Bankrolling India's Oscars dream: Govt plans publicity fund, wants bigger role in choosing entry

After nearly 60 years of submitting films to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards — more commonly called the Oscars — in the Best Foreign Language Film category, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reportedly gung-ho about a fund to boost the chances of India finally winning one. The Indian Express reports that the Centre is planning to build a corpus fund to aid the publicity campaigns of Indian films submitted for the awards. An unnamed Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry official is quoted in the report as having said that when the idea was pitched to Modi, he was ‘absolutely thrilled’ about it. [caption id=“attachment_2443608” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A scene from the film Court, India’s submission for the 2016 Academy Awards. Agencies[/caption] The official is quoted as saying that the Prime Minister reportedly “agreed that we must do whatever it takes to showcase our films” and “immediately accepted the idea to set up a dedicated fund”. This year’s submission, and India’s 48th entry to the Oscars is Chaitanya Tamhane’s National Award-winning Marathi courtroom drama Court . Unfortunately, India’s track record has been rather underwhelming with only three films — 2001’s Lagaan, 1988’s Salaam Bombay! and 1957’s Mother India — have been nominated by the Academy. Director Mehboob Khan’s film on post-Independence India is the closest an Indian film has come to winning the gong for Best Foreign Language Film, reportedly missing out to Italian film Nights of Cabiria by a solitary vote. The seed of the idea to fund publicity campaigns was reportedly sown when Minister for State for I&B Rajyavardhan Rathore visited the Cannes Film Festival in May this year and he realised Indian films were ‘not receiving the adequate push that is required’, a source told The Indian Express. The I&B ministry now has an ambitious roadmap to decide which film should go to the Oscars which includes the setting up of the fund and even involving itself more deeply in the film industry to facilitate a more holistic effort at competing internationally. As it stands, the Film Federation of India that includes producers, distributors and studio owners among its members, selects the films to be submitted. But according to the report, the government wants to ensure only the best films make it to the Oscars. While the initiative is admirable in intent, cinema is an inherently subjective field, where deciding what’s ‘best’ is often led by the question ‘best for whom?’. See India’s 1998 entry Jeans, which was probably best for no one. But the issue of government-selection when it comes to anything films-related raises all sorts of issues, ranging from propaganda and bias, to discrimination and censorship. Given its record — the appointment of  Gajendra Chauhan as FTII chairman  and Prahlad Nihalani as the censor board chief  — for which it has faced backlash, it wouldn’t be surprising if this plan doesn’t get much applause.