End of a Glorious Chapter in Indian Cinema

THE 55TH EDITION of the International Film Festival of India has gone off well. The line up of films is ascribed as one reason for its success and as the festival's Artistic Director of Programming, some credit for this success has been attributed to me. So, the current going can be described as worthwhile for a 65-year-old, who is getting to do what he enjoys and gets paid for it - both in terms of money as well as recognition. And for this present situation of life, I feel grateful to Shyam Benegal.

- By PANKAJ SAXENA

The reason for this sentiment is to be found in an interview that took place in Poona 44 years ago. The setting was the Conference Room of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Shyam Benegal was heading an interview board which was mandated to select 21 students for the 1980 batch of FTII. I was one of the 50 odd candidates who had made their way to this stage from among the 8,000 applicants. My claim for a seat at that point was not very strong.

I had graduated a year ago from SRCC - India's best commerce college, but that didn't matter here. I had an above average interest in Hindi films. But that interest was largely confined to the popular films that I had seen in commercial cinema theatres. I had also seen a small number of art films on Doordarshan. But that didn't make me a great art film enthusiast.

The interview began with the FTII faculty asking me several technical questions, most of which sounded Greek to me. Thereafter, FTII Director N. V. K. Murthy asked me the reason for changing tracks from commerce to cinema and I answered, “because cinema is commerce.” The board laughed and I realised that my answer was worded inappropriately, even if not entirely incorrect.

There was a moment's uneasy silence before Chairman Benegal took charge of the conversation. He asked me to speak about a film or films that I admired. My answers interested him and he questioned me intensely on the reasons behind my choices. I remember making every earnest bid to answer his queries. The conversation went on for a while. I felt I had succeeded in engaging everyone's attention. But I didn't get the impression that I had impressed anyone.