The other day, I was talking to a senior musician and she was expressing her anguish over the way awards are being not “conferred” but “given away” by various sabhas. Also, she felt that there is no specific yardstick for choosing the right candidate for an award.
It is mind-boggling to see the number of titles and awards conferred by every sabha, especially during the December season. Today, there are awards and titles for anyone and everyone and I am sure that in the way this trend is continuing, we may soon run out of names to give away as titles! Many music- related Sanskrit names have found their entry as titles as these names are regarded as lending a certain dignity and grandeur to the award. In the last season alone, statistics reveals that about a whopping 260 artists were conferred various awards and titles by about 60 organisations (the information was gathered from the list prepared for the function organized by Dr.Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetti to felicitate the season awardees on 3rd January2012).
Looking at it a bit deeper, titles are usually conferred on artists when they are known to have really achieved a certain level of excellence in their chosen field. When an artist really proves that he is brilliant and displays some striking quality in his work, it is customary to recognize it and give a suitable award. While some awards are given away to artists even if they have not really achieved anything significant, some awards come a bit too late to deserving artists. As one very senior musician who was long due a Government award remarked, “while I have nothing much to rejoice about the award at this age, at least I am thankful to God that I am in a position to go personally to receive the award!” Sometimes it is so late that the award has to be conferred posthumously on “Late Mr.X ” ! In this context, Sri Bhupen Hazarika who has been conferred Padma Bhushan posthumously this year comes to my mind. I am also reminded of an episode in one of Y.G.Mahendra's recent drama “Nadagam” where in the story, the drama troupe has a brilliant script writer who very much deserves an award but the sabha does not recognize his talent. In the play, Mahendra hits upon a plan where on knowing that the award will be conferred only posthumously, he makes the writer pretend to die. Then, the sabha immediately announces an award for him posthumously but when the day of the award comes and the chief guest is on stage to confer it, the writer comes back alive. Everyone is aghast and says that the writer has cheated the public. At that time Mahendra says, “well, since you said that this award would be conferred only posthumously, I had no other option but to hit upon this idea.” Realizing their folly, the sabha people amend their mistake.
In the case of youngsters, awards are like an energy giving tonic, in the sense that the recognition makes them carry on their profession with more enthusiasm and seriousness. It is also an assertion that their work is being appreciated by the art community. Nevertheless, awards definitely are a great motivation to any artist to work harder and put in more efforts to improve further in their chosen field.
Public relations and being in the media limelight are some of the major contributing factors in choosing an artist for an award. If an artist's name appears regularly in the newspaper or television, he becomes a potential candidate for the award. You may have seen that in a particular Music season, the same artist may receive several awards from several sabhas.
Some awards just carry a medal or a citation but some others carry a hefty purse along with it as well. So, there is always a competition for the latter, where when the title may not be of much use, at least the money part of it will come handy. One very aged musician on receiving the news of an award being conferred on him told me, “well, what use is this title and award to me when I have already retired from my profession? There is no proper place in my house to even display this memento. At least if I am given a cash purse, it will be of some use in my old age.” Quite true! Again, it is heartening to note that distinguished persons are honoured with Padma Awards by the Central Government. Here too, the Padma Awards like Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna are not titles like the Britishers used to give in India in the form of Sir, Rao Bahadur and Rao Saheb, which were used before their names. Therefore, these Padma Awards should not be used before the names of the awardees. It can be only mentioned in writings, speech or in bio-data as one who has received that honour. Well, is anybody listening? Today, whether we like it or not, awards seem to lend a special status to artists, but of course finally, it is only your art that will speak for you. In this competitive world, awards however big or small, definitely gives one visibility, confidence, conviction and an urge to work harder towards reaching greater heights.
