Why do Indians send films to Oscars? The Panel is mostly American. How can
they judge an Indian film, with Indian culture? It is like sending a brilliant book, written in Hindi or Marathi, to an Englishman, and expecting him to applaud it. When he can’t even get beyond the first page, how do you expect any credit from him?
Blog: Indian Films don’t need an Oscar
By IndiaFM News Bureau, January 25, 2007 - 09:14 IST
http://www.indiafm.com/features/2007/01/25/2158/
Every Year, Indian filmmakers are eager that their film are selected, as India’s official entry to the Oscars. Whatever the official choice, there is always one segment of people who are unhappy with the selection. This year, it was Rang De Basanti (officially) and Lage Raho Munnabhai (unofficially). Both films however, did not qualify, and were rejected, not even reaching the nomination category. While this would have made quite a few Indians sad, on deeper thought, one should realize that Indians need not really bother with the Oscars.
Indian films are made with the Indian audiences in mind. Our country is culturally diverse, and our traditions, our prejudices, and our own behaviors are not fully understood by our own people, let alone foreigners. Indian filmmakers try and portray India and its people, as they exist, whether it is Page 3, Lage Raho, or Omkara. Indians can easily understand and appreciate these films, as they can relate to the circumstances, the mindset, the biases, the aspirations, the frustrations, and human behavior that are so typical of this nation.
When we compete at the international level, especially at the Oscars, the biggest problem that our films encounter is that the jury over there is almost totally ignorant of our country, its people, and how we have evolved. It’s not their fault, for we too don’t understand a lot about the peoples of other countries and their attitudes. Hence, we are actually trying to impress a group of people, whose knowledge and experience of our habits and idiosyncrasies is at the best, primitive, to say the least. No wonder then that our films, which are good as far as we are concerned, do not impact them in the same way. It is like sending a brilliant book, written in Hindi or Marathi, to an Englishman, and expecting him to applaud it. When he can’t even get beyond the first page, how do you expect any credit from him? And many a times, instead of acknowledging that one is ignorant, one would rather take the easy way out, and reject the film. This, perhaps, is what commonly happens to most of our entries.
How do you expect a jury comprised of non-Indians to decipher the nuances of a Devdas, a Paheli, a Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna or a Rang De? In a country like the US, where 50 percent of the women are single, how does one understand a film like KANK? ‘What’s the big deal,’ would be their response. It is time Indian filmmakers woke up to the fact that Indian films are better off shown to, and appreciated by Indian audiences. If their desire is for international recognition and awards, then they should undertake projects, which have universal appeal, (and invariably have less value in our country) something on the lines of Ashwin Kumar’s Little Terrorist or Kabir Khan’s Kabul Express. This is one area where it will be almost impossible for us to kill two birds with one stone.