NEW DELHI, January 20: A surprise from Hong Kong wrapped up the 29th International Film Festival of India as Wu Tianming's King Of Masks from the Chinese Administered Territory walked away with the coveted Golden Peacock for Best Film by an Asian Director.And as for paediatrician from Assam Santwana Bordoloi and the Purbanchal Films Cooperative Society, this turned out to be a special occasion as she bagged the Silver Peacock for the Jury Award for her first feature film, Adajya; while the Silver Peacock for the Most Promising Film went to Iranian director Farhad Mehhranfar's Paper Planes.
And even though the evening's closing ceremony was far more cohesive than the canned-culture variety show of the opener, it was the festival directorate's desperate search for glamour in the form of a giggling Pooja Batra that ruined it all. With the gorgeous short film by Bala and Kanika that played to A R Rahman's jazzed up version of Vande Mataram giving the event a dignified start, and
later the tableau of films from the '40s and '50s -- Bandhan, Kismat, and Jagriti -- tugging at emotions with the timeless songs of Kavi Pradeep, no one really saw the point in having this model-turned Bollywood starlet as one of the comperes.
After the customary speeches by Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, Information and Broadcasting Secretary C.R. Kamalanathan and the vote of thanks by festival director Malati Sahai, what took centrestage was the presentation of the awards. And though the names of the winners did leave us cold, few could hold back their disappointment at not seeing Majid Majidi's heart-warming "shoe story", Children Of Heaven, among the winners.
The fact is that no film award comes without controversy as unanimity is rare. And this was no exception. While none grudged debutante Bordoloi's Adajya, that takes an unsentimental and courageous look at the plight of Brahmin widows in the forties, getting the Jury Award and the cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakh that comeswith it, it was the choice of Best Film that left many disappointed. And that the viewers' had set their minds on Children Of Heaven was evident when Majid Majidi's film happened to be the only clip to herald a round of spontaneous applause from the Siri Fort hoi polloi.
The jury for the Asian Directors' Competition -- headed by Hungarian film-maker Istvan Gaal and comprising Idrissa Quedraogo from Burkina Faso, Dong-Ho Kim from South Korea, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad from Iran and our very own Sharmila Tagore -- viewed 15 films out of which the three were chosen. If King Of Masks was recognised for "directorial control and overall technical excellence", Adajya for "its courage, clarity and integrity", Paper Airplane was honoured for "imaginative cinematic subject-matter".
It's another matter that barring the category for a first film, Majid Majidi's Children of Heaven does fit the bill for any of the other two jury citations. But then, the jury knows best.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
