Is it time to redesign National Film Awards' two-tier jury?

KOLKATA: While the regional jury for the 61st National Film Awards (NFA) is meeting to shortlist entries from the east, some directors from Odisha, Bengal and Assam were startled by a phone call from Delhi. Their film "could be" in the second round, it suggested, "if the producer can spend." What's this? Are the Lotuses up for sale?
The fears were quickly scotched as it became clear that a festival programmer who promotes independent films was being misunderstood."The discussion was for festivals, not awards," they later clarified. But what alarmed the film fraternity, from Rajeev Jain, director of the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) that hosts film festivals; to jury members Ranjit Das (Guwahati), Meena Debbarma (Agartala), Srilekha Mukherjee (Kolkata) and Beena Venugopal (Trivandrum), now meeting under chairman (East) M S Sathyu and directors whose films are being weighed at Siri Fort? Has the number of features shooting to 310 heightened the stakes for the Kamals to go out on May 3?
Hindi boasts the highest number of entries (55), followed by Marathi (48), Malayalam (44), Tamil (40), Bengali (35) and Kannada (29). Apart from Bengali, East includes 12 Assamese, 3 Manipuri, 2 Odia, 1 Khasi and 1 Sherdukpen films censored in 2013. Watching five a day, the jury can shortlist one third or 17 films. These will then join the selections of four other juries sifting films from South 1 (Tamil, Malayalam); South 2 (Kannada, Telugu, Tulu); West (Marathi, Konkani, Banjara, Saurashtri); and North (Hindi, English, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Urdu, Bhojpuri). The central jury, with the five regional chairpersons plus five new members, will then meet under grand chairman Syed Akhtar Mirza to crown the best.
So what's at stake? "Everything, from the credibility of NFA, received from the President of India, to the credentials of the judges who watch for three-four weeks; and most importantly, the future of independent filmmakers," say directors, requesting anonymity since the awards are being processed.
Problems arise since the different regions don't boast the same standard of filmmaking. "Representation can become reservation when Bengal, with 35 entries, must deny fighting chance to several worthwhile films while a single Khasi or Sherdukpan entry might win," they point out. Besides, "while there's one representative from Kolkata for 35 films, there're two from North East for half the number." "Why do we have two actors in one jury and no critic or academician?" asks a director from Assam.
An award's credibility rests on it going to the most deserving, every single year. "This is ensured only when the jury has people with an understanding of contemporary cinema as too of the sensitivities in a complex nation like India. The judges must also be fired enough to watch, even rubbish, for three-four weeks. How many active filmmakers have the time?" ask the entrants.
"And, if they're not filmmakers, how many will understand the technicalities of sound, now given in three different categories, or editing, or lyrics (in languages they don't follow)?" asks Latika Padgaonkar, formerly with Osian's Cinefan festival, and Cinemaya. So, as part of the central jury two years ago, she'd recommended that "a separate jury be set up for the technical awards."
"DFF has full faith in the integrity of the jury," asserts Jain. "Then why keep the list of jury members a secret?" asks a director who's himself served in a jury. "Cannes has no problems announcing the names a month in advance!"
The two-tier system was designed by a committee led by Shyam Benegal. "If another committee recommends changes, DFF will reconstitute the system," Jain adds. Can we then suggest that, in the future, the juries watch films purely in alphabetical order? That will put to rest all regional divisions, and none can pressurize any jury member. Regional sensitivities? Surely we're all Indians first - and seasoned viewers of world cinema, thanks to festivals!