ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the combined impact of the state's ever-changing film policies and technological advances in the communication industry on the NFDC and the progress of New Indian Cinema in the 1980s. It does so by reviewing three government reports, the Working Group on National Film Policy, and the two Committee on Public Undertakings (CPU) reports on the NFDC. It further situates the challenges of survival facing the NFDC and New Cinema within the larger crisis prevalent in the Indian film industry in the early 1980s. The chapter reviews the successes and failures of the newly revived NFDC, as a policy-shaping body, a custodian of the Indian film industry, and a chief patron of India's New Cinema. The central point of discussion of this chapter is the NFDC and New Cinema fighting to survive the burden of a state-induced emphasis on development, productivity, corporatisation, financial viability, while struggling to maintain the artistic nature of its feature films. A section on Doordarshan is inserted to assess the impact of television on the NFDC and New Indian Cinema. Such an in-depth analysis (continued in Chapter 6) of the NFDC and New Cinema's relationship with Doordarshan is a leading contribution of this work. The chapter continues to explore different conversations India was engaged in on the utility of the NFDC and New Cinema, highlighting key incidences of disillusionment among New Cinema's star actors, directors, and producers.
