Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro
Red tape. Myopia. Decay. That's the condition of
most State-run cultural institutions. The
National Film Development Corporation is
bankrupt. So is the Films Division. Even Mumbai's
prestigious National Gallery of Modern Art gropes
for a vision
NGMA
Sonia Faleiro
NFDC and FD
Sanjukta Sharma
The library is closed, the librarian is on
maternity leave. And NGMA is short-staffed. There
are other problems as well.
Artist Bose Krishnamachari says the circular gallery space
creates shadows, which cause havoc with the paintings
When Saryu V. Doshi, Honorary Director, National
Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai, completed
her term on June 24, the future of this city
landmark became a question mark. Doshi's
eight-and-a-half years' tenure will be remembered
for landmark shows like the 'Picasso
Metamorphoses, 1900-1972', the 'Bhupen Khakhar
Retrospective', as well as the opportunities she
offered young Mumbai artists. The NGMA is
expected to come under the direct purview of the
NGMA, Delhi.
Many fear this move will not only heighten the
bureaucratic stranglehold typical to State-run
institutions, but that the blinkered autocracy
its Delhi branch is notorious for, will make
Mumbai suffer. When contacted, Rajeev Lochan,
Director, NGMA, Delhi, said, "I have nothing to
say about the NGMA. Write anything you like." As
Mumbai artist Akbar Padamsee points out, "The
NGMA will become a mere space, rather than a
reflection of the mind and soul of the city."
The question is, despite Doshi's passion, how
effectively did the NGMA play the role of a
national gallery? In offering visitors space to
commune with art, in cataloguing art history and
pointing to the future of Indian contemporary art?
Sir Cowasji Jehangir donated the formerly named
Cowasji Jehangir Hall to the state in 1911.
Initially used for concerts, the hall fell into
disuse during the 1960-1970s with the advent of
private, air-conditioned auditoriums, and was
hired out for boxing matches and trade union
meetings. The artist community galvanised public
support to convert the hall into a museum of
contemporary art. It took 12 years and Rs 3.5
crore to create five galleries, an auditorium, a
library, cafeteria, office and storage space.
Today, the premier art museum does not have
enough space for a permanent exhibition showing
the historical trajectory of art as well as a
contemporary show. The library is closed, the
librarian is on maternity leave. And NGMA is
short-staffed. Doshi promises that a café and a
shop will be in place in six months, but it's
been so long coming, people aren't exactly
holding their breath.
There are other problems too. Artist Bose
Krishnamachari says, "We need straight walls. The
circular space creates shadows, which cause havoc
with the paintings." The standard of NGMA
curators is also a sore point. Gallery Chemould's
Shireen Gandhy, who is coordinating a drive to
prevent the Delhi takeover, says, "Since we don't
have a training ground for museum directors and
curators, we should import them."
Bina Sarkar Ellias, Editor, Gallerie magazine, is
of the view that a national gallery must be in a
constant state of creation. "There's too much
dead space in the NGMA," she says. Artist Atul
Dodiya elaborates: "The city requires a wonderful
contemporary arts museum. For this, the NGMA must
work with museums abroad to bring the great
masters' works to India. It must create awareness
of art and become a public space." Gandhy agrees:
"In national museums elsewhere, the concern is to
ensure the audience keeps coming back for more.
Here, people visit a show and then don't return
for months."
The NGMA, Mumbai, has its failings, but it
appears that the Delhi tie-up will only stunt
independent thought and make it known for red
tape and bureaucratic bullying.
Manmohan Shetty, NFDC chairman, says, 'I've
nothing to do.' The organisation ran a loss of Rs
4 crore last year
It is the usual maze of wooden tables,
over-stacked steel racks and deadpan faces.
Beyond its neon-lit facade, the office of the
National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) has
the semblance of a 'Government of India
enterprise'. Posters of old NFDC classics adorn
the walls of the three floors that its 200
employees work out of. "Not much happens on a
daily basis. We are not producing any films right
now. It's just paperwork for import and export of
films," says NK Vyas, Manager, Finance, NFDC.
Imports include obscure Hollywood films or
newsreel - 10 hours of the Oscar ceremony from
1945 to 1980, for example.
Once NFDC was a catalyst for India's parallel
cinema movement (it produced Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron,
Mirch Masala, Sati, Yugant, among others, and
financed films like Ardh Satya). Today it is
defunct. "The government needs to pump in more
money," says Vyas. But even with an annual budget
of Rs 3-4 crores until 2003, NFDC has failed to
fuel good cinema in India. It is down with a loss
of over Rs 4 crores in the last year, yet its
yearly maintenance costs half as much. Its
monthly magazine, Cinema India has folded up, but
its top brass is still known to go for
international festivals on public money. Says
Govind Nihalani, one of the filmmakers who
flourished in the heydays of NFDC, "The key to
NFDC's resurrection is not more money, but a
reinvention in the context of technological and
market developments."
But the Information and Broadcasting (I&B)
Ministry does not know what to do. Said I&B
Minister Jaipal Reddy, "NFDC can't be treated as
a financing body anymore. It requires another
mandate." NFDC chairman Manmohan Shetty admits,
"I have nothing to do as NFDC chairman." On the
other hand, a member of the NFDC Workers' Union
has his own take: "Too many people's jobs are at
stake. They can't just let us go."
The Films Division (FD) is a similar story.
Starting as a film financing body in 1948, it
became like a film development organisation
concerned with creating resources for film
production and distribution. Today, it does
little more than digitising newsreels and short
films for archival use. FD recently tied up with
indiatimes.com to make its 8,000 odd documentary
titles available on broadband. Appreciative of
the move, Shyam Benegal says, "We all know bodies
like NFDC and FD are bankrupt. Without support
from financial institutions, they cannot be
resurrected." Now that the Indian film industry
has the official status of an industry, NFDC and
FD are entitled to support from financial
institutions. Benegal says, "Private financing
takes away much freedom from filmmakers, for
before taking up a film, a financier is bound to
speculate on what profit it will reap."
For aspiring filmmakers, NFDC is the last resort.
But red tape, and pre-conditions like shooting
permits and censorship double once NFDC steps in.
A filmmaker whose low-budget film festival hit
was distributed by NFDC last year, says, "The
toughest part was dealing with NFDC. Those at the
helm are clueless about marketing, distribution
logistics. Their thumb rule is cutting costs.
There's no culture of film." The government
clings to the lost glory of the organisation,
unsure of its role in its revival. NFDC board
members (big names like Pahlaj Nihalani and John
Mathew Matthan) are indifferent. The 1,000-odd
staff of both bodies are perhaps waiting for the
final, official burial.
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