Piyush Roy
The 62nd Indian National Film Awards were declared this week. Going by the sheer range of issues, characters, stories, languages, geographies and people flavours – I wouldn’t mind saying that Indian cinema has once again secured its position among the most diverse, daring and distinguished filmmaking nations of the world.
Its global lead as the world’s most prolific movie making nation is old news… All those who obsess about the Oscars or other international film festival honours, should just look at the sheer calibre of talent and telling across most categories in competition for the national awards this year.
The pre-result awards buzz in the national English media for some time had been speculating about who between Shahid Kapoor (Haider) or Mammootty (Munnariyippu) could bag the Best Actor Honour this year. Shahid has deservedly swept all the Best Actor awards at the Hindi cinema awards ceremonies this year, while Mammootty a three time national award winner had delivered according to some critics, his career’s best performance in Munnariyippu. And lo, comes an unknown actor (at least on the national stage) from the least discussed South Indian film industry of Kannada language cinema, Sanchari Vijay, and wins the coveted Best Actor honour for Nanu Avanalla Avalu.
Accessing the film nationally may be a problem, but to get some idea of the sheer mettle of his act just check out YouTube excerpts of some of the film’s dramatic scenes. I can’t recall of a more impactful portrayal of a hijra(transgender)character in recent memory. Vijay’s ‘Best Actor’ citation reads that he was selected ‘for his subtle and non-stereotypical playing of a woman trapped in a man’s body, portraying a gamut of emotions as s/he struggles through confusion, rejection and humiliation to finally chart her own course with confidence and dignity’. The achievement of his empathetic act couldn’t have been summed better.
Bollywood, especially its male star order is far behind in its limited dares at attempting similar radical image challenges. Wish the national media, instead of obsessing around ‘star hopefuls’ had actually discussed some of the ‘star power’ acts. It is choices like Nanu Avanalla Avalu and actor Vijay that make the national awards and its results truly pan-Indian and worth the wait and debate, in their balanced review and reveal of some of the best from the small and the independent, while honouring the truly remarkable among the big and resourceful too.
The other big ‘dare’ to have won this year is the ‘Best Bengali Film’ winner Nirbashito, based on excerpts from the life of exiled author Taslima Nasreen, that explore her affectionate relationship with her pet cat, Minu. The film was selected ‘for its poignant articulation of the suffocation one experiences when exiled in a land that is not one’s own, as a price that is paid for asserting one’s right to freedom of expression’. Actress turned director Churni Ganguly packs in a felt act, in a provocative script that questions a lot, with admirable outspokenness, in our intolerant times. Someone asks, “Five books have been banned, the writer has been banished, what else could one want?” Another replies, “Courage… To express an opinion and to accept it, with courage!”
The film’s flamboyant articulations on – life, laws, faith, morals, changing attitudes – that litter its angry lament scape make one wonder, how did it miss out on the ‘Best Dialogues’ honour?
Sample some: ‘Political action, political reaction and political rhetoric affect the psyche of the common man.’
‘You don’t want writers to think, or write or live. Hasn’t religion spoken of tolerance (too)?’
‘I have had my share of good sex, with men I choose to accept.’
‘In the fight of the pen and the sword, the sword always wins…’ Scary, but true isn’t it? Just look around…
The ‘best dialogue’ award however no less deservedly was bagged by Vishal Bharadwaj for Haider, along with his third Best Music Director honour (after Godmother, Ishqiya), after an unfair ignore at all the popular Hindi Film award ceremonies earlier this year.
Marathi cinema lived up to its reputation of being ‘the most imaginative, explorative and daring’ language film industry in the country today with an expected ‘Best Film’ win for Chaitanya Tamhane’s multi-lingual (Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and English), film festival favourite, Court,for its‘powerful and stark depiction of the mundaneness of judicial procedure, brilliantly revealed by the film’s form, which forces us to reflect on the heart wrenching insensitivity of institutional structures’.
Personally, it was heartening to finally see a ‘Best Odia Film’ winner in a category that has had no winners since the Sarat Pujari starrer Puja Pain Phulatiye (2006). Sabyasachi Mohapatra’s Aadim Vichar, a musical masterpiece and a worthy sequel to his last critical success, Sala Budha, washonoured ‘for its vibrant portrayal of a tribal community whose enabling humanism shows a way out of pettiness and prejudice’. I had the luxury of an exclusive preview of the film’s ‘melodiously gripping’opening act (a riot fest of tribal dance and music) last year, while the film was still being edited. I had harboured a silent and sincere hope that perhaps Aadim Vicharcould be that belated panacea for Odia cinema’s abysmal absence at the national awards for a decade now. Thankfully it did, and hopefully the jinx is now broken for good.
Purity of sound and sincerity of effort, topped another music honour category, making a record of sorts with the 10-year-old Uttara Unnikrishanan bagging the ‘Best Female Playback Singer’ honour for the sonorously rendered, pure, innocent and classical, Azhagu from the Tamil film Saivam. The film also is one of this year’s most impressive children’s film entries with a subtle message endorsing vegetarianism.
Once again, the national film awards have revealed quite a few gems from our country’s eclectic cinematic diversity. Now try sourcing and watching them to encourage the happening of more enlightening cinema. In the process you will also get to experience some quality, stimulating viewing that will entertain too.