This story is from October 25, 2010

I am not audacious: Anjan Das

Anjan Das, who is ready with ���������Banshiwala���������, talks about the controversy over ���������Achin Pakhi������������������s selection for the Indian Panorama
I am not audacious: Anjan Das
There���������s a lot of noise over the selection of your ���������Achin Pakhi��������� for the Indian Panorama this year...
Firstly, let me make it very clear that ���������AP��������� is not my kind of film. It doesn���������t not have my signature style. It is a mainstream movie. There must have been some clause in the selection of movies for the Indian Panorama to include this kind of a commercial film.
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Besides, I don���������t understand why people crib when something happens that doesn���������t suit them? I never do that. I might have had reservations when the National Awards are given. I feel sorry for those films that never made it to the Indian Panorama, including ���������The Japanese Wife���������, ���������Necklace��������� and ���������Angshumaner Chhobi���������. It did come as a surprise when I heard that ���������AC��������� has been selected. I guess, the idea is to showcase different genres of movies at the Indian Panorama.
Questions are being raised over whether you���������ve begun to pull strings...
As far as I���������ve heard, there was no member of the jury from Bengal. I don���������t even know who was in the jury. Two of my earlier films ��������� ���������Iti Srikanto��������� and ���������Jara Brishtite Bhijechhilo��������� ��������� were in the Indian Panorama. Two of my films have got my National Awards. ���������Iti Srikanto��������� had got it for audiography and ���������Faltu��������� had got it for being the best film on social welfare. I still think I am a student of cinema.

I can ask my friends in the media for support for my kind of film. But I don���������t lobby. After the Ray films, other movies of my producer of ���������AP��������� (including ���������Bibar���������, ���������Tapasya��������� and ���������Nishijapon���������) have not bagged any National Award. I don���������t think they even featured in the Indian Panorama. My producers aren���������t the kind who would pull strings.
Why didn���������t you send ���������Banshiwala��������� for the Indian Panorama this year?
I believe, the last date for sending the films was September 10. I couldn���������t get a DVD of the film within that time.
A lot of noise was made over why your film being a remake (though an official one) should be considered for the Indian Panorama. There have been instances of it being compared to Suman Ghosh���������s ���������Dwando��������� too...
My film is not a copy. I took the rights for the script and the songs. I interpreted the whole story in a commercial way. Why compare it with ���������Dwando?���������
Can both ���������AP��������� and ���������Dwando��������� be accused of the same error?
I have watched ���������Decalogue II��������� and ���������Dwando���������. ���������Dwando��������� is almost a copy of ���������Decalogue��������� where no credit was given to Krzysztof Kieslowski. In ���������AP���������, I gave credit to the story and scriptwriter ��������� Gias Uddin Selim. It���������s not fair to compare both the movies.
Should there be any hierarchical demarcation between an original film and an official remake?
Official remakes should be encouraged. Copying should stop. Unless one encourages official remakes, copying can never be stopped. Yet, I must say that even though I took the rights of ���������AP���������, my shots were very different. I made the film on my terms. It���������s always better to make an original movie. Given a chance, I think I can do a very good remake of Tapan Sinha���������s ���������Haate Bajare���������, among others. But then, I���������d always give more weightage to an
original work.
Do you think a correct example was set at the Indian Panorama by screening ���������Dwando��������� previously?
As far as I know, there is a clause in the form where the producer has to give a statement that the film applied for is not a copy of another movie. If the jury still thought it was fair to screen a film like ���������Dwando���������, I���������m okay with it.
If you were to formulate the rules for selecting a movie for the Indian Panorama, would you be okay with screening an unauthorized copy of a film by giving the logic that the jury might not always be aware of which film is a copy and which isn���������t?
Forget my recommendations, I wonder how a copy can make it to the Indian Panorama? No jury should allow a copied film in the Indian Panorama. I have refused to be a jury at the National Awards and Indian Panorama because I am not always aware of the source of movies.
But what if an ignorant jury allows a copy to make it to the Panorama and then, the audience becomes aware that it is a plagiarized version?
I���������d like to believe that the whole film will be booed by the audience.
Should any person be allowed to be in the jury who claims that he/she might not be able to verify the source of a film? Isn���������t that the jury���������s job too?
No, not at all. The jury should be well-informed and well-educated about cinema and should know which film has been copied.
What should be the penalty for a jury member who allows a copied film to make it to the Panorama or to any leg of the National Award selection?
It���������s impossible for me to even suggest a penalty.
Not even when you are a taxpayer of India and a maker of original movies?
I am helpless. I don���������t have the audacity.
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