Jubilee Year

But, one man present at the Diamond Jubilee celebration at Regional Science Centre on Monday afternoon was not moved—chief guest Prof AS Brar, Vice-Chancellor, Lucknow University. Here’s why: “I am a scientist and I was surprised to find the documentary giving a complete miss to Nobel winner CV Raman or to other scientific achievements of the country,” said Prof Brar, adding, “While it shows Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and even the little Rahul and Priyanka with their grandomother Indira Gandhi, there was not even a passing mention of Atal Behari Vajpayee, the leader who has been in Parliament for the longest time.” He suggested the Films Division should abstain from being lopsided and must document truth as it exists.

Chief Producer of Films Division Kuldip Sinha was scheduled to be at the function, but organisers had to make do with his message instead, in which he conveyed that efforts were on to digitalise all the productions from the archives. Local officials, including Senior Branch Manager Ma. Selvam, threw light on how Prime Minister Nehru had mooted the idea of establishing the division to chronicle the story of India’s progress after independence. The documentary screened on the occasion informed that filmmakers Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal and Gulzar had all made films for the Films Division. On the conspicuous absence of Films Division productions from the North Indian screen, Selvam abstained to comment saying the matter was sub judice.

The repertoire of the division comprised importantly, the Indian News Review, featuretts and thousands of films that brought the real India to fantasy-seeking cine-goers. Speakers on the occasion said Films Division documentaries that were screened compulsorily by all exhibitors before the film show were so popular in the pre-television era that there were many who would go to the cinema hall only to watch the 20-minute newsreel.

While assuring the chief guest that his suggestions would be conveyed to the higher-ups, representatives of the Films Division informed that on Tuesday and Wednesday, select documentaries would be screened in the Regional Science Centre auditorium. A cultural programme was presented on the occasion under the aegis of Sangeet Natak Akademi.