Breaking New Ground

1 9~ Breaking new • ground ID film Fans of IDdian films have beeD ueed to a steady fare of 110, violeaee, 'ltJ:tit and outright faree, In other words. mere eatert.aiameat. Our eorreeooadeat NEERA UR eumiaes the roots of IDdian cinema and hiPiigbta an iac:reaaiqlx bold aew breed of IDdiao fllmm•ken aow eettiDg the ~ treo~. film, Paroma was equally are cabaret dancers, whose mar· perceptive. ginaJ existence in Indian society &ec:omes a vehicle for the film's 96 Chowringee Lane, about examination of Indian values. an Angio-lndiab lady born and The film examines the dancers' brought up on the streets of Cal· attitudes towards their profes· cutta. apart from aesthetic and sion and ~ themaelves as technical qualities. has a tremen· they stand defined by the social dous r.. J for dflltail. Sen haa ap· 11Ugma attached to chelr work. It parently though much about the is a cntical appraisal of 110me of lives of the old. tl1e issues that are predominant Over the last few years a new trend is taking shape. Accepted canons have been subjected to J ennifer Kapoor in 96 Chmuringltee Lane, a sensitive lllm that launched Apama Sen's directorial career. rigorous scruiting by an emerging crop of young filmmakers. in ma1111 violence, Manthan (The Churning) on the teething trou bles of a co-operative society movement for a milk scheme in As she says: "All the old JWople in Indian social life: what double Saurashtra, Bhumika (The Role) I know never throw away old standards engulf women in a mspired by tbe life of a permis things. life keeps getting more partriarchial society: what eco &Jve but unhappy actresa and and more clutteri!d . there are nomic and social pressures create Kondura (Name) on a boon so many memories, so many cabaret dancers on the one hand which becomes a curae. This was ~ings which are p~thetically un and ostracise thetn on the other. followed bv Junoon (ObaesaJon), Important and wh&ch they cling The film seeks to express a tale set during the Indian muti to. some of the tensions and hopes of ny of 1857. "Then agam the lack of detail individuals whose lives fall out· Mrinal Sen and M. S. Sathyu is in itself a detail. There are side the boundaries of acceptabil have alao come up with some times when you want starkneBS, ity established by a society's very proJrenive and touchy just as you have to at:centuate si· stringent moral codes. themes. Sathyu's Gara Hawa lence with a little echo or a little Furthermore, Indian censors (Hot Winds), for inatance, touch· sound somewhere." too have been con&eientousl}· try In Paroma, Sen uses a plant to ing to minimise sex and violence symbolise Paroma 's strength. As in feature C'llms. According to an A feeling of despair and frustration set in she aays: "l could have ahown a Indian film critic, Charu flower to symbolise a woman, but Shahane, in the portrayal of which has reached its peak. today. This break I wanted to use a plant that was women, the real trouble spots are strong, yet tender, a combination the more subtle aspects - the ste· down in morality manifests itself in all spheres of softness and strength". reotyping, trivialising and of life. Needless to add, both these tal· glamorisation of women which is ented women are flooded with of· as, if not ~ore, dangerous. i'ers, signalling an l(lllerging wom· However, there seetns to be a Basu Chatterji, followed su1t es on the isolation felt by the en-power in a traditionally male growing awarene~s among mem with Sara A/cash (The Entire Muslim community in India in dominated territory. bers of the advisory panel of the Sky), a sensitive depiction of the tbe face of the eternal attraction Spridha Ksh\nagar''l latest censor board. In 1983, a clause problema of a new bride. He went of Pakistan, through the story of venture Stree, serialisea women - was added to the guidelines for on to make Rujnigartd.ha (Flow· an unlucky family whieh finally women who have made it m spite the film censor board, urging the a simple romantic dilemma realises that ita roots lie in India of restraining forces. familial or examining committee to see that woman tossed between two and ita fate is the same as that of social, forces which are powerful "visuals and words depicting - done in fresh style with the other Indian masses. enough to pull her back each time women in ignoble servility to new artists. and spot shooting. The most sensational boost she takes a step forward. man or glorif)ing such servility He followed it up with ChJwti Si to ''women's film" was recently Why this particUlar emphasis as a praiseworthy quality in Baat (Just a Word) and Chit provided by two women diree· on women? As Kshirsagar sa)s: women are not presented." Chor (The Thief of the Heart), tora, Sai Paranjpye and Aparna ". • . Many talenled women in Says Dr Amin, a member of while his Swami based on Sarat Sen. Paranjpye's debut with the country have bten put down the censor board: "There are 29 Chandra was simple and serious. Sparsh was greeted with ap· by conservative families. Some of women on Bombay's advisory ShY.am Senegal is the Hindi plause and awards. Her other for· thetn have broken t hrough con panel board out of a total of 54 fUm director who has best main· ay, entitled Chashme Buddnr, a vention, through the shackles of members - a number that is largl' tained the balance between un witty, delightfuL clean comedy, orthodoxy, to come into their enough to be effective should it usualnt!llll and acceptability at the marka her as one of the most. in· own ... this is· me6nt to inspire wish to address itself to the ques· box office. His first feature teresting directors in the country. women to achieve their goals." tion of the images of the women." Ankur (Seedling) received cnti· Mira Nair's recent film on cab cal acclaim with its treatment of The most spectacular debut m aret women explodes the stereo· This increased awareness on a young landlord's exploitation of direction in recent years, howev types of the "respectable" and the part of the C'llm censor board, a pretty lll8ld servant married to er, must go to Apama Sen. Sen, the "polluted" woman in Indian regular contact with intemation a handi· arped man. an Indian actress, launched her society today. The Jnain charac al film festivals and narrowing of Ben I ~ llowing C'llms were self as a director with a very sen ters of the film do not conform to the bridge between "art" and 1\ I End of the Night) on a aitJve mm, Chowringfle Lane. the prototype of-the chatrt.e, b "commercial" cmema is bound to h man' wife abcfucted ~ S&mply scripted. the mm is tangi missive, sacrifiCing figure of lead to a further conscious re<i lVIII p w rful zamindars culminat ng ble proof of her talent. Her next the Indian wife and mother; th y of Indian cinema. .

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