And the loser is8230;

The National Awards are dull. They are simply by the sarkar, for the sarkar. No wonder the stars are giving it a miss

A young colleague leans across from her seat, and asks in dismay, 8220;Is it normally this bad?8221; We are at Vigyan Bhawan, half-way through the 53rd National Film Awards, where madam president, flanked by a couple of high-ranking officials, is doling out a citation and a few thousand rupees, to honour the best and the brightest among the Indian film fraternity.

I stir out of the stupor I8217;ve sunk into for the past hour. Have been here and at Siri Fort, an occasional past venue and done this too many times and not one thing has changed. The same hub-bub of the security cauldron which allows cars to pass the venue8217;s hallowed gates with excruciating slowness, the same scrutiny of the invitation card and the handbag they miss, much to my delight, my cellphone, the same self-important babus strutting around with multi-coloured roseattes pinned on their chests, and the same indeterminate mix 8212; the VVIPs and awardees who get the front rows, the VIPs, all kinds of ministry minions, the crowd behind. And the LIPs 8212; less important persons 8212; which includes the press, gets to sit way in the back, squinting to catch the action. As well as families with kids dressed in their best, strolling in and out as they please.

So there we were on Friday night, ready for the annual ritual. Old hands like me who believe in paying their dues, first-timers for whom this is a fresh assignment, and the others who show up just to catch a glimpse of the stars. This is, after all the most important film award in the country. Or is it? The question, which has been surfacing with unfailing regularity as past National Awards have come and gone, gained fresh urgency as we watched the unending parade of officialdom and award-winners being herded on and off stage, everyone intent on getting the thing over and done with.

Where is the fun and the fizz that is such a necessary accompaniment to an art form which provides, at its best, all this and more to millions? How hard can it be to organise snatches of the winning films and play them on the blank screen sitting on the stage? Especially because this year8217;s awards were being given to films released in 2005, the gap year caused by what Information and Broadcasting Minister, Priyaranjan Das Munshi referred to, in a nice obfuscatory fashion, as 8220;some matters lying in the court8221;. Why are we, when it comes right down to it, doing this at all?

We now have a slew of film awards. All get televised at prime time. All, not just those which have been around for a long time 8216;Filmfare8217; and 8216;Screen8217;, attract scads of high-value adverts. Of course those awards celebrate commercial successes and star power. But they also re-create glamour and excitement for the people who are right there in the huge Mumbai stadia, as well as telly viewers in the thousands. Lucky for them, the India International Film Awards IIFA, go off to picturesque parts abroad, and all involved have a blast!

The importance of the National Awards lies in its pan-Indian search for excellence in films, in all their myriad languages. As well as its recognition of that sadly ignored formation 8212; the documentary. But the internecine warring and parochialism which so often steamrolls over fairness and objectivity has marred the prestige of the awards over the years. Couple this with the deathly dourness that marks the function, and you get what you see: a by-the-sarkar, for-the-sarkar event, which is more dull ceremony than sparkling celebration.

The oh-no-not-again feeling seems to have afflicted several prize-winners this time around, going by the number of the no-shows. Anupam Kher, we were told, was shooting in the UK, so wife Kirron came in his stead. Nagesh Kukunoor8217;s father accepted his. Sanjay Leela Bhansali was ill. Naseeruddin Shah, who won best supporting actor, was absent. If this were the Oscars, would they have stayed away? The only big-ticket star who did come, despite all the murmurings, to pick up his award a citation and the standard-issue ten thousand rupees, yes, count them was Amitabh Bachchan; there with his family, and who received, as expected, the maximum applause.

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It8217;s not just about the laughable prize-winning amount which the minister has promised to hike. It8217;s about getting the national awards to become the 8220;National Awards8221; again. It doesn8217;t have to Britney-in-a-black-bra jamboree, but we can certainly do with a more appropriate, more joyous recognition of the biggest entertainment industry in the world.