EKLAVYA - The Royal Misrepresentation
Sunday, 21st October, 2007
EKLAVYA - The Royal Misrepresentation?
Eklavya - The Royal Guard is India’s entry for Oscars and people are stunned
The news is shocking moviegoers. Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Eklavya - The Royal Guard is India’s official entry for the Oscars (courtesy Film Federation Of India) in the Best Foreign Film category. The film that missed all pre-release & post-release hype, the film that didn’t exactly garner much mass appeal and was blown up by the critics too, will be representing us internationally. So what makes Eklavya beat films like the critically-acclaimed Dharm, the popular Chak De India & Gandhi, My Father? The mystery is big enough to be scraped at.
First, a look at the reviews it won on release this February. Film journalist Rajeev Masand felt the film’s central debate was just "too weak", and the story, didn’t "hold". Another reviewer felt the fairy tale ending could have had some more substance. He, nevertheless, called the film worth spending on. But trade analyst Taran Adarsh differed: "in the future, if you discuss qualitative movies that accorded Hindi cinema a certain dignity, you’d surely include Eklavya - The Royal Guard in that magnificent list!"
In fact, Pahlaj Nihalani, president, Association of Motion Pictures and TV Programmes, which selects the entry, is peeved with the jury for selecting a film ‘rejected by the Indian masses’. He has gone on record saying, "It is disgraceful that the jury has selected that movie for the Oscars which has been rejected by our people… Eklavya does not deserve an Oscar entry. This is a clear case of partiality. The selection has been done under the influence of certain people, which is shameful. The way Indian films are becoming globally recognised, wrong decisions like this will only spoil our hard-earned goodwill. This is blatant misuse of power".
Mukesh Gautam, from Zee said, “it was okay, kind of films Vidhu Vinod Chopra makes, but we can’t consider that film for Oscars. That’s an international platform & there were better films to represent us".
The Los Angeles Times called Eklavya "a lost film of David Lean" while The New York Times called it a "classic"! Does that mean it has it in it to make it to the Academy Awards?
Well, can’t say, but that leaves us done in by mystery again.
Says Mumbai-based actor Mangal Dhillon, "It is difficult to understand how a film that fails to garner mass appeal and critical acclaim can be an entry to the Oscars. It shouldn’t have gone. But now that it’s there, I think it’s because of destiny of the film, the filmmaker, the cast & crew, the country," he says.
Does that offer any clue?
It’s been quite a while since the 11-member jury of the Film Federation of India (FFI) announced Eklavya -The Royal Guard as India’s official entry to the Oscars. A day later Talwar, whose debut film Dharm, was the closest rival, sent a legal notice questioning the authenticity of the selection process to FFI and Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
After the initial calm Chopra broke his silence "I am extremely sad. Who knew Bhavna Talwar or her film Dharm, before she actually created this brouhaha? Last year Lage Rahe Munna bhai did not go, I didn’t Object. The year before Paheli was chosen over Parineeta, again I kept mum. One has to honour the selection process."
Talwar has accused director Sudhir Mishra of the jury, of being biased. Accuses Talwar, "Sudhir Mishra who is a long lime associate of Vidhu Vinod Chopra was lobbying for him even before the screening of his film."
Chopra leaps to his own defence. "She is talking about my relationship with Sudhir because he voted for me. Nobody mentions Nadeem Khan’s name who is a jury member and a friend because he didn’t vote for me."
Stepping back, Chopra feels that the whole thing is a "tamasha" and it is ruining the reputation of India. "Korean papers have already started talking about it." But it is a legal matter now. Chopra has his answer ready; "If tomorrow the court announces that no film will go, I will be fine with that too."
The controversy surrounding India’s Oscar entry, Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Eklavya:
The Royal Guard, intensified with the Bombay High Court saying the selection appeared to be "prima facie biased".
Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud asked the Film Federation of India to respond within 10 days to a petition filed by filmmaker Bhavna Talwar challenging the entry. Talwar’s Dharm was in the Oscar race, but lost out to Eklavya.
Talwar and producer-WSG Pictures had moved the court alleging that some members of the selection committee - director Sudhir Mishra, Jagdish Sharma and Ranjit Bahadur were "very close" to Chopra.
They said Bahadur was the editor of Making of Eklavya, a promo for the film.
The judges allowed Sharma and Bahadur to file affidavits in reply. The chairperson of the jury that selected Eklavya, Vinod Pande, and Chopra were made respondents.
Chopra later issued this statement: "The Honorable High Court has not issued any restraining order/stay or injunction in the matter…I will abide by the order." Bhavna termed it a "huge encouragement".
