Its that time of the year when the awards ceremony settles into a distant memory. And with distance comes the luxury of analysis. Of questions both rhetorical and hypothetical. And among the quiver full of questions,the one that I pull out most often is the question about winners and losers. The difference between wheat and chaff. What separates winners from those that lose out? The subject,of course,is vast and one that can have varied answers. When it comes to the movies,Bollywood in particular,the lines more often than not,are blurred because the box-office performance (of a film) can obliterate all else including incredible talent. As is common in creative arts,financial success and high quality dont necessarily fall together in a happy overlap. In Bollywood however,where box-office success earns you both respectability and access of impressive quantity,a deviant point of view is hardly welcome. The Screen Jury (which changes every year) therefore has an incredibly tough and may I add,unenviable task at hand. Stars versus non-stars,blockbusters versus modest-budget multiplex movies,new-age versus the old school,subject or treatment? Technique or toil? Popularity or performance? These are tough questions that often spring up before members of the jury and the answers,predictably,are not easy to find. This year was no different and the jury chaired by internationally-acclaimed filmmaker Shekhar Kapur (Masoom,Bandit Queen,Mr India,Elizabeth,Golden Compass) did a fine balancing act of incorporating all kinds of cinema in their choice of winners. As the team sat down for some award analysis and number- crunching,we came across some noteworthy factsdirectors such as Anurag Kashyap,Dibakar Banerjee,Vikramaditya Motwane and Vishal Bhardwaj,now considered flag-bearers of new- age Hindi cinema,were first recognised and honoured at Screen awards,an honour that turned them into household names. However,the upsets and turmoil that such decisions bring in their wake simply underscore the fact that the times are a-changing. The jury is still out on the way that awards are bestowed. Most believe that awards are given to those that are likely to attend. With the Screen Jury,however,that has never been the criterion. More often than not,members,industry veterans have voted for new talent as opposed to stars,which has sometimes resulted in a disappointed candidate absenting himself from the award ceremony. In fact,if one were to count the upheavals caused by unconventional choices of the jury in the last 18 years,I am certain that it would take up considerable newsprint. Fortunately there is a silver lining to all disruptive jury decisionsthe fact that these unconventional choices have eventually ended up enriching the film industry. It is perhaps the reason that after the dust over some unpopular decisions by the jury settles down,each member can sit back and look at their effort with satisfaction. After all,it is their small contribution to different kinds of cinema now burgeoning under the Bollywood banner.
