Like a Bollywood potboiler, the plot of the National Film Awards will get thicker with every passing yr. Why did the jury decide the polarising narrative of The Kerala Story for 2 awards? Why did the jury get up to the expertise of Shah Rukh Khan after 33 years?
The Kerala Story courted controversy for its portrayal of girls in Kerala being forcefully transformed and recruited by the Islamic State. While those that questioned the choice of bestowing the best director to Sudipto Sen argued that the movie pandered to “majoritarian propaganda with a hate-filled agenda disguised as cinema,” Ashutosh Gowarikar, the head of the jury, felt Sen conveyed a “difficult topic with clarity”, with deep analysis into occasions that should have occurred.
The Supreme Court mandated disclaimer for the movie acknowledged that it’s a “fictionalised account of events” and that there is no such thing as a “authentic data” to assist the declare that 32,000 girls have been transformed to Islam in Kerala, however the makers have reiterated that the movie relies on actual occasions and “is not based on isolated or imagined incidents.”
While the authorities of India presents the National Film Awards, they don’t essentially characterize a singular authorities view on cinema. They are geared toward recognising and celebrating cinematic excellence throughout languages and genres, selling unity and integrity by means of the appreciation of various cultures.
However, more and more, the National Film Awards are seen as a platform to endorse those that are taking the ruling dispensation’s line of thought to the viewers. A major chunk of the viewers votes for the BJP. It makes enterprise sense for the movie producers to present their political ideas and social fears a cultural context. Besides, it supplies delicate energy to the spin docs to set the narrative on social media. Drab WhatsApp forwards get livened up with persuasive visuals. One of the cinematic units to create worry or hate for a bunch of individuals is by crafting a story that claims, ‘the other is after our women.’
At completely different factors in cinematic historical past, it has been successfully utilized in making a social narrative towards African Americans and Jews. If a piece of the Hindi movie viewers feels that Kerala is reeling underneath the so-called ‘Love Jihad’, then, even when the numbers are exaggerated and the craft is underwhelming, the emotional influence of The Kerala Story is substantial.
When The Kashmir Files bagged the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration in 2021, many felt they have been dwelling in an alternate actuality as a result of in the previous, movies like Garm Hava, Tamas, and Dharm had gained this prestigious honour whose identify has now been modified to Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values. However, when put into context, the award seems to be consistent with the current authorities’s coverage on Kashmir, the place the abrogation of Article 370 is seen as aligning with its idea of nationwide integration.
Put in perspective, the jury’s nod for The Kerala Story doesn’t come as a shock. Like The Kashmir Files, The Kerala Story has been brazenly backed by the prime management of the BJP. It was declared tax-free in BJP-ruled states. Like the story of pressured conversion depicted in the movie, it seems to be a instrument to brainwash the viewers into believing a one-sided narrative.
Urvashi (left) gained the Best Supporting Actress award for her efficiency in ‘Ullozhukku’.
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The film doesn’t query the Islamic State’s silence on the Palestine query. While the makers declare they don’t seem to be Islamophobes, they use artistic licence to focus on Islam by presenting it as a faith, whose very worth system prepares its followers for extremist concepts. Ostensibly, dramatising the WhatsApp forwards, the movie sees a sinister intent in each Hindu-Muslim interplay.
Gowarikar reportedly considers field workplace efficiency, social influence, and attain when deciding the winner. Of course, there are movies and performances the place inventive benefit, social influence, and fashionable attraction actually come collectively. This yr, now we have twelfth Fail, the place Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Vikrant Massey conjure up this uncommon assembly of accessibility and craftsmanship, the place Atal Bihari Vajapyee’s haar nahin manoonga, raar nahin thanooga (gained’t surrender, gained’t maintain grudge) is aesthetically built-in into the storyline as an anathema to social inequities.
However, relating to selecting between inventive benefit and field workplace numbers, widespread sense means that the jury ought to prioritize the former.
ALSO READ: ‘Ullozhukku’ film evaluate: Urvashi’s powerhouse efficiency carries this haunting drama
The National Film Awards should not new to public scrutiny, however throughout the Congress rule or Congress-supported governments, the controversies have been much less about specific political propaganda and extra about systemic points, resembling nepotism, jury bias, and a scarcity of transparency. In 1976, throughout a interval of intense political turmoil, Mrinal Sen’s Mrigaaya gained the National Film Award. A stark critique of Capitalist energy throughout the Emergency, Utpalendu Chakraborty’s Chokh gained the best movie award in 1982, and G.V. Iyer’s Sanskrit biopic of Adi Shankaracharya bagged it the following yr.
Over the years, the distinction between the best movie and the best movie providing healthful leisure has grow to be more and more blurred. This yr once more, critically acclaimed movies like Joram and Three of Us couldn’t impress the jury.
The standards behind nominating an actor in a specific class have additionally been questioned. Seasoned actors Urvashi and Vijayaraghavan have been honoured with best actor in supporting position for Ullozhukku and Pookkaalam, however in the Kerala Film Critics Awards Vijayaraghavan gained the best actor award whereas Urvashi bagged the best actress award in the Kerala State Film Awards for the similar efficiency.
More importantly, the jury typically tilts in the direction of the stature of the actor somewhat than his instant efficiency. A hyperlink is often drawn between the head of the jury and the actor. Ajay Devgn gained the nod for Zakhm when Prakash Jha headed the jury. Ramesh Sippy led the jury when Amitabh Bachchan was chosen for Paa and Piku, and Priyadarshan was at the helm when Akshay Kumar gained the coveted award for Rustom.
Despite receiving immense reward for his efforts in ‘Aadujeevitham’, Prithviraj Sukumaran missed out on the National Film Awards.
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Sippy as soon as advised this journalist that one can query the selection however mustn’t query the integrity of the jury. So, when Gowarikar introduced the identify of Shah Rukh, it appeared as if the director was correcting the flawed, as he had been denied the award for Swades, and Saif Ali Khan was surprisingly discovered extra deserving for Hum Tum. It was the time when Sharmila Tagore was at the helm of affairs at the Central Board of Film Certification.
ALSO READ: ‘Jawan’ film evaluate: Shah Rukh Khan is spectacular in Atlee’s socially-charged thriller
Moreover, if the political messaging of The Kerala Story serves the function of the ruling dispensation, the theme of Atlee’s Jawan questions its politics. Shah Rukh performs Azaad, the son of a soldier, Vikram Rathore, who lectures the viewers to ask these searching for their votes, “What will they do for you?” Drawing from eminent Urdu poet Waseem Barelvi’s fashionable couplet, he sings, “Usulon Pe Jahan Aanch Aaye Takrana Zaroori, Banda Zinda Ho to Nazar Aana Zaroori Hai” (When ideas are at stake, one should struggle. This battle is what retains you alive).
There are strands of stolen EVMs, false prices towards a Muslim physician, and the villain of the piece is determined to monetise the nation’s pure sources as a result of he feels he can circumvent the democratic course of. However, it could be a safer guess than Shah Rukh’s Pathan, which is a bit more layered in its depiction of dissent, the place the villain is a rogue military man.
Additionally, Jawan seems like a potent choice to hold Prithviraj Sukumaran out of competition regardless of an excellent flip in Aadujeevitham: The Goat Life. Interestingly, the movie questions the follow of slavery in West Asia, the place the enslaver and the enslaved particular person observe the similar faith, however, not like The Kerala Story, director Blessy makes it about humanity somewhat than a religion. Or, as Urvashi has steered, Prithiviraj might need been “snubbed due to the Empuraan controversy,” the place, as a director, he dug up the ghost of the Gujarat riots. In distinction, Shah Rukh allegedly performed a diplomatic position in the nationwide curiosity with out claiming credit score. Our movies could also be shedding depth, however our awards proceed to observe a layered script!
