aniruddharni

[aniruddharni]

Fairly Ambiguous!

You might have heard of students playing truant, bunking classes and running off to watch movies. Have you come across an officer flicking through film magazines and watching movies in office time? Well, I must confess that I did it! And that too while discharging my official duties sincerely when I was posted as Managing Director, Kerala Film Development Corporation.

            One day, Chief Conservator of Forests, late Shri V S Verghese, called me over intercom in Forest Headquarters where I was posted as Deputy Conservator of Forests (Development) with additional charge of DCF (Vigilance). He directed me to meet Shri M. M.Hassan, Minister for Culture in Congress government.

I had never met the minister earlier but when I called on him it was indicated that he was interested to post me on deputation as Managing Director of Film Development Corporation in Culture Department under him. Probably, reading the quizzical expressions on my face he put his cards on the table saying that the Corporation already had all the required experts in film making- camera man, award winning film directors, sound engineer, shooting crew, film developing staff in the laboratory and so on. No expertise regarding the craft of film making was expected from me. I was told that my job was only to streamline the administration.

  Millions of people get attracted to the charm of films every year and I was no exception therefore I agreed to his suggestion immediately. Millions of people who do get attracted initially to the glamour also get embittered soon when they do not taste success even after a stiff struggle. I was also no exception. Once the government order was issued I took charge and learnt what was in store for me behind the grease and paint.

            The Corporation had ten theatres all over Kerala for screening commercial films. We had a sprawling Chitranjali studio at Trivandrum where film shooting, film developing, editing, dubbing, and sound recording could happen under one roof. There were nearly three hundred employees- permanent and temporary. Yet, the main problem was that the government did not provide any funds for payment of salaries or wages and it was expected that Corporation would generate its own revenues as a commercial entity out of the assets that it possessed. Government only provided Rs. fifty lakhs every year for capital expenditure meant for building new assets but this fund could not be used for salaries and wages.

To my utter shock, all the bank accounts of the Corporation had been frozen by EPF (Employees’ Provident Fund) Commissioner under his statutory powers a week prior to my joining. Money could be deposited but not withdrawn from these accounts so that all dues to EPF Commissioner would be appropriated first and then only the surplus would be available to the Corporation for day to day expenditure.

For the past one year the Corporation was not generating enough revenues to meet the total salary commitment for the staff; only net salaries were being paid to them and that too intermittently. The statutory PF deduction from the salaries of all the staff were made on paper but never remitted to EPF Commissioner because physically the money was actually not there. This was a grave legal violation and it was the reason for freezing of bank accounts. Likewise, the life insurance premium deducted on paper from the salary of each employee was also not remitted to LIC causing the lapse of all the insurance policies.

It was a total financial mess. I found myself not only in the proverbial soup but in a boiling cauldron as I had become one among the Corporation employees after taking charge. Having temporarily severed my umbilical cord to the Forest Department because of deputation, my salary would also be paid only by the Corporation - provided there was money! However, no money could be withdrawn from the bone dry and frozen bank accounts. It felt like landing in a battle field with the hands tied behind my back.

After the initial intoxication of the new and high sounding job title had worn off, study of the organizational structure and revenue streams in the first few days revealed that the main source of income was the gate collection at theatres from ticket sales. Four film theatres at Calicut and Thrissur were real cash cows while other six were not doing well.

Charting films in theatres was a weekly exercise. Which commercial film to screen in which theatre and for how long? These were crucial business decisions because we were competing against privately owned theatres. Well, frankly speaking, even to suggest that we were competing against private players would be a bit of an exaggeration. I was reminded of the age old lesson- ‘government has no business to be in business!’ But when you are in a soup kept on a boil and your salary itself is at stake, you cannot find solace in old lessons. It was then that I started browsing through Malayalam film magazines to know in advance which films with superstars and good directors were under production so that they could be screened in our theatres immediately on release for higher revenues. It was time for ‘camera, action and cut’ in real life.

Few days of analysis and a patient ear helped in identifying one money guzzler pertaining to the operation costs of the Corporation. Most of the permanent employees wanted to be at Trivandrum and using political pressure they managed their postings either in Corporation head office or in Chitranjali studio making these places overstaffed and without any substantial work for them. In fact, few employees had some side business too that they nurtured in their spare time. More staff were actually required for manning the theatres elsewhere but the employees did not wish to be posted there so the theatres were actually being run by hiring daily wage temporary employees mounting the running cost and causing a big dent in the accounts of the Corporation.

Therefore, as a first step I drafted the transfer norms for shifting the employees out of Trivandrum and circulated to the employees’ unions for making the guidelines transparent. I knew that implementing the staff deployment was going to be a Herculean task considering that almost everybody had political connections in Kerala. Soon after the norms were accepted and approved in- house, I deployed many staff from Trivandrum to all the distant theatres thereby replacing the hired labour with the intention of curbing the expenditure. I believed in the traditional wisdom that a penny saved was a penny earned. I had to ensure that all transfers were according to the norms and kept a balance among all competing staff unions. I knew I had to live up to the dictum: ‘Caesar’s wife should always be above suspicion.’

There was a fall out to the policy of transfers that was, anyway, already anticipated. Lot of time was spent in discussions with the unions who had to conspicuously put up a ceremonial stiff opposition to the management against the transfers, despite realizing the dire need to do so, to keep their camp followers placated. A former Trivandrum MLA, representing the Left unions met me frequently in this regard arguing against few transfers but the discussions were always cordial over many cups of tea, presumably because he had lost the seat in the previous election and his party was in opposition in those days.

The transfers caused some resentment as the apple cart for few employees was upset. Fortunately, the financial health of the Corporation soon started showing “green shoots” (a term borrowed from Covid- battered -Indian economy -recovery as described by Ms. Nirmala Sitaraman recently) and thankfully all the employees started getting their full gross salaries in time. However, this was just not enough to prevent a faction of Congress backed union to approach the Culture Minister against me. By this time Shri Hassan, the minister who brought me in, had vacated the office.

  The complaint was given a political flavor to make it more palatable to the minister and he was informed that I was a Left sympathizer and was guided in all decisions by the ex MLA of the Leftist party who spent a lot of time with me in office. This bogey can always be raised by disgruntled employees in any organization when there is nothing substantial to complain about and it carries traction with political masters too.

One day, Principal Secretary of Culture, Shri Bharat Bhushan, informed me over phone that the minister was not happy because few congress union people were frequently complaining against me and he was feeling compelled to shift me. However, I was very clear that ruthless decisions were required if the sinking ship was to be saved by plugging all the leaking holes. The time for soft pedaling was over. Moreover, I felt my personal fate and livelihood were also chained to the Corporation. Having soaked enough of communism in those many years of my stay in Kerala I could almost visualize Karl Marx waving a chuvappa kodi (red flag with hammer and sickle) and shouting hoarsely in my ears that I had nothing to lose but my chains in pursuing what I thought was right.

As instructed I met the minister in his chamber along with Shri Bharat Bhushan. The minister was absolutely candid and informed the Secretary that the Congress union members were hostile to the Managing Director because they felt discriminated while the Left party employees were favoured and that too, unpardonably, in the Congress regime!

Shri Bharat Bhushan had been MD in the same Corporation fifteen years prior to me and still had live contacts in the organization who met and briefed him regularly about the current affairs. To my relief the Secretary told the minister very politely, “Sir, according to my feedback the MD is not biased at all and is implementing all decisions only in favour of the organization. I can confidently say that he is very fair.”

            Without missing a beat, the minister looked at my face with a deadpan expression and retorted, “Yes. He has a fair complexion!” Neither the Secretary nor I could make out whether the minister was being humorous or sarcastic. I was so stumped by his googly that unlike Sir Humphrey I could not even say, “Yes Minister.”

Epilogue:

Shri Bharat Bhushan retired as Chief Secretary of Kerala during my central deputation.