NEW DELHI: A novel proposal before the Union Home Ministry to make three short films or documentaries to promote communal harmony has been gathering dust since 2014 when the Modi government came to power. Sources in the government said “the project had failed to take off because it did not feature among the government’s priorities” and also because a measly budget was proposed for the making the film.The only progress the proposal has made since it was first mooted is that the budget has been reduced and the government now wants to make only one documentary, not three.
Documents of the last four years accessed by The Sunday Standard shows that the initial budget was Rs15-20 lakh. But the government felt this was too high it has been brought down to Rs 8-10 lakh.
The task of making the short film was assigned to an autonomous body under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is the chairperson of the organisation’s governing council.
The body, however, is managed and administered by the executive council headed by the Union Home Secretary.
In November 2014, actor-director Rahul Bose and noted filmmaker Raja Chaudhary were roped in for the project but their proposal was termed to be “too expensive.” In 2015, the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), the nodal agency for all Union government advertisements, was also involved and scripts were invited for the film. But the project has barely moved forward.
According to the minutes of the EC meeting on February 6, 2015, the government examined three scripts forwarded by the DAVP but none was approved. The following year, the EC decided that instead of producing a documentary film Doordarshan should be approached for producing a spot of about two minutes duration. A “proper media plan” in this regard was obtained from Doordarshan but the EC again found it to be “too costly,” sources said.
There was a U-turn following the Doordarshan proposal. At a meeting held on January 30 this year, the EC decided to go back to the plan of making a short film of about 5-7 minutes in Hindi and English. It was decided that a plan will be made for telecasting and displaying/uploading the film on social media.
“Though the organisation comes under the MHA, it is a self-reliant organisation. That is why the film has been stuck for so long,” a senior government functionary said. Another official, however, said: “If this project mattered to the government, it could have easily provided additional funds.”