out since Devgan features in his forthcoming film. Malayalam film-maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan is also believed to have shared this view.
A piqued Mr Jha told TNN, “I was invited. The rules— which are very specific—permitted it and so I accepted the job. Professionally, if I shouldn’t have, I wouldn’t have.’’
He continued, “Can I really bend the rules? At this rate, a jury member would have to declare his friends as well, and nobody would be able to be on the jury.’’