100 Years of Indian Cinema

ICSSR SPONSORED NATIONAL SEMINAR ON “100 YEARS OF INDIAN CINEMA – ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN RETROSPECTION (SOCIO-PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE)” ORGANIZED BY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY, RAMNIRANJAN JHUNJHUNWALA COLLEGE, 5TH AND 6TH JULY, 2013. Proceedings of the Seminar Edited by: Dr. Shashi Mishra Dr. Amita Valmiki Dr. Uma Shankar (HOD, Sociology, R.J.College) (HOD, Philosophy, R.J.College) (HOD, Philosophy, SIES College) Sub - Edited by: Prof. Arundhati Chitre Prof. Rina Puradkar Prof. Pankti Chitalia (Dept.of Sociology, R.J.College) (Dept.of Philosophy, R.J.College) (Visiting Faculty, C.W.C Law College) Prof. Akshat Shetty Dr. Baishakhi Dutta (Dept.of Philosophy, R.J.College) (Dept.of Geography, R.J.College) Published by Department of Sociology and Philosophy Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College In Collaboration w ith ICSSR ISBN-13 No.978-81-925489-2-0 1 All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, without the written permission of the publishers. Authors of the articles are responsible for the contents and the references in their articles. Published by: Department of Sociology and Philosophy Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College, Ghatkopar – West, Mumbai – 400 086. July 2013 ISBN-13 No.978-81-925489-2-0 Courtesy: Department of Computer Science, R. J. College Mr. Shailesh Pawar Mr. Suraj Dabhade Cover Design and Layout: Mr. Deviprasad Shetty Mr. Shailesh Pawar Mr. Suraj Dabhade Printing: Ishaan Graphics (Ghatkopar, Mumbai) - 9833872467 2 Contents Preface 4 Introduction to the theme of the Seminar by Dr. A. Valmiki and Dr. S. Mishra 5 - 6 Message from the Principal Dr. Usha Mukundan 7 From the desk of the Secretary of Hindi Vidya Prachar Samiti 8 Fore word by Dr. Uma Shankar 9 Sub - Themes – o Socio – Philosophical Perspective of Indian Cinema in Pre – Independent India 10 - 37 o Socio – Philosophical Perspective of Indian Cinema in Post – Independent India 38 - 73 o Socio – Philosophical Perspective of Indian Cinema in Contemporary Times 74 - 130 o Position of Women in Indian Cinema – A Feminist Perspective 131 - 177 o Socio – Philosophical Perspective of Regional Indian Cinema & 178 - 210 o Indian Diaspora in Indian Cinema: Cross- Cultural Dialogue 3 PREFACE Social change is an intrinsic feature of all societies across the world. The pace of social change is variegated depending on spatio-temporal factor; but majority of Sociologists and Philosophers across the globe are on one consensus that social change has accelerated due to the advent of science and technology at empirical level. In evolutionary process of science and technology, mass-media has contributed immensely towards change - be it social or ideological. Among the different facets of mass-media, cinema has played a key-role in not only revolutionizing the media world but in the impact it has exerted on social and ideological life of human beings in all walks of society. Indian cinema has a distinct feature of its own as India as a country is distinct in the world. Different races, religions, tribes and communities thrive and survive at the same time. So the impact is reciprocal, that social life exerting its impact on cinema and cinema influencing social life. The traditional values, norms, rituals, customs, beliefs, folk-arts, folk-traditions, and literature in India are all in the process of change due to the impact of cinema and mass-media. 1913 saw the introduction of full length feature film in India called Raja Harishchandra directed by Shri Dada Saheb Phalke. The post World-War II saw the change in the technical and conceptual element of Indian Cinema. The glorious past and cultural diversity of India was ref1ected in films. Regional cinemas had their say too, that was quite assertive. By this, Indian cinema became more porous which continued till date. So, when we celebrate hundred years of Indian cinema, we must inevitably celebrate this plurality, along with more generic sense of 'Indian-ness' element too. Today cinema also tends to incorporate the element of ethics, more like a 'moral-police'. The Socio- Philosophical elements especially concerning Indian scenario has been the governing factor of Indian cinema. Therefore, Indian cinema has not remained at its dormant stage as it was way back in the past. Hundred years of Indian Cinema has seen the uprising of social and philosophical upheavals, cinematographic and artistic ascend with ethics and morality as objective (or subjective) mirror giving moral lessons. The teleological aspect of Indian cinema has been many – art and aesthetics, social issues, philosophical aspect - wrapping over all Indian life: but above everything tending to give and serve as 'entertainment and reformation of society’ respectively. EDITORS 4 Introduction to the theme of the Seminar by the Conveners I At Cannes Film Festival – 2013, the great living legend of Indian Cinema, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan said, “We have progressed tremendously in these last 100 years to be accepted not just within India but overseas as well is a fantastic feeling.” Yes, I am proud to be part of this seminar as Indian Cinema is almost winding up hundred years of its inception and my institute, Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College its fifty years of its inception. This was our dream, mine and Dr. Mishra’s to have a seminar on Indian Cinema. Dr. Mishra belongs to Department of Sociology and I belong to Department of Philosophy; therefore sometimes I find we belong to sister departments; and believe me I perceive these two subjects as ‘identical twins’ (but sister twins). Viewing issues and challenges of Indian Cinema over these hundred years with its Socio-Philosophical Perspective cannot be done in two days, probably it will takes days; but nevertheless, this is our humble attempt to dissect the Indian Cinema World and see through it – how it has been a tremendous influencing factor then and now on our society and our everyday philosophy of life; so also how Indian Cinema has been moulded by society and normative philosophy of everyday life. Ours being the largest country (more than thousand films annually) has enhanced our aesthetic realm by producing great films, directors, producers, actors, technicians, lyricists, musicians and so on and so forth. The experimental films produced by Mani Kaul and Kumar Sahani brought Indian Cinema at par with world film makers. Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Rithwick Ghatak, Basu Bhattacharya, Adoor Gopal Krishnan, Jabbar Patel, Shyam Benegal, Syed Mirza, Govind Nihlani and many others put Indian Cinema on the World Platform and stand parallel to Andrei Tarkovsky, Michelangelo Antonioni, Armando Olmi, Ingmar Bergman, Jean Luc Goddard, Majid Majidi, Akira Kurosawa and many other. In retrospection – directors like V. Shantaram, Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt, K. Asif, Mehboob Khan, Raj Kapoor, Kamal Amrohi, Rishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chaterjee, Shakti Samant, Nasir Hussain, Ramesh Sippy, Yash Chopra and many more who took cinema as a passionate art form and produced films those which can never be erased from our minds. They have left such a deep impact on us that even when you think of any of their films you are on a mystical-transcendental realm rooted on this earth. The new wave, the young breed of film-makers took us to a post-modern world, where story may not matter, but history plays a pivotal role. Directors like Shekhar Kapoor, Anurang Kashyap, Anurag Basu, Nagesh Kukunoor, Gauri Shinde, Anusha Rizvi, Mahmood Farooqui, Anand Gandhi and others asked the audience the questions which definitely have answers in themselves; it is something like this – ‘no reason can also be explained with help of reason.’ Let me stop here. Cinema has infinite facets and we have number of paper presenters, paper contributors, and keynote speakers, who will go live in this seminar and give us a complete cinematic and cinematographic experience of ‘Hundred Years of Indian Cinema – Issues and Challenges in Retrospection (Socio-Philosophical Perspective) that is happening for the first time in the field of academics. Thank you. Dr. Amita Valmiki 5 II Bollywood, or the Hindi film industry is an industry in the true sense of the term. From the time the first Indian sound film, Alam Ara was produced in 1931 till the present decade, it has showcased different aspects of Indian life traversing through myriad themes, be it comedy, romance, thriller, horror or drama. However, there has been a changing trend in the representation of Indian films through the years. The way movies were made then and depiction is completely different from the way it is done now. While earlier movies revolved around the struggles of the common man, there was a gradual shift to romance, action based and comedy films. So there were very tropical issues dealt with where the focus was realistic aspects of life like "Do Bigha Zameen". There was a gradual shift towards light romance pervading the environment with the complete focus on human relationships that was the Rajesh Khanna era. Example - films like Kati Patang, Aradhana. However this phase eroded by action with the angry young man movies Amitabh Bachchan emerging as a superstar with writer-directors like Salim Javed. But the focus of depiction was now underworld based stories filled with hardcore action sequences like Dewar, Kala Pathar, Trishul. Side by side there was co-existence of cinema made like Shyam Benegal catering to a very small educated audience but this was completely devoid of commercial elements and actresses like Smita Patil and Shabana Azmi, they were the protagonist in this phase. Raj Kapoor was one of the film makers who used to convey social message through commercial cinema and Yash Raj Films’ production at this time though was into action and masala film but slowly and steadily now they started venturing into romantic comedy with globalization.

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