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‘Art is about pushing boundaries’ Nonika Singh talks to Nina Lath Gupta, Managing Director, National Film Development Corporation
Why did you resign from the Indian
Revenue Service and join the NFDC? It is not as if I was not aware of the institution, for I was on its board of directors for two years. So, when there was a vacancy, I considered the option. It is one thing to sieve through a corporation’s annual reports and another to be at the helm of it, but at no point have I regretted my decision. What lessons did you learn in the IRS? I came from an arts background and figures were Greek to me. I had no clue what a balance sheet was, let alone how to run a company and make it financially viable. Working for the IRS taught me all this. What were your first thoughts when you joined the NFDC? I joined the NFDC at a stage when it needed to be reoriented. That change could not have happened in days, weeks or months. Besides financial viability, there was the question of how to make it relevant to the film industry. Most people forget that the NFDC by its very nomenclature and mandate has two objectives which are dichotomous. On the one hand it has to follow the path of development, and on the other, as any other corporation, it has to keep its head above the water and not be in the red. How did you envision the Film Bazaar which has become a meeting ground for
international producers and distributors with Indian filmmakers? What is the biggest achievement of
the NFDC? The fact that films like Miss Lovely, part of the Film Bazaar the previous year, could raise finance from the private sector means that the NFDC has transformed into a successful business model. What people forget is that production is only a very small aspect of the NFDC. It might have been the focus in the 70s, 80s and 90s, but today we would rather films find finance outside the NFDC. What is the rationale behind
Screenwriters Lab? We do not provide skill sets to writers, but create an environment where writers can reach the depths of their creative abilities. It is about constant interaction and engagement. What is on the anvil? For us at the NFDC it has been a three-pronged approach — content development, skill development and development of audiences for good cinema. We want to make all kind of good cinema viable by building a film club and culture centre. We also plan to start cinemasofindia.com which will be a digital hub of good cinema. Our focus will be audience development. Audiences may not be ready to pay Rs 200 for films like Anhe Ghode Da Daan, but would be willing to shell out Rs 50. We would be creating alternative spaces on a test-case basis. Making multipliers of a successful model is never difficult. But at no point can we say we have arrived. At the NFDC it is always work in progress. The NFDC is believed to be financing films that are complex and do not find much favour with audiences. The NFDC has always pushed boundaries. What appears complex today may not be so tomorrow, for creative people are ahead of their times. Many decades ago, Mani Kaul’s film Duvidha, screened at the Venice Film Festival, was considered too highbrow. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro was thought so too, but today it is hailed as a landmark film. The same goes for Anhe Ghode Da Daan, too layered today, but it could be perceived differently tomorrow. Which NFDC films are in the pipeline? There is Gurvinder Singh’s Punjabi film Chauthi Koot. Ketan Mehta’s Mountain Man is being co-produced by the NFDC, and then there is a Malayalam film. For me all projects are equally exciting. Are you a film buff? I am, like you and everybody else. But I am not a specialist or a historian or a curator or even someone who can at the inception stage of a film know that this will be a great one. The NFDC does not finance films according to my whim. We have stringent rules. Your name figures on the achievers’ list. How do you feel? Honestly, I am embarrassed. I only take life as an uphill journey. Once you have climbed one mountain, you need to move to another one. What kind of a relationship do you share with Ramesh Sippy, Chairman of the NFDC? It’s a great relationship. I have tremendous respect for the man who has given us the all-time great film Sholay. I follow his advice and never disagree. I hope I have the same kind of wisdom when I am 70.
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Hornbill
conservator Aparajita Datta has been awarded the Whitley Award, also known as “Green Oscar”, for her work to save the endangered hornbill in the forests of Arunachal Pradesh. Datta won the award after a decade of work as a senior scientist at the Nature Conservation Foundation, an NGO based in Mysore. After a bachelor’s degree in botany from Presidency College, Datta joined the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, for a master’s degree in wildlife ecology. Those years were a learning experience and culminated in an initiation into trials of field research with a study on the space-use and foraging patterns of squirrels in the forests of Madhya Pradesh. She assisted several projects in various parts of the country, including trapping and tracking wolves. She conducted a study to assess the response of arboreal mammals (primates and squirrels) to logging in Arunachal Pradesh as a Research Fellow at the Wildlife Institute of India. During her three-year field work, she learnt about the history, culture and lifestyle of the people of Arunachal, which has an amazing diversity of tribal communities. In 2002, as a follow-up to the hornbill study, she conducted a survey to assess the status of hornbills and hunting practices among the tribal communities of eastern Arunachal. With the help of the tribal people, she found evidence of two new species, the leaf deer and black barking deer, in remote forests of Arunachal, previously unreported from India. After several years of research, she felt the need to do something to address conservation problems (such as hunting) in the area. She felt local support was essential for long-term success and it was imperative that short-term costs borne by local communities were offset by conservation practitioners. “This can only happen through a sincere engagement with local people and informed understanding of their socio-economic needs and attitude to wildlife conservation to be able to work towards reconciling people and wildlife, a difficult proposition in many places where wildlife conservations goals are most often in conflict with people’s immediate needs and wants,” she says. She initiated a community-based conservation programme in 2003 that aimed to address wildlife conservation needs in Arunachal by focusing on ways of integrating tribal communities to monitor and conserve wildlife and their habitats. She worked on two of the most important protected areas in Arunachal, the Namdapha National Park and the Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary. Her team worked with the marginalised Lisu people, the main tribal community in and around Namdapha. The programme helped provide medical support, training in healthcare, and education by supporting schools and teachers in the villages.
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An
80-year-old woman fumbling on the ground, searching for a water bottle outside the door of a house in Abhaypur village, bordering Panchkula, forced Neeta Sharma, a counsellor at the Butterfly Nature Club of India (an NGO), to halt on the way to her office for a morning meeting. She had been watching the old woman at the same place for over a month in the summer of 2010. But could not get herself to talk to her till the day she felt remorse over the pitiable condition of the woman. Neeta Sharma gave her water bottle to Rudki Devi, the feeble old woman. Rudki Devi’s son would lock her up in the house before leaving for work along with his wife. “I am blind and they think I break too many things at home,” the old woman told her. Neeta took her to a clinic and found that she was suffering from myopia. Rudki Devi was operated upon and can see now. Helping the elderly is not the primary concern of the NGO. Supported by the Haryana State AIDS Control Society, the NGO started local operations in 2008 at Abhaypur, Buddhanpur, Rajiv Colony, Indira Colony and industrial areas of Panchkula. The NGO works for the migrant population. With its headquarters in Rohtak, the Butterfly Nature Club was registered in 1999 by its founder chairman Jasphool Singh. It also works on reproductive and child health. Pinki S Madaan, the programme director, is flanked by Satish Chaudhary, manager, and Neeta when the Tribune team visits the NGO’s office at Abhaypur village. Outreach workers’ team comprising Laik Ram, Pankaj Kumar, Amit Kumar, Tek Bahadur and Bimla Sharma are being informed about the work upgrade by the state authorities in the context of the increased target group from the earlier 5,000 to 10,000. The programme director says: “The group works towards AIDS awareness programmes in the vicinity of the Industrial Area. The focus is on men having sex with men (MSM), female sex workers (FSW) and injectable drug users. Since the target audience is migrant labour, the work poses challenges like nasty remarks and a large number are not willing to even listen to us. Sometimes, dealing with them goes far beyond normal lecturing for AIDS. They need to be talked about everything in their lives.” “We know a sex worker who has AIDS, but she insists on making money in the same manner. ‘Society gave it to me, and I am giving it back’, is what she says. A man with AIDS argued with me that if his male clients have no problem, what was my issue?” says Amit Kumar. Win some, lose some
The programme is managed by peer leaders in the fields who are contacted by outreach workers. These include doctors, leaders or people who have a potential to approach people and educate them. “It is interesting as well as challenging because many of them throw back the Rs 1,000 given to them as special allowance and say even their peons get more than that,” says the programme manager. “The problem is peculiar because of the target audience we are dealing with. They are labourers, daily-wage earners and truck drivers. Safe sex for many does not mean anything. We are more bothered about the floating population which carries the disease to their families back home. Even though we have not been able to make 100 per cent difference, we feel the impact on at least a certain section of the target audience. It is an achievement,” says Satish Chaudhary. The work is difficult and abundant patience and sensitivity is required. “When we manage to strike a conversation with a group, we ask them about their knowledge of AIDS. A majority of them say it is caused by a ‘fly’ or ‘mosquito’. We try and meet them over lunch at their work places or during breaks between card games. After some time, maybe long months, the effort yields some result. Sometimes, saving even one life is worth all the effort,” says Tek Bahadur. The programme is not a mandatory government action, says Pinki Madaan. “It is about educating people. There are some who listen to us, some are moved after several visits and some listen to us patiently, but continue to live the same life. A sex worker, who died recently, was abusive and would say to us that she was not scared of anyone, not even the law as the police, too, stood near her bed.” “The job is not high paying, but years of working in the same environment has given me a reason to celebrate life. It is not merely the challenge of it. I derive satisfaction from small successes. I had to convince some truck drivers to carry condoms with them. I was happy when I asked one of them if he needed more supply. He told me he had already purchased it,” says Laik Kumar. As a part of its programme, the club also organises counselling and testing sessions for sexually transmitted infections.
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Sandeep Patil, chief selector Partap Singh Bajwa, punjab cong president Lalu Prasad Yadav, rjd chief
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Don’t 
During my visits to film festivals like Cannes where hundreds of films are shown, I wondered how we could make our cinema matter and how to place it at the international level and seek international funding. Like any other business, cinema is about networking. Yet it is a high-risk venture, so how do we minimise risks by building relationships. That was the crux. And I dare say the concept has worked wonders. Today Film Bazaar has a brand value, market and platform for finance, and attracts filmmakers from India and abroad. This year at the Cannes Film Festival, four Indian films are being screened. Out of these, Dabba and Monsoon Shootout began their journey from Film Bazaar. 
She has helped conserve two species out of the five that are found in the eastern Himalayas. Hornbills are hunted for their beaks and feathers. Extensive deforestation has also affected their population. 
IPL is like fast food where you just pay, grab a bite and go home. But if you want to earn a name for yourself, your country, your parents, please play Test cricket.
I am home. I have no dream for myself. I dream for the state and the country. The Chief Minister is young, but not a single project has come in the state during his tenure.
The government that siphons shagan meant for your daughters has no right to seek your votes. Nearly 80,000 shagan applications are pending, but nothing is moving forward. 
There are several BJP leaders who are big crowd pullers. Modi is one, so are Advaniji and Sushma Swaraj. I am also a crowd puller. This alone can’t decide who will be the PM.
Nitish Kumar is sitting in the lap of the RSS and is a parrot of the BJP. He is not God to decide the salaries of teachers. We will come to power and regularise their salaries.