Silence! This Court is not in Session

The 71st National Film Awards will be remembered for the silence that buried a four-decade prize for cinema’s writers.

“Silence is Golden” goes the famous saying. But silence cuts both ways. “Silence is the unbearable repartee,” said G. K. Chesterton.  But in case of the 71st National Film Awards announced in August this year, silence has come like deadly arrows shooting out of a massive quill to attack 27 innocent authors who had entered their books on cinema for the Best Book on Cinema Award.

These authors, dedicated and committed in writing significant books shedding light on different aspects of Indian cinema, had entered their books for the coveted award. The wait stretched on to eleven months as entries closed in September 2024. But the three-member jury for the Best Critic Award and the Best Book on Cinema award was conspicuous by its absence at the PIB’s August 2 briefing while the press conference organized by the PIB blithely skipped over why the award had been dropped.

This award for the Best Book on Cinema was instituted 40 years ago but was never met with such complete silence. No one said that none of the books was deserving of the award. Or, that the jury had been disbanded and the Chairman had fallen very sick. This came from an insider.

Every author not only spent hours, research and dedication in the writing of the book, leaving aside (a) the struggle to get a publisher ready to publish a book on cinema which has a narrow market in terms of sales, (b) read the proofs and okay them, (c) organize the documents to go with the entry, (d) pay an entrance fee of Rs.5000+ besides (d) parcelling five copies of the book entered for the award which will never be returned. What happens to these entrants now? Will the five copies of their book entered along with the entrance fee be refunded by the National Awards organizers? Ethically, it is the entrants’ right to get back the books and the money because the award has been withheld without forwarding any reason for the same.

Among past winners of the same award have been graced by celebrity names like Vijaya Mulay, B.D. Garga, S. Jayachandran Nayar, Madhu Eravankara and many others including late actor Gopi. Books could be entered in any Indian language recognized by the Indian constitution. For regional languages a jury member did not know, he/she was asked to find out a master in the said language with a love for cinema in the city where he/she lived, and then vest on him the responsibility of going through the book with a tooth-comb and then decide on the quality of the book. This writer was once a jury member for this award so she knows.

What happened remains a mystery. Unless the committee deigns to reply to her emails, silence will have to stand in for explanation. If the award was to be scrapped, why invite entries? And if none of 27 books was deemed worthy, why not say so? (a claim hard to credit given the range and quality submitted)

Two entries, I can attest, were more than worthy: one a meticulous study of Sridevi’s work across four southern languages that doubled as a history of cinema in those states; the other a sweeping volume of 75 reviews charting Indian film over 75 years of independence.

Isn’t it really strange that Shahrukh Khan with his 32-year-long track record in Hindi cinema should have to share the Best Actor Award with a rank newcomer like Vikrant Massey never mind the latter’s excellent performance in Twelfth Fail? Equally strange that Shahrukh bagged the award for ‘Jawan’ - a film that raises strong questions not only about its qualitative elements but also about Khan’s performance as compared to his superb turns in ‘Swadesh’ or ‘Chak De India.’ I genuinely think Shahrukh Khan was more surprised for bagging Best Actor for a film whose sole aim was to rake in several crores within the first week of its release. Or did (as the yellow press would have it) Ashutosh Gowarikar, the main jury chairperson, try to compensate for his Swadesh actor not having won the award for his film? Think about this. As the late Ghatak kept on saying, “Learn to think. Practice thinking.”

(The author is a noted film scholar and a double-winner for the National Award for Best Writing on Cinema. Views personal)