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AS the 78th annual Academy of Motions Picture and Science awards, popularly referred to as the Oscars, ended for another year, it was interesting to read and watch sections of the Indian media lament as to why Indian films have made so little impact on what is considered by many as the world stage of cinema. The reasons are multifaceted. Americans have historically rejected Indian popular films starting in 1945 when V. Shantaram released his high-budget musical, Shakuntala. It ran for two weeks in New York, was poorly reviewed and never found a distributor. The formula of Hindi films is well known to audiences in the US. I have had many American friends say to me, "If you have seen one Mumbai film, you have seen them all." I have defended our films by saying that Indians speak a different kind of film language – ours films are filled with colourful dialogues, songs and rhythm, which denote the long tradition of rasa in Indian aesthetics. Yet, the truth is more complex. Fact remains that our audiences — to which most of our movies cater — have never warmed up to realist and gritty depictions of life. Contents of films have remained strictly in the realm of light entertainment. Take the year that Lagaan was nominated in the best foreign film category. The Oscar went to No Man’s Land, a minimalist effort where the entire film took place in a mud pit on the border of Bosnia and Serbia, a psychological drama between three characters torn by war and religion. The other three contenders, Amelie (French), Elling (Denmark) and Son of the Bride (Argentina), were all realist films depicting some form of personal angst. Since Lagaan, each year’s winner for the best foreign film has gone to films that depict personal struggle in realistic ways. In 2002 for example, the winner was a German movie, Nowhere in Africa, a story of a Jewish family who fled the Nazi regime to take refuge on a remote farm in Kenya. In 2004, the Spanish film The Sea Inside depicted the story of a quadriplegic fighting a 30-year campaign in favour of his right to die with dignity. This year it was Tsotsi, a South African film about a young gang-member from the shantytowns of Johannesburg who adopts and cares for a child after he kills the mother during a failed robbery. When Indian directors like Shekhar Kapoor (Elizabeth) and Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay) make films in realist mode, the academy acknowledges them with nominations. The only Indian director awarded with an Oscar was Satyajit Ray who made films more in the tradition of Italian neo-realists than the feel-good stuff that trickles to our movie halls every week. The countries most often nominated, such as France and Italy, are the ones who have figured out that the Oscar nominating committee favours foreign films that aren’t too foreign for the American audiences. Most of the films nominated follow the traditional path of dramatic thriller with little sentimentality, an unfortunate staple of all our films, and rare histrionics. Shahrukh Khan’s comments ring true when he says, "The Oscar jury has a mindset and we need to understand that mindset if we want to win awards." The other option is to forget the glory of Oscars and stick to the Apsaras. |
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