IFFI: …AND THANKS FOR THE
CRUMBS
By Remo Fernandes, Siolim, December 1, 2004.
I have been engaged to perform at the closing ceremony of the
IFFI [International Film Festival of India], Goa, on December
9, 2004. I am a professional performer, I perform at most events
where I'm engaged to perform, and to me most jobs are equal—I
give the very best that I can, and that's that.
I have often been asked my opinion
on IFFI Goa. The fact that I have been engaged to perform does
not mean I should not voice my thoughts and feelings about the
film festival. And I think the government of Goa, which I'm
sure respects its citizens' opinions and their right to air
them, would agree.
So here goes.
* * *
Imagine for a moment a couple who
has a dozen children. Most of them in ill health, most of them
near illiterate. The couple claims they have no money for proper
medicines, no money to better their education. However, in the
same breath, the father says, "Hey, but I do have money
for cinema tickets, so let's all go watch a movie."
Yes, you get the drift of what
I'm getting at. It's a matter of priorities. Health and education
come first. Movies come last. And a whole lot of things come
in between: public transport, electricity, water supply, roads,
cleanliness, traffic control, crime control, corruption contro—the
list is impressive. But one thing is certain: movies come last.
Walk into the Goa Medical College
Hospital and witness the filth, the abominable state of the
toilets, the blood-stained sheets and patients' bedclothes,
the lack of pillows or pillow cases, the rudeness and indifference
of most of the staff. Walk into any government-run school or
college and witness its shabbiness, the lack of basic facilities
such as textbooks or benches or tiles on the roof, the lower
than low standard of teachers and syllabus. If you don't have
the money to go to a private hospital or school in this country
[as the vast silent majority don't], god help you, god help
your future prospects and those of your children.
The government says this pitiful
state of health and education [and everything else mentioned
above] is due to a lack of funds. Ah, but they do have 110 crore
[that's the official figure, I leave you to guess the "unofficial"
one] for a film festival.
A film festival! At Cannes
in developed countries like France the government looks after
its people magnificently; the roads, the electricity, the water
supply, the health facilities, the education, the government
offices and services are all flawless—in every nook and
corner of the city, not just on the main boulevard where the
festival is held. The citizens are content and their government
is therefore justified in "taking them to the movies".
A government which claims it does
not have the money for health and education is not.
* * *
And let's ponder this for a while:
Rs. 110 crore to promote and help the film industry? Does the
film industry require our government's financial backing, especially
to such an astronomical extent? The film industry is known to
be one of the richest and most corrupt industries in the country;
known for its black money; for its underworld connections; for
its perverted lifestyles ruled by casting couches; and this
is the industry our government sees the need to promote? How
about helping Goan small-scale industries, handicrafts, or khel
and teatro artists on this grandiose scale [or at least
a tiny portion thereof] first? While these have all to suffer
and wait in queues to bribe corrupt officials so that they may
avail of the hugely advertised but scarcely disbursed government
aid, the government goes and spends Rs. 110 crore—on the
filthy rich film industry!
* * *
Ah, but then they say it was spent
for Goa, to attract tourists here.
Tourists? Does Goa have a dearth
of tourists? What it lacks is not tourists, but facilities for
the tourists who already overcrowd Goa. In the real tourist
belt, which is along the sea coast, conditions are shameful:
narrow single-lane bumpy, potholed roads where two tourists
buses or even cars cannot pass without backing up, particularly
on our most famous beaches and other favourite tourist destinations
such as popular flea markets/restaurants/pubs/clubs/etc., causing
traffic jams every day and every night during season; destruction
of the natural beauty for which tourists come to Goa, through
ugly construction and advertising hoardings, both legal and
illegal; garbage and plastic and glass on and around beaches;
municipal markets, the one in Panjim included, which have now
begun to stink like those in any other shabby Indian town. The
government has neither the time nor the inclination to solve
these real problems for the real tourists in the real tourist
belts… and they have Rs. 110 crore to build one multiplex,
one jetty and one beautiful short road from the Panjim bus stand
to Dona Paula, all of which a tourist will hardly ever use?!
Ah, but then cleaning beaches,
keeping electricity and water supplies constant, repairing roads,
all these things don't count as tourist attracting activities.
Because they are too simple, they cost too little to achieve.
A Film Festival counts, even if it attracts people for just
a week [mostly VIP guests of the government], because it demands
expenditure in crores. I wonder if you can fathom why it is
wiser to spend more on unimportant things than to spend
less on the really important ones. The only explanation
that comes to mind is kickbacks, but then I must be wrong, because
this is supposed to be a clean government, right?
* * *
One more thing: the argument that
these events bring progress and infrastructure to Goa which
would not otherwise have happened, or which would have taken
years to happen, is the greatest insult Goans have been made
to suffer. Not once, but twice. By two different governments.
The first time it was the Congress when the Airport-Fort Aguada
road was widened and improved, and STD/ISD facilities introduced
in Goa at the time of CHOGM. And this time it is the BJP and
IFFI. What this means, dear people of Goa, is that you and I,
the actual tax payers with whose money these facilities are
built, are not important enough to have them built for us. You
and I can suffer in silence for decades in post office telephone
booths being insulted by rude operators; you and I can destroy
our hard-earned cars in potholes even though we pay road taxes;
you and I can suffer power failures and water failures every
day, even today; because, my dear people, you and I don't
count. We only provide the taxes, the money. Why spend it on
us? Ah, when a handful of foreign and Indian heads of state,
when a handful of famous Bollywood and non-famous Hollywood
honchos ride into town, it's time to spend that money. On them.
Not on us.
But we should all be oh, so
grateful for the crumbs that will fall our way from their over-laden
tables after they've burped and left the banquet. Of course,
the fact that these works are hastily completed, that most of
them will not outlast a monsoon, is another matter altogether—let
us not even begin to bring up that depressing, frustrating thought
here.
* * *
Finally, I cannot understand the
fascination that the Indian government perpetually has for Bollywood
stars. I have been criticising the excess of importance given
to them for years, and publicly calling this country bankrupt
of all other heroes and role models for our children. In the
short speech I gave at the Sangeet Music Awards at the Royal
Albert Hall in London recently [a speech loudly applauded by
the audience in the Hall, but deleted from Sahara TV telecast
for obvious reasons, Sahara being the organisers of the event],
I mentioned how even at the National Games in Hyderabad, the
chief guests sitting beside the President of India on the dais
were not sportspersons; there was no PT Usha, no Sachin Tendulkar,
no Leander Paes or Mahesh Bhutpati; there were—yes, you
guessed right—Bollywood stars! And how at the Sangeet Music
Awards themselves, musicians and singers were sidelined by the
importance given to the presence and performances of—Bollywood
stars!
Turn on our radio, our TV, whatever;
there is not one Indian channel even remotely comparable to
National Geographic or Animal Planet. They are all centred on
Bollywood stars! We take so much pride in our so-called heritage
and culture, we scream ad-nauseum about its merits; but show
me one, just one Indian TV or radio station dedicated
solely to our classical and folk music, our heritage architecture,
our customs and culture? Foreign channels make fabulous documentaries
on all these—we make Bollywood masalas. Our ads, from chaddis
and bras to diamonds and cars—all modelled by Bollywood
stars. Our talk shows, our games shows, our very lives—all
ruled by Bollywood stars. Why, even our governments are infiltrated
by power-hungry, corrupt, megalomaniac, overweight, useless
ex-Bollywood stars.
I am a distant part of Bollywood
myself, having attained a good portion of my fame and fortune
through the extremely few, but thankfully extremely successful,
film songs I've sung. But I'm the last person to expect those
songs to entitle me to the status of a real life hero, or to
have my government spend crores on people like me rather than
on pressing and deserving causes. For goodness' sake, don't
I earn enough in showbiz? Doesn't showbiz give me enough exposure
and fame and glory and money already? Don't the needy people
deserve the government's funds and encouragement much more than
I do?
Believe me, I have nothing against
Bollywood stars. But to me they're just that—Bollywood
stars, nothing more. They're not real life heroes; they only
act in make-believe roles of heroes. God, don't we have the
real thing to present as role models for our children instead
of these overpaid mediocrities with their obscene dances, drunken
driving and killing, underworld connections, black money, the
whole dirty works? Where are our intellectuals, our writers,
our scientists, our city planners and builders, our real life
achievers, not the celluloid pretty boys and flimsy girls? If
these are the only role models we have to offer our children,
let us not be surprised if they grow up mentally and morally
to be just like them.
And let's not be surprised if our
very nation develops just like Bollywood—made out of cardboard
and thermacol, held up by props, totally false, artificial,
superficial, with make-believe celluloid values, where lewd
sexuality and mindless violence rule; where our spirituality,
philosophy and culture are but a distant, forgotten, ignored,
faded memory of our glorious past.
When this dreary moral and ethical
bankruptcy hits us with full force one day, when it is too late
to do anything about it, we'll still find escapism of course—we'll
go to the movies.
Thank god for film festivals.
* * *
Okay—if I feel so strongly
about IFFI Goa, I hear you ask, why am I performing there? Because
I've decided, by accepting to perform, to divert at least a
miniscule portion of the IFFI funds towards the two causes I
consider top priority: I'm going to donate my full earnings
from this performance to charitable health and educational institutions
in Goa. It's called putting my money where my mouth is.
* * * * * * * * * * * *