Adoor Gopalakrishnan calls national film awards jury ‘jokers’

Thiruvananthapuram: In a searing criticism of the national film awards selection under the new dispensation, filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan has called for a probe against the jury chairman Rajendra Singh Babu, who presided over the selection of the Indian Panorama at IFFI 2016.

In a nine-point letter to information and broadcasting secretary, Ajay Mittal, Mr Gopalakrishnan lamented the plight of “the cinema movement of purpose and integrity”. He was also vehemently critical of the Ramesh Sippy-led jury that selected the national awards for 2015, heavily biased in favour of commercial cinema. Mr Gopalakrishnan withheld names of the two chief jurors in the letter but did not conceal his outrage since “never before have such jokers been appointed as jury chairmen”.

Reflecting sentiments of the film fraternity pursuing “purposeful cinema”, he said that soon there would be an occasion to choose members as well as a chairman to the national film awards jury.  “We insist that the jury should be headed by a filmmaker of eminence, familiar with modern trends in cinema and enjoys a national stature,” he said.