Vijay Anand's short speech was a fitting start to the 6th International Film Festival Mumbai (IFFM)

When Vijay Anand was made the Censor Board chief, we got to know a little bit about the goings on in his brilliant mind. We have not really seen him doing much in the past twenty years. He is taken to be a spent force by many.

And since Anand brothers have never believed in hanging around the nincompoops who adorn the establishment to win plum postings, awards, and rewards, the establishment, after having failed in its attempts to use and co-opt them, turns indifferent to them.

Anands have survived by their hard work, and their dedication to the art and craft of film making. They are passionate and restless people, always overflowing with ideas. However, they refuse to abandon their sensibilities and sensitivities. That is why they have been and would remain a cut above the rest. And in today's hype oriented environment, such people are generally ignored.

Vijay Anand was felicitated by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) on the eve of the start of the 6th IFFM along with Naushad and was given the Lifetime Achievement Award. He tried to use the occasion to express his views about a few things. It was not what he said in his speech from the podium that really mattered. He spoke with passion while talking to those young TV reporters after the felicitation ceremony, many of whom won't even have seen his films. He was speaking from his heart.

He was talking about the unrealized potential of Indian film industry and the need to make world class films. It was an invitation to the filmmakers to expand their vision. Earlier in his speech, he had pointed out that hardly 4% of what he had in him as a filmmaker, could be realized. He spoke passionately about the need to create a conducive environment to let the filmmaking talent flourish. He said that the film production distribution system in the country needed to be overhauled and reformed. It creates bottlenecks. Its approach is antithetical to the spirit of cinema. He also talked about the high prices of cinema tickets in multiplexes. True cinema cannot be elitist. It's the masses who sustain cinema. There should be cinema halls that show films at low rates. He was pointing out to a huge pitfall, which has been ignored by the industry barons and the governments in their enthusiasm to promote posh multiplexes that are driving the common people away from large screen entertainment.

 
 He talked about archaic censorship rules that run contrary to the principles of freedom of expression enshrined in our constitution. These rules too perpetuate formula filmmaking. A committed, passionate, and sensitive filmmaker finds it difficult to deal with these rules. They limit the choice of his subject.

One gets to hear Yash Chopras, Bachhans, and the rest of the much celebrated and hyped film personalities in various functions and forums. Somehow, it does not sound as if we are listening to committed and passionate filmmakers. Vijay Anand spoke like a true filmmaker, a rare breed these days. His concern and anguish was genuine. His exhortations were sincere. His views were forthright.

The citation generally talked about his films. It suggested that he was a better director than an actor. This is not true. Whatever little acting assignments he did, he excelled in all of them. He lived those roles. He played them with a kind of sensitivity very few actors of today are capable of. 'Tere Mere Sapane', 'Kora Kagaz', 'Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki', and even 'Chhupa Rustom', in all these films he excelled as a true actor. His speeches in 'Haqeeqat' and 'Tere Mere Sapane' were extraordinarily restrained but so moving. He understood the nuances of the language. Actors of today as well as yester years could learn quite a few lessons in film acting from him. However, why would anyone learn anything from Vijay Anand when rank bad, loud, crude, and senseless performances bring you national awards.

Very few of the directors of today can match his prowess. His sense of the screenplay was exceptional and world class. One cannot really recall any films in recent times that could be put at par with Vijay Anand films in the screenplay area. Lagaan, Dil Chahata Hai, and Chandani Bar are a few exceptions. His sense of romance was beyond comparison. He coaxed his actors into getting performances of life time from them. He brought the best out of them. When his heroes and heroines fell in love, it looked so real. A whole generation of Indians developed their sense of romance after watching Vijay Anand films. Each one of his films had this element. His casting would be perfect. His selection of music would be just apt. His camera would capture technically perfect but difficult shots. However, the technique complimented the film narrative and the content of the scenes being shot, without ever overshadowing them. Watching his films is always a pleasure. You can relish every moment in those films. They really turn you on.

He also directed sexy and lustful film songs and sequences. They remain unsurpassed in terms of their orgasmic impact on cinema goers. 'Raat Akeli Hai' and 'Husn Ke Lakh Rang' are some of the examples. He did not need long legged beauties to appeal to your baser instincts. He could create that effect with a fully clad Tanuja and a Padma Khanna, who certainly did not have the body of today's beauty queens. He had an eye that could discover true sensuality and sex appeal.

He too borrowed ideas from Hollywood. 'Tere Mere Sapane' was certainly based on Cronin's Citadel which was made into a film. However, it was much more moving and touching than the original Hollywood production which was so British and excruciatingly boring. He has that rare capacity to improve upon the original.

The IFFM bulletin says that his forte was thrillers. 'Guide' amply disproves this notion. He did justice to the novel. One wonders why the late R. K. Narayan felt otherwise. Those who had read the novel and had somehow related with it, would not have agreed with Narayan's opinion. Vijay Anand has the capacity to make films across the genres. He has the sense and sensibility to make an art house classic as well as a typical Bambaiya pot boiler.

The Vijay Anand who we heard and saw at Imax Adlabs at IFFM was no different from the sensitive characters he has played in his films and the characters he has created in the films directed by him. The stamp of his personality is evident in all his works. It is the personality of a true filmmaker and a great human being, sensitive, integrated, and evolved.

The citation that was read at the function about the achievements of Vijay Anand, forgot to mention about how Dev Saab and he stood up against the might of Indira Gandhi in 1977. While the entire film industry was crawling at the feet of an authoritarian regime, Navketan camp joined the whole nation in condemning the misdeeds of Indira Gandhi. One recalls seeing the group photograph of Dev Saab, Vijay Anand, Raj Khosla, Shatrughan Sinha, and the rest of Navketan campers, standing on a stage at Shivaji Park, their hands raised in support of the newly born Janata Party. They demonstrated in that singular act that film folks are not 'Bhands' whose sole job is to tell harmless stories and entertain their political masters. They have their own mind and political and economic thinking and they have the guts and gumption to stand up for those views.

Sushma Swaraj should have known about this. She should have known that Vijay Anand won't be the titular chief of the censor board. She should have also known that he had a definite vision of what he was talking about. He is also much more experienced than her in every possible way. However, the ill informed, inexperienced fools who have been heading the I & B ministry would not be comfortable in the company of Vijay Anand. They prefer to have sycophants and parasites around them. They are also greatly influenced by well managed media hype. They have very limited vision of the role Indian films can play in India's economic growth. This vision is accomplished by being seen in the company of stars and some industry big wigs. One feels like using the usual Khullamkhulla phrase; if there are owls on every branch of the tree, what will be the fate of the garden in this dismal scenario.

Let us ask a question? Do the filmmakers of today enjoy the process of film making? It is rarely evident in the films they have been making. They work hard on everything else but on their films. Do they have the capacity to make great films? We all have the capacity to do great things. Are we really striving enough to achieve true greatness? Here, one is not merely talking about art house films or the films made specifically for the film festival circuit. We are talking about films that are well crafted and are imbued by the passionate, joyful, sensuous, or melancholic spirit of the filmmaker and film writer, films that make us laugh and cry, films where actors have succeeded to be at their best, films that make the community of film makers feel proud of their great calling.

Filmmakers like Vijay Anand have earned a lot of respect and pride and goodwill for the community of filmmakers by their great deeds.

Unfortunately, there are many in the community who are wasting this wealth. They are betraying their own calling. It's like knowingly or unknowingly raping your mother who gives birth to you, and feeds and nurtures you .