the indian governement appoints a committee to chosse the best movie released that year, which is then sent as india's official entry to the academy awards (oscars) for a nomination for the best foreign film the following year. from 1957, the committee has been diligent in sending a movie to the oscars almost every year. mehboob khans' 'mother india' was the first indian movie to be sent at the 30th academy awards in 1957. the movie also made it into the nomination category. after that, the country with the largest film industry in terms of movies released per annum could make it to the nomination only twice, with 'salaam bombay' in 1988 and 'lagaan' in 2002. for the this year, the indian committee send aamir khan directed 'taare zameen par', unfortunately it did not make it to the nomination of an award ceremony that did see ar rahman and resul pookutty grab three of the coveted awards.
the indian government established the directorate of film festivals in 1954. every year a national panel appointed by the government selects the winning entry, and the national award ceremony is held in new delhi, where the president of india gives away the awards. this is followed by the inauguration of the national film festival, where the award-winning films are screened for the public. declared for films produced in the previous year across the country, they hold the distinction of awarding merit to the best of indian cinema overall, as well as presenting awards for the best films in each region and language of the country. due to the national scale of the national film awards, it is considered to be the equivalent of the american academy awards. this years jury headed by the eminent sai paranjpye selected priyadarshan's tamil movie 'kanchivaram' as the best film. sharad goekar was awarded the best child artist award for his performance in the marathi movie 'tingya'.
well, the governement had appointed both the committies and the juries have come out with completely different winners in the best film category. when darsheel safary won most of the popular awards for his dyslexic act in taare zameen par (tzp), sharad was nowhere in the picture. if 'kancheevaram' was the best movie, the why was tzp sent to the oscars. or, was it because 'tzp' didnt make it to the nominations that it was not awarded the best picture? the previous indian nominations or for that matter, the nominations in the best foriegn film category have gone to films that depict the culture of that land. tzp could have happened anywhere in the world. kancheevaram, on the other hand is about a silk-weaver in the town of kanchipuram well known for its kancheevaram sarees. it is about how he promises his daughter at birth that he would marry her off in a silk saree, a highly impossible wish considereing the low wages the weavers were paid. the communist wave gets hold off him and he is caught in a vortex that leaves him emotionally fragile and finally he uses the silk to cover the dead body of his daughter. kanchivaram is a movie that is pure indianness in each of its frame.
it is a well-known fact that, for the west only two indian entertainments sell - gandhi and poverty. all the rest is unacceptable to them. 'mother india', 'salaam bombay' and 'lagaan' had whole dollops of poverty in them, but still seeped in indian history.
i am not saying that 'kanchivaram' would have been nominated or that 'tzp' is a bad film. indeed my eyes went wet when ishaan awasthi was unable to get up and walk to the podium when it is announced that he had defeated his art teacher ram shankar nikhumbh in a painting competition. but oscars dont give a dime about star status - all the khans or kapoors are just actors for them, not demi-gods like we project them to be.
