Won an award? So what?

For Bengali film directors, winning national awards does not necessarily ensure a long run for their films in theatres, even in Bengal. Take...

For Bengali film directors, winning national awards does not necessarily ensure a long run for their films in theatres, even in Bengal. Take Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Mando Meyer Upakhyan (Tale of a Naughty Girl), the winner of the Golden Lotus this year. After its ambitious release at prestigious theatres in Kolkata, it drew a lukewarm response from the general public. And this, despite the uproar triggered by the city’s brothel owners and sex workers, who charged the director of capitalising on their misfortunes without highlighting their struggle to get a better deal.

This is the fourth time Buddhadeb Dasgupta has won the Golden Lotus, a great achievement by any yardstick. But a statement published in a leading Bengali daily went a bit overboard when it dubbed the event as “unprecedented”, declaring that no other director has won this honour ever and that Dasgupta has equalled Ray in the tally of rare achievements.

This led to a furious controversy and prompted many eminent directors and even members of Ray’s family to contest the claim. Mrinal Sen, when approached, reacted in his characteristically ironic style: “A statement like this brings more dishonour to one’s image.”

Curiously enough Sen had not entered his film, Amaar Bhuban (This My World), the winner of the Best Film Award at the Cairo International Film festival, for the 50th National Awards selection process this time. This is because he sensed a “hidden agenda” at work here, he later revealed.

Incidentally, Satyajit Ray was the first ever Indian director to have won the Golden Lotus, the Indian government’s highest honour. He had also won the President’s Gold Medal in cinema eight times in succession, followed by Mrinal Sen and Girish Kasaravalli, who have won the honour four times each.

The fate of other National Award-winning films from Bengal also appears bleak. Rituparno Ghose’s film, Subho Mohorat, winner of the National Award, has failed at the box office. His latest film, Choker Bali, with Aishwarya Rai in the lead, made at a cost of approximately Rs 2 crore, according to the market grapevine, drew a big blank at the just-concluded Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland. No one knows what is in store for this film at the box office. The fate of two other National Award-winning films — Subhadra Choudhury’s Prahar and Abhijit Choudhury’s Patal Ghar, is no better.

Only Gautam Ghose seems to have broken this jinx. His film, Abaar Aranye (In the Forest Again), selected in the 60th edition of the Venice Film Festival and the Montreal Film Festival respectively, did well. It enjoyed a 30-week box-office run.

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So what does all this say about film making in West Bengal? Should filmmakers here first vie for national awards and then think of going public with their films, or should it be vice versa? The jury is still out on this!