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Garma
Garam More
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Art & Craft |
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Hundred Years of Cinema in India - 2
The other star who used the screen image to great advantage was N.T. Rama Rao of Andhra Pradesh. The veritable screen god, NTR played the role so often that he began believing in his divinity. Apparently so did a lot of other people in Andhra, which is why we had a second screen hero from south as Chief Minister. Raj Kapoor in 'Shri 420'
Guru Dutt and Madhubala in 'Mr & Mrs 55'
It was only after the government set up the Film Finance Corporation (FFC, which in 1980 came to be known as NFDC i.e. National Film Development Corporation) that several small but serious film makers got the wherewithal to make films, notable among them being Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani and GV Iyer (with his maiden venture in Sanskrit, Adi Sankaracharya). The Corporation also partnered the making of Attenborough's Gandhi and financed Satyajit Ray's Ghare Baire which was to be one of the last films of the master. Like cinema in Bengal, Malayalam cinema too was meaningful but it took a longer time to get noticed. In fact it was Ramu Kariat's melodious tragedy Chemmeen winning the President's gold medal in 1965 that drew attention to Malayalam cinema. Adoor Gopalakrishnan (Swayamvaram) and others all gained similar recognition in the years to come. With actor Prem Nazir doing stellar roles in a record breaking 600 films, Malayalam films have come to be characterised by simple narration of powerful stories, authentic locales and low cost production. The Karanth (BV) - Karnad (Girish) combine have produced two milestone Kannada films Vamsa Vriksha and Samskara, both essentially iconoclast in treatment. Though much talked about, the critique of caste brahmins, the theme of both films was later seen to be rather extreme. In this context it is worthwhile to mention two films made in Tamil on the same subject. Vedam Pudithu directed by P. Bharatiraja and Ore Oru Gramathile by K. Jyothi Pandyan. Both carried strong indictments against caste hierarchy and the common man's struggle to overcome it, but retained a balance - rather unusual for Tamil films. With government funds available for making films, the seventies saw an unhealthy divide between the existing commercial or mainstream cinema and the new parallel cinema or art films. The former was condemned unequivocally by the critics but continued to fill the coffers while the latter got rave reviews, bewildered the masses and created deep dents in government resources. Fortunately this situation did not last long, for soon there came a crop of film makers who realised that meaningful films need not necessarily incur heavy losses. Shyam Benegal, (Ankur, Nishant, Manthan) proved that there was an audience for films without frills but with a strong story and interesting narration. Govind Nihalani, Jabbar Patel, Mahesh Bhatt, K. Balachander, Bharati Raja, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, all fell into this category. Amitabh Bachchan and Pran in 'Don'
The eighties saw the advent of women film makers, Vijaya Mehta (Rao Sabeb), Aparna Sen (36, Chowringhee Lane, Paroma), Sai Paranjpye (Chashme Baddoor, Katha, Sparsh), Kalpana Lajmi (Ek Pal and, later the much acclaimed Rudali), Prema Karanth (Phaniamma) and Meera Nair (Salaam Bombay). The most commendable thing about these directors is their individuality. Their films have strong content and are told with passion, (only Sai has tackled light hearted subjects). In the nineties, Indian cinema faces tough competition from television; the cable network gives viewers any number of channels and though the most popular channels continue to be the film-based ones, the cinema halls have taken a beating. Nevertheless, films like Aditya Chopra's maiden effort, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Suraj Barjatya's Hum Aapke Hain Kaun have broken all records, because they recall the innocence of the fifties, a novelty in this age of sex and violence. This gives hope. Cinema in India can never cease, it has gone too deep into our psyche. It may undergo several reverses in fortune. With other mediums opening up, there will be a smaller market for films. Living as we are in a global village today, we are becoming a more discerning audience. No longer are we going to lap up every mediocre fare dished out by the moghuls of cinema; only the best will survive. And this is just as well. The author is a senior journalist. Source: India Perspectives
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While
the
south
was
busy
wooing
the
public
for
votes,
Bombay
was
either
turning
out
escapist
fare,
light,
happy,
musical
films
with
Dilip
Kumar,
Raj
Kapoor,
Dev
Anand,
Shammi
Kapoor,
Kishore
Kumar,
Nargis,
Madhubala,
Nutan,
Geeta
Bali,
Mala
Sinha
and
others
or
gave
the
audience
absolute
tear
jerkers
with
social
melodrama.
This
was
the
golden
era
of
music.
Shankar-
Jaikishan,
O.P.
Nayyar,
Madan
Mohan,
C.
Ramchandra,
Salil
Chaudhury,
Naushad,
S.D.
Burman
-
all
had
their
distinctive
sway.
Each
vied
with
the
other
to
produce
some
of
the
most
unforgettable
melodies
India
has
ever
known.
This
was
also
the
age
of
innocence;
the
screen
was
black
and
white,
the
vamp
and
the
heroine
did
not
merge,
they
had
their
domains,
there
were
no
shades
to
the
hero,
a
man
was
all
good
or
rotten
to
the
core.
No
double
entendres
were
woven
into
the
songs
and
even
the
vamp
was
decently
attired
on
the
screen.
This
was
the
era
of
Raj
Kapoor,
of
Shree
420,
Awara,
Boot
Polish,
Jagte
Raho,
Chori
Chori
and
of
course
his
magnum
opus
Mera
Naam
Joker
-
he
was
still
making
and
acting
in
enduring
films,
the
tramp
who
is
not
able
to
cope
with
the
pace
of
the
world.
He
caught
up
with
times
and
his
films
changed
with
Sangam,
Jis
Desh
Mein
Ganga
Behti
Hai,
Satyam
Shivam
Sundaram
and
Ram
Teri
Ganga
Maili.
Dilip
Kumar
and
Guru
Dutt
were
excellent
foils
to
the
chocolate-faced
heroes
as
tragedy
kings.
So
were
Meena
Kumari
and
Bina
Rai
amongst
the
heroines.
But
such
was
their
versatility
that
they
could
also
carry
off
comedy
effectively.
Two
outstanding
Hindi
films
of
the
fifties
that
deserve
mention
are
K.
Asif's
Mughal-e-Azam
(took
14
years
to
make
and
is
one
of
the
most
lavishly
produced
historical
of
Indian
cinema)
and
Mehboob
Khan's
Mother
India
which
is
said
to
have
gained
the
status
of
Gone
With
the
Wind.
In
the
meantime
in
Bengal,
the
man
who
was
to
take
Indian
cinema
to
the
international
arena
and
win
accolades
from
the
greatest
film-
makers,
Satyajit
Ray,
released
his
first
film,
Pather
Panchali
(1955).
After
his
trilogy
there
was
no
looking
back
for
him
or
for
cinema
from
Bengal.
Mrinal
Sen
conveyed
his
quiet
commitment
to
socialism
through
films
like
Calcutta,
Oka
Orie
Katha
(Telugu)
and
Bhuvan
Shome.
Director
Ritwik
Ghatak
gave
us
memorable
films
Meghe
Dhaka
Tara
and
Subarnarekha.
Although
Bengal
also
came
up
with
films
that
asked
for
a
willing
suspension
of
disbelief,
these
were
exceptions
rather
than
the
rule
as
in
Bombay
films,
where
the
Mukherjis,
Sippys,
Chopras,
Chakraborty
and
Manmohan
Desai
produced
one
bonanza
after
another
for
the
masses
and
laughed
all
the
way
to
their
banks.
There
was
no
market
for
serious
films,
it
was
felt,
and
the
classics
that
failed
to
break
even
like
Guru
Dutt's
Kagaz
ke
Phool
and
Raj
Kapoor's
Mera
Naam
Joker,
only
strengthened
the
conviction.
The
former
committed
suicide
and
the
latter
resorted
to
the
populist
fare
with
Bobby.
Around
this
time,
the
singular
phenomenon,
the
angry
young
man
with
his
dark
looks,
smouldering
eyes
and
mesmerising
voice,
Amitabh
Bachchan,
began
to
stride
the
scene
like
a
colossus.
He
introduced
to
cinema
for
the
first
time
as
a
cult,
the
negative
or
the
anti-hero.
Special
screen
plays
were
written
for
this
hero
seeking
vengeance
and
taking
on
single-handed
an
unsympathetic
establishment
and
inadequate
legal
system.