Indie filmmakers finally have something to rejoice over. A few months ago, led by 'My Brother Nikhil's director Onir, 52 independent filmmakers from across the country, representing 11 regional languages, had filed a petition requesting the Information and Broadcasting ministry to save independent (indie) cinema. The filmmakers had also been involved in extensive discussions with the ministry and Prasar Bharti over finding a slot on Doordarshan to air their films - many of which are National Award winners. All of this seems to have had an impact, for Doordarshan (DD) has now declared that it will create slots to air the films of these filmmakers.Says Onir, "This is very good news. Something is being done for us, after years of struggle. It was following an article in TOI that the DG of Doordarshan, Tripurari Sharan, called me and said that he has had a discussion with the Prasar Bharti CEO, Jawahar Sircar, and that DD has decided to open up slots for screening our films. He said they will also be screening films made by the NFDC (National Film Development Corporation) and CFSI (Children's Film Society, India). Screening our films was one of the biggest issues - imagine, even last year's Miss Lovely, which got a lot of appreciation worldwide, has still not been screened in India. We plan to hold a press conference in Delhi soon to thank everyone and the ministry."
Sharan explains, "Actually, all this about us not supporting our filmmakers is a misconception. We have always been showing National Award films on our channel; even now, at 12 on Sundays, we have retrospectives of classics. But this is not an automatic process. From their side too, the rights to air have to be offered to us. We'd find it very hard to come by films. We had started this 11pm Saturday night slot, and then had to close it because of non availability of films. But now we have widened the scope so as to be able to increase the frequency of the slots, and we will call this segment The Best of Indian Cinema. This will show not only all National Award-winning films since 2000, but also those under the Indian Panorama section. Also, all films that get selected in the 16 film festivals across the globe that are listed under our schedule will also be eligible for screening. This will also include all regional films, which is why it will be a must for these filmmakers to subtitle their films in English."
The time slot is 10pm for now, but the days of the week and the frequency need to be worked out - the policy has just been cleared by the board, so how many slots, whether it should be weekly, or fortnightly, all this has to be worked out. "Also, we need to make it a commercially viable proposition, and have to plan how to grab eyeballs," points out Sharan. Also, the rules and codicils applicable for the categories of films that can be shown on the national channel will apply. That means only those films certified U/A by the CBFC can be shown, and this is what the filmmakers are grumbling about.
"That is another issue we plan to take up eventually. Why not create an 11pm slot as well, since many of these films are certified A? Now, if a child is watching TV at 11pm, it is a problem of parenting, not of the channel airing content not appropriate for the child," opines Onir. Adds Ashvin Kumar, two of whose films, both on the Kashmir issue, have been given an A certificate by the CBFC, "This is a good move, and we welcome it, but why doesn't DD come out with a clear set of rules? It's been two weeks since the announcement, but still, no one knows what exactly it means. There are rumours and insinuations. Filmmakers are asking each other, will short films be shown? If yes, then what about documentaries? Are they included or not? Also, if Acertified films cannot be shown, that's most of the films out of this ambit already. The CBFC must really be taken into account. What business do they have to give a documentary an 'A'? Aisa kya hai usme? Any issue-based film, they give an A. One cannot fight for every film till the Supreme Court, like Anand Patwardhan (see box). Why can't DD, like broadcasters in other countries, buy the rights from us, give us the money, and get the Censor Board compliance itself?"
While all this needs to be worked out, many of the filmmakers are also elated about the rights amount being almost tripled by DD. Not only that, DD has also made policy changes in the way the rights will be bought. "Earlier, it was 8 lakh for a Swarna Kamal film, and 5 lakh for a Rajat Kamal film. But now, any film selected, if it is premiering on DD, will get 25 lakh, and if it's already been premiered elsewhere, and is only being screened on DD, will get 15 lakh," clarifies Sharan.
"This is good, but of course, it is completely another thing that applying to DD itself is a nightmare. You have to go through a dalaal, because one cannot sit there for days on end figuring out the intricacies of applying. And the dalaal charges 10%. So if one gets 25 lakhs for a film, that's 2.5 lakhs for that guy," reveals a filmmaker, on condition of anonymity.
The Anand Patwardhan case Fourteen films of Anand Patwardhan have challenged censorship rulings in India's courts. But his longest fight was perhaps for the film Father, Son And Holy War. Almost 11 years after it was made, Father, Son and Holy War was telecast on Doordarshan in 2006, after the Supreme Court ordered the national broadcaster to screen it without cuts. Father, Son and Holy War is a twohour, two-part documentary critique of the male psyche and its relationship with communal violence, set against a narrative of the communal riots in Mumbai after the destruction of the BabriMasjid in 1992, and the serial bomb blasts that shook the city a couple of months later. The film won two National Awards in 1996 and several international awards.
The film first ran into trouble in 1998, when DD refused to show it. On July 20, 2006, a two judge bench of the SC saw the film, and then, on August 25, 2006, in a landmark judgment, they upheld the High Court order to telecast the film without cuts. They went so far as to pass strictures against DD and the Prasar Bharati, reprimanding the broadcaster for finding "flimsy excuses" time and again not to telecast Patwardhan's film. The court had said, "This in our view is highly irrational and is a blatant violation of the right guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution (fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression)... We are shocked by the observation of the Prasar Bharati that "the film is not suitable due to unsatisfactory production quality and the film has nothing specific to convey..." This behaviour of DD would justify us in stating that DD is being dictated by rules of malafides and arbitrariness in taking decisions with regard to the telecast of the Respondent's films... In our view it would not be proper to deny telecast of an award-winning documentary merely on the ground that part II of it is certified as 'A' by the Censor Board." The court also ordered DD to telecast the film within eight weeks of this ruling, and on October 8, DD complied with the order.
Says Patwardhan, "Some films are bound to get an A because of their subjects, like a film on AIDS or childbirth, for example. Does that mean you will withhold the film from the general public? And if at all such a slot is being created, fiction and documentaries must be kept at par. Documentaries must be given priority, because they touch the burning issues of the country. Also, documentary has no other mode of visibility whatsoever."
