Indian Cinema (Y13)

Indian (Hindi)CinemaThe largest cinema in the world in terms of ticket sales

& films produced annually. (Central Board of Film Certification India)

Genres

• Mythological

• Devotional

• Historical

• Social Problems

• Social

The ‘Masala Principle’

• The blending of ‘rasas’ (spices)

• A wide range of emotions evoked all blended together

Narrative• Story known in advance (Importance of the

Ramayana & The Mahabharata)

• Remakes, remakes, remakes, remakes etc

• Repeat Viewings

• Song & Dance numbers- A real centrality to Indian films

• Heavy use of dubbing (never actor/actresses voice)

Music Rasa

• Folk

• Classical (Indian)

• Muslim

• Western

• Importance to radio

‘Dharma’

• Living in accordance with fate

• Individual role

• Moral order

• Caste

Conflict

• Resisting ‘dharma’

• Dharma versus ‘progress’

Representation of Women

• Mythic resonance

• Sita- ‘A wife’s God is her husband, he is her friend, he is her guru, even her life is less, than her husband’s happiness.’

Godesses

• Importance of chastity, self denial & austerity

• Lakshmi- Good fortune but fickle

• Shakti- Can take two forms

• Sati: Threw herself onto husband’s funeral pyre

• Kali: Creator/destroyer

Imperalism

• Why Mother India is such an iconic film

• Partition

• British Rule

• Orientalism (Edward Said)

• Oppression

Satyajit Ray (1921-1992)

• The Apu Trilogy- Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1956) & Apur Sansar: The World of Apu (1959)

• Devi (1960) & Kanchenjungha (1962)- Both based on the British Raj period of Indian history

• Charulata (1964) Important film in terms of female visibility in India

• Bengal film scene not Bombay

Ray• Regarded as India’s greatest ever auteur

• Regarded by many (E.g. Robin Wood) as the best director of children ever

• Considered that scriptwriting and directing were part of the same job

• Worked with cinematographer Subrata Mitra in early films. Mitra’s departure is one reason why his later films are not seen as good. Also worked with Ravi Shankar but generally preferred to score his own music.

Mother India (d. Mehboob Khan, 1957)

• Regarded as one of the great Bollywood films

• Iconic metaphoric/mythological representation of Radha (the Mother) whose struggles, fertility and motherhood is symbolic of India as a whole.

New Indian Cinema

• Known for it’s art house themes and influences from Neo-realism and the French New Wave. Satyajit Ray is widely considered to be one of the first in this area with Bengali directors dominating.

• Bhuvan Shome (d. Mrinal Sen, 1969)

• Kharij (d. Mrinal Sen, 1982)

• Sati (d. Aparna Sen, 1989)

Westernisation

• Lagaan (d. Ashutosh Gowariker, 2001) A film which deals with Indian obsession for cricket.

• Monsoon Wedding (d. Mira Nair, 2001)

• Swades (d. Ashutosh Gowariker, 2004)

Deepa Mehta (Indian/Canadian)

• Controversy has marked all of her major film releases

• Fire (1996) Representation of homosexuality in contemporary India

• 1947: Earth (1998) set during partition from POV of young Parsi girl

• Water (2005) Forced to shoot the film in Sri Lanka because of protests from the Hindu community.