FFI prefers Rang De Basanti to
Lage Raho Munnabhai for Oscars.It is like Lagaan being passed over for Gadar.
by Rajesh Kumar Singh
This is what happens when shameless lobbyists rule the roost. And if Aamir Khan has any sense of propriety, and fair play, he should tell UTV and Rakeysh Mehra to withdraw their film and Lage Raho Munna Bhai should be nominated as the unanimous choice of the nation for the Oscars.
He will not do that probably. Our conscience is dead. We do not have any sense of fair play and objectivity. We play favourites. We believe our own hype. We are unjust and self-serving. We cannot rise above our self-interest. We lack the guts to stand up and tell the truth to the whole wide world. That is why we crumble when faced with real competition. We create walls around us as we grow and succeed and get meaner and hungrier and more insecure. Instead of pursuing and appreciating excellence and seeking the truth, we turn into plotters and fixers and ensure our longevity at the helm through unfair means.
Lage Raho Munnabhai is one of the truly great Indian films ever made. It beats Lagaan for being an original idea. It has a seamless screenplay and first-rate characterisations and performances. It is unpretentious and spontaneous in spite of its theme that tends to get didactic more often than not. It is more touching and absorbing than Attenborough’s Gandhi, and as classically simple and sublime as any Oscar winning film can get. It deals with contemporary world reality in a unique heart warming way. It should have been the only choice of the FFI committee that was entrusted the task of selecting the Oscar film. Yet, a jingoist film like Rang De Basanti was chosen for an Oscar nomination over Munnabhai.
Why? On what criterion did they fail Munnabhai vis-a-vis Rang De Basanti? Those who took this important decision are either ignoramuses who know nothing about the evaluation of a film as an artistic work, or they were playing politics. And if some kind of lobbying has played a role in this, we must expose the people who were behind it. The ‘subjective opinion’ argument won’t wash here. Lage Raho Munnabhai is not ‘arguably’ the best film. It is clearly the best film of 2006 as Munnabhai MBBS* was the best Indian film of 2003.
Ronnie Screwwala seems peeved by the news that Vidhu Vinod Chopra is trying to enter Lage Raho Munnabhai through other routes in the Oscar race. Now, Ronnie will also try to get Rang De Basanti nominated in other categories according to a newspaper report. Good. He should withdraw Rang De Basanti as India’s official entry in the foreign language film category and submit it for ‘the best original score in a film’ Oscar. I am not joking. ‘Rang De…’ music is exceptional and it’s the core strength of the film. This will be a wise thing to do. But he won’t do it. If he is dreaming of standing on stage and receiving the best foreign language film’s Oscar to worldwide applause, he will certainly be disappointed. But the heartbreak of the nation will be greater for having failed to send Lage Raho Munnbhai which could have been our best shot at winning the coveted trophy.
It is symptomatic of everything that is wrong with us. We know about it yet it hurts when an obvious winner is ignored in such a fashion. It makes one very angry.
Should we start sending flowers to Ronnie Screwwala, Aamir Khan, and Rakeysh Mehra in Gandhigiri style to reform them and make them rise above their self-interest and admit publicly that Munnabhai is a better Indian film to compete at the Oscars? This reviewer cannot do it since he believes that such films cannot become reference points for serious social action and they should be treated and evaluated as films alone. Those who get inspired by such films to turn into social revolutionaries and ‘Satyagrahis’ are useless idiots who do more harm to a cause than good. Look at what happened to the doctors’ agitation on caste quotas. It fizzled out in spite of all that candle burning in front of India Gate.
Yet these views will be sent to Aamir Khan, who claims to be a sort of conscience-keeper of the nation, to resuscitate some life into his conscience that has rotted owing to an overwhelming dose of Coke.
Will these words move him? Will he call up Ronnie Screwwala and tell him that he is disassociating himself from Rang De Basanti’s Oscar campaign? If he does, it will come as a big and really pleasant surprise to this writer and the whole nation.
It will also steady the flickering flame of the candle of faith that burns in our hearts reminding us of our inherent goodness, courage, conviction, and capacity to rise above narrow self-interests to seek and celebrate the glory of truth.
Other related links:-
Vinod Chopra plans to send Lage Raho Munnbhai in some other Oscar category-Rediff News
