Film Awards announcement put off indefinitely; Govt to move court

New Delhi, Sep 25 (UNI) Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priayaranjan Das Munsi today said the government will move the court against the Mumbai High Court staying announcement of the National Film Awards.

''We had sought the opinion of the Law Ministry which has now said that we could go to court,'' he told reporters here.

He said there could be three possibilities--the court could vacate the stay; we could be ordered to change the regulations governing Film Awards, or the court can honour the stay.

The Directorate of Film Festival has already submitted to the Ministry the list of the awardees.

The Mumbai High Court order, which had come on a petition of documentary filmmakers, including Anand Patwardhani, had allowed uncensored digital format films eligible for the national awards which opened the floodgates for a large number of entries not submitted for censorship.

According to the rules, a film should have a certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification in order to be eligible for entry.

So, despite the Mumbai High Court order, the juries constituted by the Directorate of Film Festivals went ahead with their deliberations, leaving out uncensored non-feature films.

It is not the first time that awards have landed into a controversy. Since 1982, when Rekha won the Best Actress Award for Umrao Jaan, as against expectation of the many that the honour would go to Jennifer Kapoor for 36 Chowringhee Lane, the awards have been mired in one controversy or the other.

Veteran Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee refused his Special Jury Award in 2001 for Dekha, protesting against the choosing of ''unworthy actors for prestigious awards." The award to Saif Ali Khan for Hum Tum last year had raised many eyebrows for the same reason.

Moreover, charges of regionalism have also not been lacking when a particular region sweeps the awards. At a time when Bengali and Malayalam cinema were bagging most of the awards, allegations of a Leftist lobby in play were frequently made.

When the BJP was in power in 2001, three members walked out protesting against "saffronisation of the awards", as Raveena Tandon was selected for the best actress award for her role in Daman.

Earlier, in 1997, award to actor Kamal Hasan was opposed beacuse his elder brother happened to be on the jury. A year earlier, similar honour for actress Kiron Kher for her film 'Bariwali' had also raised many eyebrows, as it was alleged that her dilaogues were dubbed in some other artiste's voice.

UNI NAZ SK BS1911