This is the latest development in the blame-game between independent filmmakers and the government. Indie filmmakers have long complained that despite getting honours like the National Award, there are few platforms for the release and broadcast of their films.
The ministry and minister have, in turn, made assurances this will be looked into, and national broadcaster DD has said that it will screen these films and documentaries, but can't screen A-rated films till the rules change. Now, Onir and other filmmakers have written an open letter to information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari, asking that 'promises' made to them be fulfilled, and seeking further movement on efforts to screen their films.
Onir says he is writing this letter as the spokesperson and initiator of the Save Indie Cinema group of filmmakers, which has 65 members. The last petition that these filmmakers had made to I&B minister Manish Tewari was signed by the following members of the SIC:
Oscar Award and National Award winning sound engineer Resul Pookutty; National Award winner and Oscar nominees Ashvin Kumar, Ashutosh Gowariker; National Award winning filmmakers Aamir Bashir, Anant Mahadevan, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, Aparna Sen, Ashim Ahluwalia, Bedabrata Pain, Buddhadev Das Gupta, Girish Kasaravalli, Goutam Ghosh, Gurvinder Singh, Jahnu Barua, Janaki Viswanathan, Mahesh Bhatt, Nila Madhab Panda, Onir, Rahul Dholakia, Rakesh Sharma, (the late) Rituparno Ghosh, Sachin Kundalkar, Shivajee Chandrabhushan, Shivendra Singh, Shyam Benegal, Sanjay Suri, Shonali Bose, Sooni Taraporevala, Sudhir Mishra, Suman Mukhopadhyay, TV Chandran, Umesh Kulkarni, Vinay Shukla, Vishal Bharadwaj; filmmakers Abbas Tyrewala, Ajay Bahl, Amlan Dutta, Amole Gupte, Anusha Rizvi, Guneet Monga, Homi Adajania, Kaushik Ganguly, Kaushik Mukherjee (Q), Kiran Rao, Krishna DK, Manjeet Singh, Madhu Mantena, Nandita Das, Nikhil Mahajan, Rahul Bose, Samar Khan, Sanjivan Lal, Srijit Mukherji, Subhash Kapoor, Sudish Kamath, Vinay Pathak, Vinta Nanda, Vipin Vijay, Zoya Akhtar; five- time National Award winning actor, social activist and MP Shabana Azmi, actor/producer Juhi Chawla.
Onir's letter
The Hon'ble Minister for Information & Broadcasting Shri Manish Tiwari
Dear Sir, As we all celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema this year, a few of us filmmakers like Anusha Rizvi, Shonali Bose and Onir had met you earlier this year, representing approximately 64 filmmakers who make films in diverse (11) Indian languages all over the country.
This was a gentle reminder that we had approached you with our petition 'Save Indie Cinema'. We had also submitted the signatures of 20,000 supporters for our petition at change.org.saveindiecinema. This was (on the) 13th of December 2012.
You were kind and encouraging and also gave us your precious time to listen to the challenges we are faced with and reassured us that our demand for creating an independent space to screen National Award winning films and other independent films was justified and would be addressed in due course of time. Further to which, we continued our efforts by meeting with respected Joint Secretary, who was very kind and said we should aim for at least 10 theatres this year and keep a vision for 60 in the next five years.
We were happy to have at last met a minister who recognized and understood the need to support good cinema along with senior officers who shared that zeal. It seemed like the best way to celebrate 100 years of indie cinema in India.
This was to bring to your notice that since then, months have passed and all our efforts remain unanswered. Our emails remain unanswered and the meetings just lead to another set of meetings. There was always something else that was more important.
On the day of the National Film Awards, you had announced that the Mahadev Road theatre (in Delhi) would be the first one to be converted into a space for screening independent cinema. You were cheered and celebrated. We would like to believe that the announcement was for real.
In 1961, when India celebrated the Tagore centenary, there was a visionary minister who passed a policy that every state capital will have a Tagore Mancha/Kendra that becomes a space for performing arts. We were expecting that kind of vision from you Sir.
Doordarshan announced a slot called "the Best of Indian cinema", a 10pm slot meant to promote good films. But once again, films with an 'A' certification will not be shown. So some of the best films of the country are once again damned to be kept away from the underestimated mature audience of this country and rust in cans, doomed to be forgotten. Secondly, documentary films that are so vital in preserving our history, and showcasing various aspects of our country and people, are kept out of this special slot. We genuinely applauded the move but when we raised our concerns for our fellow documentary filmmakers, the DD officials called us "cry baby". Is this the respect a filmmaker gets in the 100th year of Indian cinema? Can't we have a dialogue and everything not be taken personally.
Do the voices of 64 filmmakers including Oscar nominees/winners and 28 National Award-winning filmmakers mean nothing to you sir?
We are in the second week of the ninth month of 2013. Will you not personally take an initiative regarding this Sir? We would also request you to sanction funds for our Delhi travel as independent film makers we have already made many futile trips to Delhi. Best regards.
Yours, Onir
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