SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2013 (PAGE-3) SOCIETY BOOK REVIEW History of Batwal Community An account of Indian Cinema R.L.Kaith in Zafarwal and Chinia in Jammu; Motan at Gillian- Nishikant Khajuria prominent production houses religiously carried forward the wala in Zafarwal and Deoli in Jammu. Similarly, cause of Indian cinema and set it on a status of regular industry, Batwal people of Punjab trace their ancestry to each clan has its tutelary male deity, e.g. the Kaith Auhor : Sat Parkash Suri which has now become world’s number one industry in churning the town of Batmalu in the Kashmir Valley, and the has Sankri Dev; the Motan has Sukhdev Singh Price : Rs 770 out more films than the world proportionately produces annual- word ‘Batwal’ in Punjabi means literally the inhab- Manhas; the Lakhotra has Thakur Jai Pal; the Publisher : High Brow Publications ly. itants of Batmalu. Other traditions place their ori- Mandee has Jagdish Manhas; the Sargotra has Starry glamour of 30s and 40 including directors, producers, gin to the town of Batbal in Jammu. According to Baba Badgal; and theJhanjotra has Kalu `Inception o f Indian Cinema: 1896-1950’, authored by Sat composers and lyricists such as Ruby Myers, Zubeida, Kajjan, the community's own tradition, the Batwal people Chouhan. Each clan has also its got also, e.g. the Parkash Suri of Jammu, intends to provide a deep insight into Master Vithal, Master Nissar, Devika Rani, Ashok Kumar, Khur- were forced to flee their settlements when India Kaith has Attar; the Sargotra has Kandal; the Nan- the circumstances and detailed study how the moving pictures in sheed, Fearless Naida, JBH Wadia, Noorjehan, Shaukat Hus- was attacked by Alexander the Great. Once the dan has Janjua; the Jhanjotra has Kashyap and flesh and blood took off in India towards the last decade of 19th Greek armies retreated, the Batwal people found the Motan, the Targotra and the Lakhotra have century. that their neighbours had seized their lands, and Bhardwaj. Mr Suri, who spent three decades of his life in Bollywood as they were forced to become village watchmen. Once a year, the members of each clan organ- a Film Editor, has authored this volume by compiling his inter- Like other communities of similar status, the Bat- ize congregations at the temples before which views with stalwarts of Indian cinema and extensive research wal people have been granted Scheduled Caste they prostrate themselves, each head of a family work on the information from National Film archival material, status, which allows them to avail a number of affir- sacrificing at it a goat in honour of his eldest son. which he accessed as a student of Film and Television Institute mative action schemes by the Government of Most Batwal people in India have been strongly of India at Pune. influenced by the Arya Samaj movement, while The book is laced with the sketches of filmmakers, directors, some Batwals have come under the influence of composers, actors and actresses of all hues and colours who A huge segment of other Hindu reformist sects. The Batwal people achieved iconic status in the tinsel world and remained on the share the customs and traditions of the locally radar of popularity that lasted for decades together. Life sketch- Batwal people warship dominant Dogra ethnic group and speak Dogri. es and contribution of B N Sircar, P C Barua, Pahari Sanyal, Deba- The Batwal people were found historically in the ki Bose, Nitin Bose, Bimal Roy, Satyajit Roy, Tapan Sinha, Ritwik Sri Guru Gyagi Ji sub mountain region of Punjab, roughly stretch- Ghatak, Mrinal Sen and Hrishikesh Mukherjee have been penned ing from Gujrat District in the west to Hoshiarpur down with gusto. Similarly the contribution and achievements of Maharaj and follow his District in the east. All the Hindu Batwal people legendry South Indian film makers, such as S S Vasan, L V have immigrated from what became Pakistan at Prasad, A V Meippan, B Nagi Raddy as well as prominent heroes valuable teachings and the time of the partition of India. Historically, the like M G R , Shivaji Ganeshan, Gemini Ganeshan, Ranjan, N T Batwal had two functions, the heredity position of Ramarao, A Nageswar Rao, Dr Raj Kumar, Anjali Devi and Pan- also, every year on the village watchmen as well as those who sum- dari Bai also find places in this volume. moned the village for work. New trends in film making, cinematograph Acts, its vicissitudes Many were allocated land by the British author- and progress of film making have also been discussed in details Magh Purnima, ities, and this saw a transformation, as Batwal took in the book. to agricultural. Important Batwal villages include The `Inception of India Cinema: 1896-1950’ unfolds how cin- celebrate his birthday Bhadurpur, Bhaore, Chaute Miani, Azadpur, ema in India took off and how enterprising and risk taking afflu- Habowal, Kakowal, Machiawara, Nurewal, ent business community embraced the new medium, welcomed at Shahzad Pur Kothi (in Sarhind, Walipu, Batala Camp, Jawahar Nagar, it with open arms and carried it to the crest of worldwide recog- nition. Chuhala, Findar, Bajiru Chack, Garhi, Shahzad- According to the book, the footage shot by Lumiere Brother pur, Mulke Chack, Makwal, and Hakkal. These vil- Tehsil Jammu) with (Louis and Auguste) in France and the show arranged by their lages are owned by the Batwal community, and Indian touring agents at Watson hotel in Bombay on July 7, 1896, enthusiasm. they are the dominant community. But many Bat- was the main source of inspiration and attraction for the enter- wal people have started to immigrate to towns and prising Indians to focus their attention towards the new medium. India. In the Jammu region, from where the Pun- cities where their main occupations are govt. jobs, The footage of single shot films, beamed at the silver screen jab Batwal people claim to have originated, there transport, trade and commerce. A huge segment became craze which spread like wildfire and caught the fancy of are a number of traditions pertaining their origin. of Batwal people warship Sri Guru Gyagi Ji some amateur cinematographers in India. That is how cinema or One tradition refers to the fact that the Batw- Maharaj and follow his valuable teachings and moving pictures of life-like, life-size and free from flicker’ made al people were tied to the land by the Dogra land also, every year on Magh Purnima, celebrate his their maiden appearance in India. owners, and the word ‘Bat’ in the Dogri language birthday at Shahzad Pur Kothi (in Tehsil Jammu) Deeply impressed and inspired by the new invention, Save means someone who is bonded. They were for with enthusiasm. Dada, Hiralal and Motilal Sen, J F Madan, Patnakar Friends & generations bonded to particular families of Batwal community has also produced a Co and Dhirender Nath Ganguly picked up the loose threads and Dogras, and were practically serfs. The Batwal renowned Punjabi Singer from Punjab, India pop- inadvertently sowed the seeds of film making in Idnai. Ostensi- people are found mainly in Kathua, Jammu and ularly known as ‘Lal Chand Yamla’. He was the bly inspired by the latest trends from short films and storytelling sain, Saadat Hasan Manto, Krishan Chander, Himanshu Roy, Udhampur Districts. The Batwal people are divid- doyen of Punjabi Music and first singer that comes contours, ram Chander Gopal/Dada Saheb Torne produced Composer Saraswati Devi, Durga Khote, Shanta Apte, Master ed into thirteen clans which include Kaith, Motan, to mind who laid foundation of Punjabi music in India’s maiden independent feature film `Pundalik’, which was Vinayak, Meenakshi, Kavi Pardeep, d N Madhok, Anil Biswas, Lakhotra, Dhagge, Nandan, Jhanjotra, Lahoria, Indian Punjab. He was widely revered as ‘Ustad’ released at the Coronation Theatre at Sandhrust Road on May Zoharabi Amelewali, Amirbai Karanataki, Vijay Bhatt, Swarnlata, Sargotra, Targotra, Mandee, Basae, Sandhu and among his singer contemporaries and as ‘Yamla’ 18, 1912 in Bombay. Dada Saheb Torne was the first person who Jagdish Sethi, Prithviraj Kapoor, K N Singh, P Jairaj and many Linder. Like other neighbouring Hindu communi- by his audience. Since the Batwal community peo- scripted history on the silver screen to be followed by Dhondiraj more screen celebrities have been given sufficient space in this ties, the Batwal are strictly exogamous, never ple were economically most backward, as such, Govind Phalke’s `Raja Harish Chandra’exactly after a year, which book, which is published by Highbrow Publications and costs Rs marrying within the clan. The Basae, a name the Government of India in 1994 ordered the Plan- was an indigenous attempt and was released at Bombay’s coro- 770 only. derived from the Beas River and meaning those ning Commission of India to undertake their nation Theatre on May 3, 1913 to packed houses. Thus Dada Jammu born Sat Parkash Suri, author of this book, did his settled along the banks of that river, and the Ethnographic Study which was accordingly under- Saheb Phalke laid the foundation of Swadeshi film industry in Diploma in Cinema Editing from Film & Television Institute of India Kaithi.e. those who were inhabitants of Kainth gali taken by the Census Operation J&K and its report India. at Pune in 972. He started film voyage under Ramanand Sagar ( in Udhampur). Each of the Batwal clans has its was personally collected by the Deputy Registrar Later on Banurao Painter, K Subramanyam, Saurashtra Film and got opportunities to work in different film production houses. own temple, e.g. the Kaith at Umran Ali in Sialkot, General, India, New Delhi. Now almost 20 years Co, Chandulal J Shah, V Shantaram, Sohrab Modi, Ardeshir M He got associated with popular film makers of 70s and 80s, such Meer in Udhampur and Pindi Kudoyal, Langotian have passed but no step has yet been taken by Irani, Madan Theatres, The New theatres Ltd, Mehboob Khan, as Shakti Samta, Prakash Mehra, Sohan Lal Kanwar, Vikram and Domana in Jammu ; the Jhanjotra at ghuhe the Government to enhance economic position.