Short Films in India

  

Short films in India have always played a pivotal role in expressing new concepts in a short span of time. Short films have less duration than feature films and usually have a running time of 40 minutes or less. Short films in India are the hub of innovative storytelling. They are also cherished for their conciseness and entertainment value. Often new filmmakers step in the film arena through short films which render prominence to their new techniques and ideas. It acts as a first step of professional filmmaking. However, many eminent Indian filmmakers have also ventured in this arena and created some of the most admired short films of all times. Professional actors and filmmakers have many a times chosen short films as an alternative form of expression. Short films are a great way of expressing a new or poignant concept of any genre, be it fiction or non fiction. They also play significant roles in creating social awareness about critical social issues. Quite often short films adopt unconventional film making techniques and narratives devoid of dialogues.

Premiere of Short Films
Short films are greatly promoted and appreciated in various film festivals which confer recognition to the innovative efforts of the filmmakers. In fact most of the short films depend on festival exhibition for reaching the viewers. However some of them are also distributed on internet through various websites which over years have attracted a huge traffic of artists and viewers. A number of short films in India have walked away with prestigious accolades at Indian as well as international film festivals. Short films in contemporary times have gained huge popularity as it provides a great platform for the exhibition of art with low expenses.

Prarambha
Prarambha is a 2007 Kannada short film made to increase awareness about AIDS. The film was directed by Santosh Shivan and the story was written by Ritesh Menon and Mubina Rattonsey. The movie portrays the quest of a boy for the person who gave him birth and how a truck driver helps him in his quest and reinstates him in the school which dismissed him for being HIV positive. The film was premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in the year of its release and was screened in India at 38th International Film Festival of India. The movie was made for Richard Gere's AIDS foundation.

Little Terrorist
Little Terrorist is a Hindi short film released in 2004. It was written and directed by Ashvin Kumar and was nominated for an Academy Award in the year 2005. The movie depicts a Pakistani boy who enters the Indian land chasing a cricket ball and is then forced to a hide out. The film was invited by 103 film festivals and bagged awards in 14 of them. It is also the first Indian short film which got a theatrical release in the country.

Pikoo
Pikoo is a Bengali short film made in 1980 by the notable director Satyajit Ray. The movie is a soulful narration of a day in the life of a six year old boy in the backdrop of the extramarital affair of his mother. The film was made for a French television channel, France 3.

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Indian Regional Films

  

India is a land of diversity. There lies a huge blend of diverse cultures, regions and languages. This diversity has thus given rise to various regional Indian films apart from the largely known Hindi film industry or Bollywood. Regional Indian films are the keys to the Indian cinema. India is unique in its kaleidoscope of diverse languages and cultures. There are at least 15 languages and over 2000 dialects and films are produced in most of the official languages. In 1993, for example, 183 films were made in Hindi, 168 in Tamil and 148 in Telugu. The largest numbers of regional films are produced in these three languages. However, 78 films were made in Kannada, 71 in Malayalam, 57 in Bengali, 35 in Marathi and almost 10 in Assamese.

Although one can talk of regional films, there is an incessant crossover of talents - Bengali film directors direct Hindi or Oriya films; Tamil directors direct Telugu films. Actors and actresses from the South play leading roles in films made in the North. Furthermore, some of the well known figures in Indian cinema, particularly in the artistic tradition, come from the regional cinemas. The diverse regional cinemas in India strive to maintain their distinctive identities and provide an important dimension of the cultural wealth and diversity of India's regional films.

Marathi cinema has been graced by the presence of seasoned actors who have been instrumental in shaping the industry's identity. Artists like Dilip Prabhavalkar, Sachin Khedekar, and Nana Patekar have not only garnered praise for their acting prowess but have also played pivotal roles in the progression of Marathi cinema on the national stage. Marathi Actors

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Marathi Cinema

  

 Marathi cinema or Marathi Chitrapat denotes the films produced in the Marathi language in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is the oldest and pioneer film industry in India. Many film historians would designate Maharashtra as the birthplace of Indian cinema. The name of Dadasaheb Phalke is honoured as the father of Indian cinema. Early on, there were a number of Marathi film directors who showed talent and commitment to the growth of Indian film culture. V.Shantaram, Damle, Fatehlal, Master Vinayak and also P.L. Deshpande, G.D. Madgulkar, Raja Paranjpe and Sudhir Phadke are perhaps most significant. However, as an art form and industry, it has its share of problems: most films made in Marathi are cheap and commercial often modelled on Hindi films and they cater to the escapist desires of the majority of audience. In terms of experience, style and technique, there is little to recommend them.

However, despite this commercial film culture, a number of directors have recently sought to create a vibrant artistic cinema in Maharashtra, among them Jabhar Patel, Amol Palekar, Nachiket, Mahesh Manjrekar and Jayoo Patwardhan and Vijaya Mehta.

History of Marathi Cinema
Marathi Cinema is the earliest type of Indian cinema. In 1913, with the release of the first Indian film, Raja Harishchandra, Dadasaheb Phalke, renowned as the founder and pioneer of cinema in Pre-Independence India, imported the revolution of moving images to India. The film was created with full Marathi crew. In 1919 Baburao Painter established the Maharashtra Film Co. and Sairandhari in 1920. With the gradual development of the country, cinema in Maharashtra grew along with other places in India. Some of the most renowned films are discussed below-

Poona Par Hallo (1924)
Directed by Mama Warerkar, the film starred Miss Bhawani, Krishnarao Ketkar, Shankarrao Sahasrabuddhe, Vishnupant Pagnis, Miss Kaiser, and Sunderrao Nadkarni. The Maratha historical incident of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb's attack on Pune and the ensuing battle with the Maratha hero Shivaji was portrayed in the movie. The film was often compared to Baburao Painter's Sinhagad, but the underlying message of independence was far stronger in this film. The director Warerkar was an important Marathi playwright as well, and this remains one of his best films.

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Documentary Films in India

  

Documentary films in India have acquired a significant position in the entertainment industry. These are mainly non fictional motion picture which documents real incidents for the purpose of historical record or creating awareness about some social issues.

Documentaries feature different styles of narrative, cinematography and other techniques. These are also categorized according to their nature such as animated documentary, ethnographic film, dance film, nature documentary, political cinema, travel documentary and many more. Although documentary films in India are pivotal in projecting diverse aspects of reality, their funding and distribution still remains challenging. However over time, documentary Films in India have attained better prospects and have carved a distinct niche in the international film arena by bagging prestigious awards in international film festivals. They have also achieved limited release in domestic theatres.

Children of the Pyre
Rajesh S. Jala's documentary film Children of the Pyre depicts the tales of seven children who work as shroud sellers at Mani karnika, India's largest crematorium. The film constitutes 100 hours of footage shot at the crematorium and surrounding sites with candid interviews with children who narrate their life as they gather shrouds from the dead bodies which are brought to the crematorium and resell them to local merchants at nominal amounts. The film won a number of awards including Silver Lotus Award at the 56th National Film Awards, Best Documentary Award at Montreal World Film Festival, 2008 and many others.

A Little Dream
A Little Dream captures the journey of former President Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam from Rameswaram to Rashtrapati Bhavan. The 60 minute documentary was scripted-directed by P. Dhanapal and the depiction reveals story in a story. The film focuses on the subject of significance of education and has been termed as a spark inducer for the younger generation.

Naga Story: The Other Side of Silence
Naga Story: The Other Side of Silence is the creation of the Indian filmmaker Gopal Menon. The film documents the human rights abuses which the Naga people have suffered since years in the independent India. Continuing even in the present times, the Naga political struggle is the oldest nationality movements in South Asia. The movie won the Spirit of the Himalayas First Prize at Netherlands Himalayas Film Festival, Amsterdam, 2004.

One Crazy Ride
One Crazy Ride is a documentary film of India made in 2009, which is based on a 2002 route-charting expedition in India. The film, under the direction of Gaurav Jani, depicts the journey of five enthusiastic bikers across the Himalayas through a virgin route. The film explores many lesser known parts of the country. The film has been screened at a number of film festivals and has been the recipient of several accolades.

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Golden Era of Indian Cinema

  

Golden era of Indian cinema saw the release of some of the excellent and memorable cinemas in Bollywood. The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 shifted the spotlight to the actors who were not only heavily paid but also as a result started their own companies. The directors like Mehboob, Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor entered the film industry during the 1930s and 1940s, which were traumatic years for the Indian people. The fight for independence, famines, changing social mores, and global fight against fascism all contributed to the ethos in which the directors grew up. However, the 1950s saw the rise of these great directors, who changed the fate of Indian cinema.

It is the post independence period that saw the golden era of Indian cinema with melodious socials and melodramas, which made the Actors and the Actresses a household name. Raj Kapoor (RK Films) was one example. Awara, made by Raj Kapoor set the agenda for popular commercial cinema and was a hit within India as well as overseas. After Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand set up Navketan in 1949 with his brother Chetan Anand. The studio system however was not wiped off and Mehboob Khan (Mehboob Productions), Kidar Sharma and Bimal Roy proudly held aloft the banner.

Films with various themes were now being made. The theme of lost brothers was being repeated (as many as 50 films). Side by side went on the tear-jerking melodrama, mostly in the films of the genre of Meri Behan, Choti Behan and the like. The humble position of the Indian bride was highlighted in pictures like Gumasta (1951) and the decoity aspect in films like Ganga Jammuna, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai and Mujhe Jeena Do. In recent years this has produced a veritable harvest of crude dacoit films, spurred on by the spectacular success of Sholay.

Starting from Nitin Das's Chandidas, the inter-caste issue, especially in relation to the lower, depressed untouchable castes, has found reasonably good expression. Shantaram's Dharmatma, Chandulal Shah's Achhoot, Bombay Talkies Achoot Kanya, Bimal Roy's Sujata, Vasant Joglekar's Prarthna and Abbas Char Dil Char Rahein. The rural urban contrast has provided another theme for numerous films, generally favouring the village over the town.

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Parallel Cinema in India

  

Parallel Cinema is a film movement in Indian Cinema, which originated in the state of West Bengal in the 1950s as an alternative to the mainstream commercial Indian cinema, represented especially by the popular Hindi cinema known as Bollywood. Such films, unlike the commercial flicks which follow the concept of conventional entertainment facets, are purely artistic cinematic pieces that mostly showcase reality and reality-oriented themes and stories that pertain to the prevalent social, political and cultural scenarios. Parallel Cinema in India is inspired by Italian Neo-realism, beginning just before the French New Wave and the Japanese New Wave, and was a precursor to the Indian New Wave of the 1960s.

Origin of Parallel Cinema in India
Parallel Cinema in India traces its origin back to the 1950s in the Bengali Cinema. It developed with the aim of developing an alternative to mainstream commercial films of India. It served as a precursor to the Indian New Wave which followed in the next decade. The movement of parallel cinema began in Bengali films with the initiatives of eminent filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen and others. Gradually, the concept got highlighted in other film industries as well. The prominent features that delineate parallel cinema from the commercial ones include serious and realistic content, illumination of socio-political scenario, naturalism and exclusion of typical entertaining elements of a commercial film.

The era of the 50s when parallel cinema gained prominence is often regarded as the Golden Age of Indian Cinema. Indian Literature formed a vital inspiration for such films and thus they became the reflections of contemporary Indian society. Indian film industry has had, right from the beginning, members who have made efforts to use cinema as more than a medium for entertainment. Existing issues became the burning topics of parallel cinema often accompanied by the new thought provoking ideas. Although a few realistic films emerged in early phases of Indian cinema, Chetan Anand's ‘Neecha Nagar’ (1946) being an excellent example, the movement gained momentum a little later when a few filmmakers wanted to break the monotony of film genres made only for entertainment. Satyajit Ray, through his first film ‘Pather Panchali’ in 1955, was accredited as the pioneer of parallel cinema in India. His film attained a distinct stature in the film arena and became one of the greatest films of all time. The film was followed by ‘Aparajito’ (1956) and ‘Apur Sansar’ (1959), together forming The Apu Trilogy and winning several accolades and acclamations at major international film festivals. Other Bengali films that conferred momentum to parallel cinema include ‘Ajantrik’, ‘Abhijan’, ‘Bhuvan Shome’ and others.

Parallel Cinema in Bollywood
Bollywood, an industry known for its surrealism or “fantastical” movies, had a few notable films during the Golden Age that were art films but also garnered commercial success, made with a successful blend of art and commercial facets. An early example of this is Bimal Roy's ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ (1953), which was both a critical and commercial success. It won the International Prize at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival and paved the way for the Indian New Wave. Hrishikesh Mukherjee, one of Hindi cinema's most successful filmmakers, was named the pioneer of “middle cinema” and was known for making films that reflected the changing middle-class ethos. Filmmaker Basu Chatterjee too built his plots on middle-class lives in films like ‘Piya Ka Ghar’, ‘Rajnigandha’ and ‘Ek Ruka Hua Faisla’. Another filmmaker whose integrated art and commercial cinema was Guru Dutt, whose film ‘Pyaasa’ (1957) featured in Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies list, and is considered a landmark cult in Hindi Cinema.

The Government of India started financing such independent art films based on Indian themes in the 1960s, to popularize and render significance to this genre. Parallel cinema witnessed a wider reach and grew in Bollywood in 1970s and 1980s with the efforts of directors like Gulzar, Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Shyam Benegal, Rajinder Singh Bedi and Mani Kaul who were later joined by Govind Nihalani and Mahesh Bhatt. Their creations attained huge praises by critics on national as well as international arena with films such as ‘Uski Roti’ (1971), ‘Ashadh Ka Ek Din’ (1972), ‘Duvidha’ (1974) and ‘Ek Ruka Hua Faisla’ (1986). Kumar Shahani who was a student of Ritwik Ghatak made ‘Maya Darpan’ (1972), which marked itself as a landmark film of Indian art cinema. Parallel cinema in India also conferred prominence to the career of new genre of actors of immense artistic calibre and finesse, the likes of Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor, Om Puri and many others. The actors of commercial cinema also ventured into this genre and got a platform to showcase their skills through unconventional portrayals.

Parallel Cinema in South India
Parallel Cinema entered the realm of the prominent South Indian film industries of Indian Cinema at a much later stage. Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who is often known as the spiritual heir of Satyajit Ray, brought this genre to Malayalam cinema in 1972 with his movie ‘Swayamvaram’. The period from 1980s to early 1990s marks the golden age of the Malayalam film industry. Other filmmakers who joined in the movement included Shaji N. Karun, T. V. Chandran, Bharathan and others. Some of the significant examples of parallel cinema in Malayalam films enlist ‘Elippathayam’ (1981), ‘Mathilukal’ (1989), ‘Vanaprastham’ (1999) etc. which were recognised with accolades at various prestigious film festivals.

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National Film Archive of India

  

 National Film Archive of India (NFAI) was established in February 1964, as a media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in the Government of India. Its objective is to acquire, preserve and restore the rich heritage of national cinema, and the cream of international cinema. The archive has made significant progress in the preservation of films, audio and video material, documentation, research and dissemination of film culture in India. The archive functions as the main repository for Indian and foreign research workers for viewing film classics, relating to their research projects.

History of National Film Archive of India
The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) was founded in 1964 by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as a subsidiary of the Film [and Television] Institute of India. This essay narrativizes the halting bureaucratic processes through which the NFAI was set up. It traces the genesis of the idea to the Film Enquiry Committee Report, its growth through the Film Society Movement, and its actualization as part of the post independence institution building initiated by Jawaharlal Nehru. It describes the roles played by a network of individuals, including Indira Gandhi, Marie Seton, Kishan Lal Khandpur, Paramesh Krishnan Nair, and Ernest Lindgren, working from both within and outside Indian bureaucracy, who were instrumental in the NFAI's founding and affiliation with the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF).

Activity of National Film Archive of India
NFAI is a member of the International Federation of Film Archives, since May, 1969 which enables it to receive expert advice and material on preservation techniques, documentation, bibliographies etc. and to exchange rare films with other such archives under the archival exchange programme. The Archive maintains a distribution library of 16 mm films (Indian and Foreign) which are loaned to film societies and others for non - commercial study screenings. NFAI in collaboration with Film and Television Institute in India (FTII) conduct an Annual Film Appreciation Course. Film buffs, teachers, researchers, students and journalists join this course to learn about cinema and its vital cultural role. Developed from scratch by P. K. Nair, NFAI's activities relating to dissemination of film culture are manifold. Its Distribution Library has about 25 active members throughout the country and it also organizes joint screening programmes on weekly, fortnightly and monthly basis in six important centers. It has over 10,000 films, over 10,000 books, over 10,000 film scripts, and over 50,000 photographs.

Another important programme is the film teaching scheme comprising long and short term Film Appreciation courses conducted in collaboration with the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and other educational and cultural institutions. At the International level, NFAI supplied several Indian classics for major screening programmes. The NFAI's archive keeps a stock of films, video cassettes, DVDs, books, posters, stills, press clippings, slides, audio CDs, and disc records of Indian cinema dating back to the 1910s.

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Indian Art Cinema

 

Indian art cinema differs sharply from popular films which are more commonly known as the commercial flicks. The conceptual notion of art cinema though differs from being one of the fuzziest to one of the contradictory topics ever touched upon. They are realistic, often ethnographic, and they seek to capture important aspects of Indian reality. By and large, they avoid glamour and glitz and use cinema as an artistic medium capable of exploring important areas of Indian experience.

Features of Indian Art Cinema
Indian art cinemas are usually low budget and are shown at international film festivals. The Indian art movies, understandably, do not attract the huge audiences that the popular films do. Often many regional films are made, which do not receive pan-Indian exposure. In terms of the commitment to serious cinema, to making cinema a significant medium of artistic communication, to eschewing the vulgarities and crudities often associated with Indian popular cinema, artistic filmmakers differ significantly from their counterparts in popular cinema. Art is mimesis, according to Aristotle, which is nourished by the concepts of twice placed reality. Cinema is the reel adaptation of the real. Discourses of the art house cinema have obviously two poles: as mode of narration and as institution.

Inception of Indian Art Cinema
When one talks of art movies in India the first name that comes up is Satyajit Ray. This is because he was primarily responsible for fashioning this genre and gaining international recognition for it. His film Pather Panchali, made in 1955, was the first such film. In a poll conducted in 1992 by the magazine Sight and Sound, Pather Panchali was voted one of the ten greatest films of all time. Indian art films offer a striking contrast to Indian popular films. They use understatement effectively, something totally absent in popular films. There is a visual lyricism and a deep humanism which are intensely satisfying. Satyajit Ray made a number of significant films in the same moulds that have won international acclaim. His work provides a sense of the preoccupations of artistic cinema and how they differ from popular cinema. Satyajit Ray is generally regarded as India's greatest filmmaker and, along with Jean Renoir and Vittorio de Sica, he is rated among the great masters of humanist cinema.

Prominent Indian Art Films
Today, art movies in India no longer differ from the mainstream films in popularity. The audiences today look out for good films rather than popular or serious films. Hence while a multi-starrer Indian movie bombs at the box office, a film like Aamir is much appreciated by the cine goers. Thodasa Roomani Ho Jayen is another milestone depicting the tale an unmarriageable ugly girl. Hu Tu Tu exposes the politicians while Sookha is a realistic depiction of communal riots, politics and bureaucracy. Sushil Rajpal's Antardwand is another acclaimed film in this genre which portrays a real life experience. Kalpana Lazmi's Rudaali brilliantly presents the life and hardships of a woman who publicly express grief of family members who are restricted to display emotion owing to social status. Adoor Gopalakrishnan's film, Rat Trap (1981) has won many prestigious awards and in his film Face to Face (1984), Gopalakrishnan explores the theme of self and modernization, this time taking a different angle. Once again the style of the film follows the neo-realistic tradition. Other famed art movies of Bollywood include Ardh Satya, Suraj Ka Saatva Ghoda, Rajiv Patil's Jogwa (Marathi) and Aparna Sen's Sati (Bengali), Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai, Ankur, Parzania, Maya Darpan, Sardari Begum, Utsav, Ek Din Achanak, Ek Doctor Ki Maut and many more.

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