Time For The True “Award Wapsi”
A case for undoing decades of the Nehru clan’s revisionist history
The National Film Awards are India’s highest recognition in the field of cinema. Having started in 1954, they truly celebrate the diversity of Indian film-making by recognizing mainstream Bollywood along with our many flourishing regional movie industries.
Among the various accolades it bestows upon actors, directors, producers, composers, cinematographers, etc., there is a peculiar one that stands out — the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director. No other award is named after a living person, with the exception of the Lifetime Achievement Award, named after Dadasaheb Phalke, one of the towering figures of Indian cinema.
There is no reason why this exception should be there. Moreso considering that Indira Gandhi had nothing to do with Indian cinema. It is not a coincidence that this award was first established in 1981, a year after Indira came to power.
Then comes the highest sporting honor of India, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. This too was instituted in 1991, just after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. The original apex sporting honor, Arjuna Award, was sidelined to make way for another nonsensical honor named after a Nehru scion.
