Filmmakers accord election tamasha potboiler status

Adds Nihalani, “in the coming general elections, the choice before the people seems to be to select the best out of the worst.”

Nihalani, whose latest film Hazar chaurasi ki ma explores in the backdrop of the Naxalite movement how political developments influence individual lives and inter-personal relationships , says “the country is gripped by a crisis of confidence. People are unsure of whom to trust. All politicians talk of service and yet nobody seems to be above corruption and trading for power.” The criminalisation of politics on a massive scale has made the citizens feel even more insecure, he adds.

Speaking to UNI during the recent 29th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) here, both directors said any hope for cleaner politics lay with the people themselves. “Citizens have to become aware of how they are manipulated and make a conscious decision in favour of righteousness and against injustice,” says Nihalani.

Mirza, who spent five months travelling through the length and breadth of the country to produce a special series for Doordarshan on 50 years of Independence, says there is an urgent need to re-think on our development policies.

Fifty years after Independence, what stands out most glaringly is that people do not seem to figure anywhere in the policy makers’ thinking, says Mirza. “Our biggest crime has been not to care for our people, who actually give this country its grace and dignity. They are under a continuous onslaught from the politicians, the bureaucrats and the media,” he adds.

While Mirza feels that few political movies are made these days because of the decline in political standards, Nihalani says that censorship and lack of resources have been the biggest impediments in the way of meaningful cinema.

The audience is there. The directors are also there. But what is lacking is finance for movies which do not have the usual masala of commercial movies. The Censor Board also is “very sensitive” about movies which take positions and are critical of institutions and government policies, says Nihalani.

“Every time a political party comes to power, it reconstitutes the Censor Board and appoints people who would take care of their image,” he adds.

While popular films are allowed to get away with a lot, any serious attempt to go into complexities and “explore the shades” is treated with suspicion, says Nihalani.

As for the power of cinema to change things, Nihalani feels that it should not be over-estimated. While movies can be a forum or a platform for airing viewpoints, it cannot be a medium for instant change, he adds.

Meanwhile, the All India Filmgoers Association of Mumbai has congratulated Vinod Khanna for joining politics and contesting the Lok Sabha election. Ravi Sharma, the association president hoped that along with his colleagues from the film industry like Sunil Dutt, Shatrughan Sinha, Rajesh Khanna, Raj Babbar, Jaya Prada and others, Vinod Khanna who joined the BJP and is the party candidate from Gurdaspur, will contribute his mite for the welfare of the film industry.