SPEECH
BY SHRI K.R. NARAYANAN, PRESIDENT OF INDIA, ON THE OCCASION OF PRESENTATION
OF THE FORTY-FIFTH NATIONAL AWARDS FOR FILMS AT VIGYAN BHAWAN.
NEW DELHI, FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1998
I
am delighted to participate in this glittering star-studded event of the
year organized by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting -- the
presentation of the 45th National Film Awards
The
National Awards offer an opportunity to assess annually the achievements
of the Indian cinema. These awards recognize and honour the producers,
the directors, the actors, actresses, the script-writers cinematographers
and other artistes who have made outstanding contributions to the making
of films. They also help in discovering and encouraging the emerging talents
and the new directions and trends in the Indian cinema.
May
I extend my heartiest congratulations to all the recipients of this year's
awards, and in particular to the winner of the prestigious Dada Sahib
Phalke Award -- the great lyricist popularly known and acclaimed as Pradeep.
We
are proud of having the biggest film industry in the world in terms of
sheer output and its exciting variety. It is appropriate that in the golden
year of our independence the Indian cinema has been given the status of
an industry. I congratulate the Minister of Information and Broadcasting
on this step. I am sure that it will provide a new stimulus to the growth
and development of the cinema in our country and go a long way in improving
the working conditions and amenities for the lakhs of workers who are
directly or indirectly dependent on this industry.
The
cinema is a powerful and colourful medium of entertainment, information,
education, and artistic expression. It has become part of the texture
of the cultural life of the Indian people, disseminating widely and thinly
the elements of that culture, introducing new and, often disturbing elements
into it, and changing it almost unknowingly for good or evil. The influence
of the cinema is pervasive and far-reaching in moulding the tastes and
values of people and in bringing about changes in society. Like any good
art form it holds up the mirror to life, though very often it might be
an exaggerating and distoring mirror.
In
1955, inaugurating a Seminar on films in India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
said the oft quoted sentence:- "I think it is perfectly correct to say
that the influence of films in India is greater than the influence of
newspapers and books combined". The audience cheered him for the remark,
but not for long, because he added the not so often quoted words:- "I
am not at the moment talking about the quality of influence".
The
quality of Indian films, the wide gap between the art films and the commercial
films, has been debated endlessly in India. Whatever be the criticisms
that may be voiced, one overwhelmingly constructive contribution of the
Indian cinema has to be recognized and loudly acclaimed; it has been one
of the consistently unifying forces in the Indian nation and in the Indian
society. While religious, communal, regional and linguistic differences
have been unleashing all the fissiparous forces in our society, Indian
films cut across all these barriers and distinctions and help in forging
the emotional unity of India and the cultural integration of this nation.
Indeed its influence in this respect overflows the boundaries of India
and reaches out to the minds and hearts of our people scattered the world
over.
One
cannot forget that during the freedom movement, despite official obstructivism,
Indian cinema had served the national cause. Several producers and directors
suffered in the process. Likewise several social causes and movements
found their exponents in the Indian cinema. To-day I am glad to say that
there are producers and directors of films, and reputed actors and actresses
who are activists in espousing national, social and environmental causes,
quite apart from their indulgence in the froth and bubble of politics.
Indeed film artistes with their immense popularity and glamour could be
the most effective exponents of good causes in society, and the medium
of the cinema the most powerful vehicle for the transformation of our
society riddled as it is with outmoded customs and practices that stand
in the way of change and progress.
I am
afraid the Indian cinema, as a medium, has not been able to serve this
larger purpose to-day under the pretext of the compulsions of mass appeal.
At the seminar of 1955 to which I referred earlier, Jawaharlal Nehru had
dealt with this problem, and said: "Public taste to some extent moulds
what is presented to it; at the same time, what is presented mould public
taste". But it seems little effort is being made to mould public taste.
On the contrary every attempt is made to debase public taste so that vulgar
entertainment could be sold to them for the sake of making profits.
I
have heard the argument that the masses, the poor, want and deserve an
escape from their life of drudgery and the frustrated youth seek vicarious
liberation, and they should be given this escape through flights of fancy
or descent into depths of degeneration. Let us not commit the error of
assuming that the masses have poor taste, and that the youth is looking
for depravity. Lack of resources do not mean lack of refinement. In fact
it is the excess of money that is often accompanied by lack of refinement
The
media in India to-day is depicting violence, rape and molestation of women
almost recklessly. In the old days it used to be said that there was a
recipe for the average Indian film which included two or three dance sequences
and songs. To-day it seems one or two scenes of bloody violence, attempted
or accomplished rape scenes, and scenes of molestation of women, are the
indispensable ingredients of the average recipe for a film. It is time
the media, especially the film media, realizes that it has a responsibility
to society in upholding certain values and standards. The violence and
rape depicted in a glamourised and dramatically appealing form in our
films have a debasing and provocative impact on the minds of the people,
especially the young people.
The depiction of women in our media continue
to be violative of all canons of minimum decency. I am not advocating
censorship in the name of morality, but self restraint by film makers
in the name of decency, leaving things to imagi nation rather than the
gyrating exposure of pulchritude. We have come a long way from the 1920's
when the Censor Boards were presided over by the Commissioner of Police
who, in turn, justify the work of the Board to be largely done by two Inspectors.
Our
films should reflect those aspects of Indian life that are truly Indian
so that public in India as well as international audiences could understand
and appreciate our culture. Of course not only the good and pretty aspects
but the bad and ugly aspects of life should also be shown. Good art, good
cinema, is always rooted in the social realities of the nation. In the
actual life of an Indian and in the grass roots of our society there is
so much that is full of drama and excitement, so much that could make
people laugh and cry, so much that could be converted into great films
by the touch of creative artistes. The greatest Indian films are based
on the life of the people transmuted into great art by the creative hands
of great directors and producers like Bimol Roy, Satyajit Ray, Shanta
Ram, Prithviraj Kapur, Aravindan and others.
Music
has an all pervasive, overinforming role in Indian Cinema. Music, especially
in the lyrical form, is like a magic flame that melts all in beauty in
an Indian film. It has been said that "the cinema is the poet's weapon".
If that is so Indian poets, especially the Indian lyricists, have made
the cinema an instrument for conveying elevating patriotic and socially
inspiring thoughts through their lyrics. I am, therefore, exceedingly
happy that the Dada Sahib Phalke Award this year has been bestowed upon
the great poet Pradeep who has moved the minds of millions of our people
by his lyrical lines. He richly deserves, may be it should have come to
him earlier, the Award instituted in the name of the father of Indian
cinema. I congratulate Pradeep and wish him good health and long life.
And once again I offer my felicitations to the winners of 45th National
Film Awards. And may I conclude by thanking the distinguished members
of Jury, and, above all, the millions of cinema viewers whose aesthetic
sense sustains the Indian cinema.
Thank you
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