Filmmaker and music director Vishal Bhardwaj is delighted to get his eighth National Film Award. Filmmaker Vinod Kapri’s 1232 Kms: Marenge To Wahin Jaakar, which documents the suffering and anguish of migrant workers during the initial wave of Coronavirus and the lockdown, earned Bhardwaj the honour of Best Music Direction in the Non-Feature Film category.

The 56-year-old says that the honour acknowledges the suffering of migrant workers: “Woh acknowledge nahin hua tha, na ho raha tha. I really want to thank this jury for acknowledging not just this song, but through this song, they are actually acknowledging the pain of all the migrants.”

Recalling the making of the music, Bhardwaj shares, “Amid the pandemic, I had shifted to Mussoorie (Uttarakhand). When Vinod Kapri (filmmaker) contacted us, Gulzar (lyricist-filmmaker) and I, we were so moved. We decided to do it free of charge, and asked him to make the basic recording cost. We were all pent up inside because of what was happening in the pandemic and the images we were seeing of the migrants walking for thousands and thousands of kilometres. Gulzar ji had put it succinctly, ‘Marenge To Wahin Jaakar’ found an outlet to express my feelings through the documentary,” he says.

For Bhardwaj, the sanctity of the award remains undefeated. “Baaki awards jo hote hain, woh lagta hai ke kisi paan ya gutke ke awards hain. Everyone wants to sell something and wants to show it on television to recover the money, and stars se dance leke usko exploit karenge. They come with a cheapness attached to it,” he says, adding, “Whereas, at the National Film Awards, the President gives you the award. You feel honoured to receive it from the first citizen of India. The sanctity of the National Award, its beauty and its honour are precious.”