2008 The year is drawing to a close and top-ten lists have already started hitting the Internet. While going through several list of the, ‘Best movies of the year- distributed and non-distributed,’ it’s sad and remarkable to see the omission of Indian films. Over the years, there seems to be either ignorance on part of film festivals, critics, organizers about our cinema or in a country of over billion people,we are not able to make one worthwhile film that could transcend boundaries and cultural space- irrespective of being Indian. Beside let’s make this clear- Slumdog Millionaire is not an Indian film as the media seemed to project, rather it’s a British film with an Indian context. And so instead of proclaiming this as our conquest on the global stage, we should lament why anyone from our own industry couldn’t achieve this feat. While it's high time we should move on from talking about our scripts reaching the Oscar library or the growth of Bollywood in the US and UK box-o
A discussion about the narrative styles of Satyajit Ray in different films like Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Charulata, Jana Arnya etc. In this context comparison with Godard, Eisenstein and other directors and schools are done. Sanjay Mukhopadhyay discusses with Bibhuti Bhusan Mandal and Dr. Arup Ratan Ghosh Sanjay Mukhopadhyay (SM): The discussion that we are going to begin is about Satyajit Ray and his films. To be more precise, the topic sounds as ‘Satyajit Ray and the narrative style of his films’. I want you to highlight the salient features of his narrative style . When Satyajit Ray came to the film industry he had already developed a film sense. He had written a lot of essays in the Calcutta Film Society journals. These volumes help us to know Ray’s theory about the cinematic aspects of film. For example, during Dada Saheb Phalke or Jamaibabu period (silent era) we find that theatres and novels had a lot of influence on cinema. In these essays we find that the theatrics of t
"The tragedy of Indian documentary is that for too long it has leaned on official patronage. This has stultified its growth and deprived it of an identity. The honest fact is that we do not have what can be called an 'Indian Documentary'. We have to create one, in order that one of the greatest mediums of the 20th century is not mortgaged to the purveyors of meretricious and mindless fare. As Goethe said:... "a great public is entitled to our respect, and should not be treated like children from whom one wishes merely to extract money" INDIAN DOCUMENTARY- PART 1 Synchronous Sound and Fury The sixties turned out to be an exciting decade. At last, the documentary idea had caught on. Its tremendous potential, range and effectiveness as a medium of communication was becoming apparent to the policy-makers and intellectuals alike. It is not without some significance that India's leading art magazine Marg devoted an entire issue to documentary films. So di
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