The recent announcement of the National Film Awards (NFA) produced mixed reactions, as indeed it has in every previous year. One wonders whether these awards are still reflective of the various quality benchmarks, and the public’s expectations from them too seem to have consistently nosedived.
On the positive side, it is gratifying that recognition was bestowed upon a film such as Badhaai Ho , which, though made in the format of a mainstream Hindi film, touched upon issues that are usually never discussed. Most often, mother and father characters in Hindi films barely play supporting roles, as if they are nothing beyond their parent identities. They are either benevolent or the opposite, obsessing about their child’s private life and matrimony.
But who are these parents as people? Hindi cinema doesn’t concern itself with characters beyond a certain age but Badhaai Ho is different in its exploration of love and desire in the life of a couple whose eldest son is making his own marriage plans. The father character still recites love poems to his wife, they have an active sex life and the mother is soon pregnant. Have we seen this in Hindi cinema before?
A versatile actor
The film also underscores the versatility and talent of Ayushmann Khurrana, a leading mainstream film actor who has experimented with an array of unconventional characters. From his debut in Vicky Donor to his last outing as an honest cop in Article 15 , here is an actor who has defied Hindi cinema leading norms. Very few of his contemporaries have risked the choices that he has made.
But having praised these films for having got what they deserve, were these really the finest produced in 2018?
Beyond the ambit of the NFA, some of the most daring Indian films of 2018 were made in Tamil and Malayalam. Zakariya Mohammed’s Sudani from Nigeria , a film centred on Kerala’s love for football, including the whirlwind of events that engulf a footballer from Nigeria who arrives in a small hamlet in Kerala, was awarded the best Malayalam film. But it deserved a wider recognition.
Devoid of nationalism
Sports films in India are prone to overtones of nationalism. Every rendition soon descends into a rags to riches story or transforms into a tale of survival of the fittest. Sudani from Nigeria (in picture) departs from convention in every way imaginable by locating the game amongst its people and eschewing all winner-loser narratives. It also breaks stereotypes in the representation of Muslim characters. Besides that film, there were many others like Lijo Jose Pellissery’s quirky Ee. Ma. Yau ; Amal Neerad’s Varathan and B. Ajith Kumar’s Eeda , an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in conflict-prone Kannur. These films were replete with new stories, captivating performances and fresh possibilities for film language; their exclusion was rather unfortunate.
From Tamil cinema, Mari Selvaraj’s Pariyerum Perumal and Vetrimaaran’s Vada Chennai found no mention in the awards. Pa. Ranjith’s Kaala and Lenin Bharathi’s Merku Thodarchi Malai , a film that deals with the lives of landless labours, were also ignored.
Overall, there appears to be a trend in terms of films that have been omitted by major industry awards — they have all been movies whose narratives diverge from the mainstream political view. Uri and Padmavat were rewarded for their hyper-nationalism, and perhaps that is not surprising.
But should directors make films only for awards? Films are not remembered for awards but the stories they tell. Some of the films mentioned here will be remembered and seen across time purely for reasons of cinematic merit and the conviction of their craft. Award or no award, our films ought to chronicle different stories and voices because in diversity lie our deepest strength.
The writer teaches literary and cultural studies at FLAME University, Pune
