24 Years Of Kalpana Lajmi’s Controversial Daman, When Vyjayanthimala Defended Raveena Tandon’s National Award

In an exclusive interview with this writer Vyjayanthimala who headed the jury for the National Awards, defended the award, “I’ve seen all the performances. What the jury members and I felt about Raveena’s performance was, that it was unexpected from her. Daman completely changes her glamorous image. She has dared to play an abused wife and the mother of a grownup daughter.  When, in the end, she assumes the personality of Goddess Durga, we think Raveena has outdone herself.”

Vyjayanthimala criticized the direction. “I must also add that Kalpana Lajmi despite being a renowned director, hasn’t done full justice to the theme. The film was quite shoddy. The cinematography and music do not rise to the occasion. Raveena carries off the role remarkably despite these drawbacks. She had to get credit for that. As for Tabu in Astitwa and Karisma Kapoor in Zubeida, they are both acknowledged artists. They both had powerful roles, dialogues, scripts and music in Astitwa and Zubeida. But give this girl(Raveena) the credit for working against several odds. Why shouldn’t we give her the award? I’m totally in sympathy with my jury members.”

Scoffing the view that she had towed her party BJP’s line, Vyjayanthimala said, “If the awards went to Anil Kapoor for Pukar and  Raveena it was because they deserved it, and not because I was part of a conspiracy to make them win. Agreeing with the majority’s decision doesn’t make me hand-in-glove with anyone. I don’t know Raveena. I’ve never met her. I didn’t even know MacMohan was related to her. All this has nothing to do with me. I went by pure merit. I  like Anil’s and Raveena’s performance immensely. I also loved the film Bharathi, its recreation of the period was so vivid. I’m glad it has won the award for best regional film. I‘ve been true to my conscience, and I stand by all the awards. If some of the jury members weren’t qualified for their jobs who am I to comment on that? They were all selected by the Directorate of the festival. I’ve done full justice to two fine artists like  Anil Kapoor and Raveena Tandon.”
Reacting to the resignation of three jury members the legendary actress and danseuse commented, “Every year the National Awards get into some controversy or the other. This time the controversy is over the selection of Anil Kapoor and  Raveena Tandon  for best actor and actress.”

Describing some jury members as people who had little to do with cinema, Vyjayanthimala said, “As for the two gentlemen(Pradip Kishen and Shashi Anand)  who walked out hours before we were to decide the winners, right from the start they distanced themselves from the other jurists. There was no interaction between them and the rest of the jury. The two thought they were right about everything. Hence if there was any groupism within the jury, it was those two who were responsible for it. I on my part as the head of the jury tried to make all the jury members as comfortable as possible. All I wanted was that we choose the right films for the awards in the best interests of the country.”

“Since there were four panels every jury member couldn’t see every film.  Those two(Kishen and Anand) insisted that the entire jury should boycott the films that they had seen and rejected. How was that possible?  The other jury members and I refused to comply with this unfair demand.  Some jury members rejected some other films initially. So it wasn’t just Daman and  Pukar who were recalled.  In all,  nine films were recalled for viewing by the jury. I never objected to films being recalled for viewing. I saw that as a healthy occasion for the revaluation of films. Still, those two members insisted on acting uppity, as though they thought no end of themselves. It seems they had made up their minds even before we voted for the winners. When a majority vote arrived at the winners, these two jury members staged a walkout. We pleaded with them to stay on. They refused. Then the festival director requested them for a voice of dissent. For 45 minutes after their walkout, we were at a complete loss as to what we should do next—continue or scrap the awards selections. We were held to ransom by these two jury members. We had to get the I&B minister Sushma Swaraj’s opinion on the imbroglio. She said I had to make a decision since I was the chairperson. After consulting the other members we decided to go ahead with the voting without the four abstaining jury members. We couldn’t wait indefinitely while these protestors made up their minds. As it is we lost three precious days because of their tendency to raise objections to every decision arrived at by other jury members.”

About Raveena Tandon’s Maama(maternal uncle) MacMohan being on the jury, Vyjayanthimala clarifies, “Jury members have the right to abstain from voting. Likewise, MacMohan abstained from voting for Raveena Tandon. Then what’s wrong with his being Raveena’s uncle?  Also, let me add, it’s very difficult for any creative organization functioning on a national level, to go purely by the book.”

The negative reviews for her latest film Daman left Kalpana Lajmi stunned.  “Maybe there’s something seriously wrong with Daman. But no critic has the right to say that I should be banned from making films.”
Critics in Mumbai have panned Daman as shockingly sub-standard and one of the worst films of the year.  “The reviews are vicious. You may not like the film. But tell me where I’ve gone wrong. How can you disregard my earlier achievements?”

Surprisingly critics outside Mumbai have been much kinder to Daman, especially Raveena Tandon’s performance as the battered wife.  Protests the multi-award-winning director of Ek Pal, Rudaali and Darmiyaan,  “Do these vicious reviewers realize how difficult such disparaging reviews make it for me to make more films? Do they realize what budget constraints  I worked under? The entire media has been building up the film by repeatedly interviewing Raveena and me. And then they go and rip the film apart. Mumbai has become a city of endless heartaches. To my relief not a single colleague from the filmmaking fraternity has run me and my film down.  Nor has the vernacular press said anything but good things about Daman. It’s only the English-language press that has major problems with me and my film. I’ve gone through hell trying to sell the film to distributors. It’s so humiliating to convince them to put their money into a film like Daman. Singlehandedly I sold my film to all the distribution areas, though at the last minute, there was a problem with the Bihar-Nepal distribution. 63 prints of  Daman were released. The Maharashtra-Gujarat circuit bought the film for ten lakhs. They’ve already recovered 16 lakhs in the first three days.”

Kalpana finds a lack of objectivity in the film press. “There are too many personal factors guiding film criticism in the English language. Perhaps I’m not a powerful male director like David Dhawan, Mahesh Bhatt or Shekhar Kapur. Being a woman director is not easy. After these vicious reviews, I’ve begun to wonder if I’ve lost my directorial touch.  To damn all my works just because my latest film isn’t liked isn’t fair. Which filmmaker makes masterpieces each time?  I feel a realistic film like Daman needs all the encouragement it can get. When you pan a film like Daman so viciously there’s no hope left for such cinema. It’s next to impossible to make the non-intellectual audience come into theatres to see offbeat films. They’d rather flock to see Chori Chori Chupke Chupke even though some people associated with it are facing serious anti-national charges. I’m worried about the whole aesthetic and moral sensibility of the moviegoing public.  The audience doesn’t care where their entertainment comes from me as long as they get a kick out of watching potboilers. They‘ll never come to see Daman.  Negative criticism is chasing away the audience for realistic cinema.”

Continues  Kalpana, “Such negative responses to a sincere effort will discourage mainstream actors from not only attempting something realistic but also from working with women directors. As it is we women directors have a tough time finding leading men. Now we shall have to work doubly hard to get female protagonists as well. If I have doubts about my abilities after reading such scathing comments I’m sure Raveena too will have second thoughts. The Mumbai critics have taken the parallel movement backwards by their unthinking criticism.”