Jabbar Patel Filmmaking – an Auteur Theory Approach

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JABBAR PATEL FILMMAKING – AN AUTEUR THEORY APPROACH

Annette James Ukken Registered Number 1324029

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science in Communication

Christ University Bengaluru

2015

Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Department of Media Studies

Authorship Christ University Department of Media Studies

This is to certify that I have examined this copy of a master‟s thesis by

Annette James Ukken Registered Number 1324029

and have found that it is complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the final examining committee have been made.

Committee Members:

______

Date:______

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Abstract

I, Annette James Ukken, confirm that this dissertation and the work presented in it are original. 1. Where I have consulted the published work of others this is always clearly attributed. 2. Where I have quoted from the work of others the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations this dissertation is entirely my own work. 3. I have acknowledged all main sources of help. 4. If my research follows on from previous work or is part of a larger collaborative research project I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself. 5. I am aware and accept the penalties associated with plagiarism.

Date: Signature

Abstract

Jabbar Patel filmmaking- An auteur theory approach

Annette James Ukken MS in Communication, Christ University, Bengaluru

Films are a product of the director‟s mind. Through films we convey and understand certain messages by the use of certain symbols and metaphors that reoccur in our surrounding. Studies show that directors have their own individual style or pattern in which they prefer to portray certain elements in the movie. An auteur theory approach helps us look at films from the director‟s perspective and helps us decide, if a director can be called the author or creator of his films. Differences between filmmakers' styles become apparent through the analysis of film techniques. Recurring usage of these techniques create meaning and highlights similarities in the narrative. This research aims at studying the techniques that Jabbar Patel uses in his movies. The researcher will identify the techniques that he uses, to convey messages and deal with various conflicts through his movies. It will mainly focus on the plot, characterization, themes and issues discussed, setting and cinematography.

Key words: Jabbar Patel, Auteur theory approach, Filmmaking techniques

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author wishes to express sincere appreciation to the Department of Media Studies for their extended long-term support and especially to Professor Aasita Bali for her vast reserve of patience and knowledge. To Mr Shrikant Pradhan for his contribution towards this dissertation. This thesis would never have been completed without the encouragement and devotion of my family and friends.

DEDICATION

To my family, Meena Iyer, Nikhil Nair and Meghana B. S.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 The Indian film Industry 1 1.2 Marathi Film Industry 2 1.3 About Jabbar Patel and his filmmaking 3 1.4 New Wave cinema and Marathi Film Industry 4 1.5 Auteur Theory 4 1.6 Research Problem/Objective 5 1.7 Classification of Movies 6 Chapter 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 8 2.1 Films as an Academic Discipline 8 2.2 Film Making 9 2.3 Auteur Theory 11 2.4 New Wave in Marathi Cinema 12 Chapter 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 14 3.1 Research Problem 14 3.2 Media Content Analysis 14 3.2.1 Manifest content analysis 14 3.2.2 Latent content analysis 14 3.2.3 Advantages of content analysis 15 3.2.4 Disadvantages of content analysis 15 3.3 Parameters 15 3.2.1 Setting 15 3.2.2 Plot 16 3.2.3 Characters 16 3.2.4 Conflict 16 3.2.5 Genre 16 3.2.6 Codes 17

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3.2.6 Written Codes 17 3.2.6 Performance Codes 17 3.2.7 Social / Historical Contexts 17 Chapter 4 ANALYSIS 18 4.1 Umbartha 18 4.1.1 Setting 18 4.1.2 Plot 18 4.1.3 Characters 21 4.1.4 Conflict 25 4.1.5 Genre 26 4.1.6 Codes 27 4.1.6.1 Technical Codes 27 4.1.6.2 Written Codes 29 4.1.6.3 Performance Codes 29 4.1.6.4 Symbolic code 29 4.1.7 Social / Historical Contexts 29 4.1.8 Themes/ Issues 30 4.2 Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar 31 4.2.1 Setting 31 4.2.2 Plot 31 4.2.3 Characters 33 4.2.4 Conflict 37 4.2.5 Genre 38 4.2.6 Codes 38 4.2.6.1 Technical Codes 38 4.2.6.2 Written Codes 39 4.2.6.3 Performance Codes 40 4.2.6.4 Symbolic code 41 4.2.7 Social / Historical Contexts 41 4.2.8 Themes/ Issues 41 4.3 Ek Hota Vidhushak 42 4.3.1 Setting 42 4.3.2 Plot 42

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4.3.3 Characters 44 4.1.4 Conflict 47 4.3.5 Genre 48 4.3.6 Codes 48 4.3.6.1 Technical Codes 48 4.3.6.2 Written Codes 48 4.3.6.3 Performance Codes 48 4.3.6.4 Symbolic code 49 4.3.7 Social / Historical Contexts 49 4.3.8 Themes/ Issues 49 Chapter 5 CONCLUSION 50 5.1 Limitations 50 Bibliography 52

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Umbartha 1st scene ...... 20 Figure 2: Umbartha last scene ...... 20 Figure 3 Protagonist and her husband ...... 23 Figure 4 Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law ...... 24 Figure 5 Protagonist mid shot...... 27 Figure 6 The protagonist facing conflict in correction home ...... 28 Figure 7 The protagonist facing conflict in correction home (2) ...... 28 Figure 8 The protagonist facing conflict in her house ...... 28 Figure 9 First scene of Babasaheb Ambedkar ...... 32 Figure 10 Last scene of Babasaheb Ambedkar ...... 32 Figure 11 Ramabai sharing her emotions with Ambedkar ...... 35 Figure 12 Gandhi and Ambedkar resolving issues ...... 36 Figure 13 Ambedkar in despair ...... 39 Figure 14 A newspaper report on Gandhi's satyagraha against the demands of Ambedkar ...... 39 Figure 15 Ambedkar with his wife portraying distress ...... 40 Figure 16 Protagonist dressed like a clown ...... 44 Figure 17 Protagonist and his mother ...... 46 Figure 18 Protagonist and his wife ...... 47

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Classification of movies ...... 7

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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Indian film Industry Known to be one of the biggest film industries in the world, the Indian film industry is an umbrella term to describe the various language film industries in the country. Producing approximately 800 films across 32 languages, this industry has been growing bigger in the past few decades. One can find stark differences in the style of film making, themes, and style of storytelling in movies across different eras. One of the reasons for this is the growth of technology, diversification of ideas etc. Apart from style of film making there has been innovation and change in marketing and promotional strategies as well. When one looks at the history of Indian film making, it all started in 1896 when Lumiere brother‟s cinematographers shot 6 motion pictures in Mumbai. After this there has been no looking back for the Indian Film Industry. Sahakaram Bhatvedkar is said to be the first Indian to make a film which was popularly known as „Dada‟. He made two films, one was about a wrestling match in the hanging gardens of Mumbai and the other one was about playfulness of a monkey, both the movies were shot in 1897 and became very popular among the masses in 1899. The reason Marathi Filmmakers are called as pioneers of Indian film industry is for this very reason, they were the main contributors towards this industry in the beginning. The very first Indian feature film „Raja Harishchandra‟ a silent movie, made by Dadasaheb Phalke released in 1913. From 1920s this industry had taken its shape and has seen immense growth since then. When one speaks of Marathi films in specific, history tells us that it has a much longer and larger tradition than the national films. Dadsaheb Phalke and V. Shantaram are two of the filmmakers to name who have contributed immensely not only to Marathi film industry, but also other regional film industries as these filmmakers have often provided their insights which have been proved to be fruitful to other regional and national film industries as well.

1.2 Marathi Film Industry A language like Marathi which is so culturally rich has been acknowledged for its tradition and in movies this film industry has always been received well by the critics for its contribution in socio-economic, religious and cultural dimensions of a society. This cultural richness is what makes Marathi movies so interesting for the audience and filmmakers to portray. With intense competition from Hindi and other regional cinemas in the country, Marathi film industry has surely undergone a change. This has resulted in a sharp decrease of audience for these films. As competition from other film industries within the country keeps increasing every year, less number of theatres screening Marathi movies, less response from audience, private TV channels, has had an impacted in the deceasing viewership for Marathi films. Girish Kulkarni, an actor who is the co-writer as well as the executive producer of many Marathi films, is of the belief that “Marathi people are mostly modest, and simple human emotions work best with them. The theme, how society binds the human spirit, is large, but we wanted to bring it out through interactions between the family members…in that language.” (Sharma, 2009). Ashok Rane who is a film historian, a critic and an avid watcher of Marathi cinema says that, „since 1970s, this phenomenon of new wave is not a coincidence but has a lot to do with how the Hindi film industry is welcoming newer kinds of cinema. The closeness of Marathi and Hindi film industry has not really worked in its favour, however if we look at Bengali or film industries in the South they haven‟t really been affected by Bollywood. However what has in fact worked in favour of non-commercial filmmakers like Jabbar Patel and Amol Palekar is the establishment of multiplexes which now allows movies made by such directors to be produced and showcased internationally‟. The film critic further adds on by saying that the grant in aid policy for filmmakers provided by the Maharashtra Government has worked in favour for them. This makes Maharashtra the only state in the country which grants aids to filmmakers. This grant in aid system was introduced in 1980s because of the efforts of V. Shantaram. In this system, the producers contribute up to 20 lakhs. This however depends on the level of technology involved. This welcomed different producers from

2 different backgrounds and these producers weren‟t really interested to know what kind of films were being made, they were only interested in the returns. On 23 March 1965, the Marathi Film federation was established by the government of Maharashtra. This was done in order to start a practise of awarding films which are exceptional. Apart from this, several producers, namely, Mahesh Kothare, Ramdas Phutane, Vijay Kondke, Balasaheb Sarpotdar, started the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal. After associating with Film federation of India, Marathi Films finally recived their rightful status at International Film Festivals. Rane further says that, „If we look at the growth and success of regional cinemas, we can see that the best films over the past few decades have come from south, namely Tamil and Malayalam cinema. Bengali cinema too has seen immense growth and success. Marathi films on the other hand started to gain its popularity again when Shwaas was selected as India‟s official entry to Oscars in 2004. However, this has been seen more as a revival of Marathi cinema than a revolution‟. Works of well-known film-makers such as Shantaram, Phalke, Vishnupant Damle, Sheikh Fattelal, Baburao Painter, Acharya Atre and others are landmarks just not in Marathi film industry but also in Indian film history. satirRealistic depiction of socio- political situation in movies was not just the only theme, but social comedy too soon became a favourite among the directors. Two actors, namely Ashok Saraf and Laxmikant Berde gained recognition after getting associated with movies of this genre. While speaking of Marathi cinema in the present, it can be said that the directors aren‟t afraid to use humour while showcasing unpalatable truths. Event today, Marathi cinema is just not about how they use the medium but it‟s also about the message they are portraying through the medium. \

1.3 About Jabbar Patel and his filmmaking When it comes to Marathi Films, Jabber Patel is one of the most renowned filmmakers. Even though he has made only 15 movies in his lifetime, all of them have been well acclaimed not just by the audience but even the critics. His very first movie released in the year 1974 and his last movie released very recently, March 2014. Out of the fifteen movies which he has made, five of them are documentaries, which again have been critically acclaimed. What sets Jabbar Patel apart from other Marathi Film makers is his style of film making. Quality is what one can observe while watching his films, which is similar to the

3 one we can find in other classic Indian movies. Most of his movies revolve around a particular theme, namely the socio-political scenario of that era. Example of such movies is Samna and Umbartha which was highly acclaimed. Samna, was his debut movie which got nominated at the Berlin Film Festival for the golden Bear award. One of his movies, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, was a project given to him by the National Film Division in the year 1989. Jabber Patel, before starting to make this film went about to do an in depth research about Ambedkar in order to do justice to this film. The film released in 1998 in English and went on to win several national and International awards. The movie was further dubbed into eight other languages and released in 2000. Jabber Patel has many awards to his credit. National Film Award for best feature film in Marathi for five movies and National Film award for best historical reconstruction films for documentaries and biopics are some of the awards to name. Apart from filmmaking, theatre too is something he is highly involved in.

1.4 New Wave cinema and Marathi Film Industry The phenomenon of new wave cinema is very evident in Marathi films as there has been a rise in commercial films and critically acclaimed directors. This growth began in 2004 with the release of Shwaas, a Sandeep Samant film. This inspired a number of other directors such as Nishikant and Paresh Mokashi. KulKarni however is the most popular director in the new wave Marathi cinema. There has been no turning back for him since the time his FTII diploma film Girni won him an award. Unlike other directors in the past decade, Kulkarni tried to bring rural Maharastra on the silver screen, the Sayhadri landscape! Kulkarni says that he wants to tell his own stories and in his latest movie Deool, he speaks of a simple village man who dreams of building a temple but is manipulated by the higher authorities. A simple story, but told in a powerful manner, this is generally how Marathi films are made. The Telegraph Calcutta Sunday, January 15 , 2012 A regional rising

1.5 Auteur Theory Coined from the French word auteur, meaning author, the auteur theory had emerged from the French new wave in cinema. Debated to have many origins, it aims at looking at a movie like the director was the author or sole creator of it. Established from many ideas like the concept of mis-en-scene that assumed that everything in a frame had

4 a purpose and was deliberately added that way, Auteur theory goes with the same assumption, but it also says that, every aspect of a movie is implemented in a certain way with a purpose and that is controlled by the director. Andre Basin considered as the father of the auteur theory approach, came up with this concept in 1951, to study some of the famous artist and filmmakers like Jean Renoir and Charlie Chaplin. A theory developed solely to understand movies, it assumes that all film makers or directors have and is inevitable to take this style out of the film or the end product of his work. The auteur theory approach deals with looking at various aspects of the films and drawing a conclusion if the director is an auteur/author or not.

1.6 Research Problem/Objective Director, Jabbar Patel‟s view about the Marathi film industry was that the change and quality of the Marathi films should be given to the exposure of the Marathi film makers and writers to the world cinema, through television and various film festivals. This exposure is the reason behind their innovative and unique concepts and storyline (Natu, 2012). Since, Marathi film industry is known for making movies on subjects that are usually ignored or not spoken of by other film industries it has not only being critically acclaimed but has also achieved commercial success. Perhaps, one unique aspect of Marathi cinema is that, there are many talented filmmakers who are working on small budgets and are focusing on issues which are of relevance to the society. (Media India, 2013). The researcher in this paper tries to analyse Jabber Patel‟s movies using the concept of Auteur theory. Since movie is a product which results from several people who work in different fields to get this final product, it becomes difficult to know if the end product is solely his effect or not. This is where Auteur theory comes into the picture. The researcher aims to study Jabbar Patel‟s movies from an auteur theory perspective. The research will study his films and look closely into different elements of the movie to see if there is a distinct pattern in his movie making styles. If there is a style at all that is distinct to his movies. The researcher will further try to analyse and see if there is any considerable pattern that is repeated in more than one movie which will eventually lead to a conclusion where one can say that he has a style, and that he is the author or owner of his works therefore proving him to be an auteur of his movies.

Dr Jabbar Patel is one of the few film makers who has given us movies from the New Cinema Movement and is also considered as a pioneer of this movement. The new cinema movement tried to create a more sincere and sensible cinema within the restrictive matrix of the mainstream industry. So the researcher aims to studying one of the pioneer film makers of the Marathi industry and identify his film making style that has been a contribution to the new cinema movement in the Marathi film industry. The researcher has chosen a director from the Marathi film industry because the Marathi film industries have been the pioneers of cinema in India, through Dadasaheb Phalke who introduced concept of motion pictures. Since then the Marathi industry has had many talented film makers and actors, it has also contributed many talents to the Bollywood.

1.7 Classification of Movies A film is a product of a big crew. But the director is the only one who is connecting this big crew. Needless to say he is also the one in control. But the question here is how much he contr3ols. In her article, Kiaya, writes about the various aspects of filmmaking that one needs to study to determine the influence of a director on his movies. According to her the concept of author of the film is a totally extreme aspect compared to the notion that film is a collective work. She says that directors who act as the author of the film will without fail do so in every film of theirs with or without intention. She says that in some cases the directors will also write the screenplay or work directly with the writer and also choose the cast for this movie himself along with the other crew members of the movie. He will participate in every step of movie making. But she points out that most directors do not take over the film project to that extreme. She further says that, that filmmaking is about much more for a director; it is an opportunity to express their artistic talent, their vision, beliefs, attitude and technique. To truly understand a director style a researcher has to view and understand at least three or more of his films, specifically concentrating on those aspects or special skills of the director that makes him different from other director. (A director's style, 2013) Since, every element in a movie conveys certain message subtle or otherwise they are hinting at an action, revealing a personality, and more often than not the director‟s end up inserting their own ideas and personality into the storyline of a movie.

The initial step of analysing movies is to see if one can classify it in a particular category or a genre, if we can then it means that the director has a style. The various film categories are -

Table 1 Classification of movies

Intellectual and rational Emotional and sensual Calm and quiet Fast-paced and exciting Polished and smooth Rough and crude-cut Cool and objective Warm and subjective Ordinary and trite Fresh and original Tightly structured and concise Loose structure Truthful and realistic Romantic and idealized Simple and straightforward Complex and indirect and rambling Grave and tragic Comical and light Restrained and understated Exaggerated Optimistic and hopeful Bitter and cynical

Chapter 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Films as an Academic Discipline In the early days, when cinema had just emerged, it was never considered art. The best way films were described was as a photographic record of an art performance. Like for example someone recording a theatrical performance. So, the cinema was never considered an art work themselves. In this article the author says that camera had stopped being neutral. Or rather studies on films had shown that camera was never neutral it always took sides, manipulated your understanding, etc. The author argued that films were almost always a form of art. She substantiates this point by stating many aspects like for example a filmmaker makes many choices while making a movie. They make choices pertaining to every single shot in the movie, editing every scene the final product of the movie is never the same as what a person would see form the naked eyes. The author quotes the work of Noel Caroll who argues that films should be considered art because films also have different genres, forms and styles and these patterns are universal and universally diverse at the same time. Also a very important aspect of films is that it is made for mass consumption therefore qualifying another feature of being a piece of art. The quality of films as art can be debatable but unquestioningly they can be considered as art (Prinz, n.d.). Like every art form films have also been considered as mode of communication. They have been very recently identified as a very powerful medium of communication over the century. The ones that believed films also classify as a medium of mass communication, quoted Aristotle model of communication that requires a speaker, speech and an audience and films fulfill that criteria in every sense. After many such meaningful debates films were recognized as a field of communication. Yet after being recognized as a field of academic study many communication researchers were hesitant to indulge in analyzing films (Austin, 1991). Till very recently the movies were studied only for the scientific techniques behind the film making that is for the equipment and

8 machines used for film making. Only recently critics started analyzing films as mode of communication that‟s conveys many messages through the medium. The framework to understand films were more or less the same as studying a piece of literature. Even when the researchers dared to take up films for research purpose they merely analyzed the effect of a movie on the audience at large, the general response towards the movie. It was only when scholars like Garth Jowett and James Linton wrote books like Movies as Mass Communication, that people and specifically research scholars gave a thought to what goes into the making of the movie. In an interview with Vikas Shah, Tom Sherak, President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said that, films are a window to the real world out there and the one in the past. The films have to advance to the level of the society‟s development and sometimes it can lead the society to progress. Movies are basically stories that someone is trying to say through a whole new medium. The stories that are narrated through the movie does not merely represent the storyteller but also the society the story has emerged from, and that too not just the society at present but also that of the past. (Sherak, 2011) He further said that movies are a combination of kinds of art, hence is the most powerful. Like for example we can have a painting or art and music as well, and a painting can give you only one dimension while movies can give you different dimension and stimulate your various senses. Therefore movies are very powerful tools that need to be used carefully.

2.2 Film Making A film takes us on a journey, offering us with certain common experiences that engage our minds and stimulate emotions. Films are deliberately designed to have certain effects on viewers. Working with society developments and proximity, this development has driven the advancement of unique styles, mechanisms, developments, and routines that would have been inconceivable in movies. In any case, while this innovative movement has been straight, it has not so much harmonized with a comparable development of value; the aptitude of a movie maker ought not be judged by the mechanical growth of the generation, but by the capacity of the film maker to wield a good movie based on his time or place, the ability to pass on a story, bring out a feeling, or make an impression. Despite the fact that the direct innovative development of filmmaking has engaged movie makers or directors by offering a more various list of

9 instruments and systems, it is the director‟s capacity to successfully and discerningly use this innovation inside a fleeting and societal connection that really drives true to life quality, of which there has been no reasonable straight movement (Piccirillo, 2011). According to Francois Truffaut, director, there are two different kinds of film makers. One kind keep in mind the public or target audience while making the movie and the other who do not consider the public at all in the film making process. For the former, film is an art of creating something visually appealing for the public, while for the latter, it is an individual adventure (Bordwell & Thompson). In this article author Emma Rogers elaborates on the structure of movie making. She says that filmmakers are storytellers of the modern times. The storytelling art involves a very conscious and intentional use of layers in the movie that will give it a certain meaning. Filmmaking is an art that will engage the audience and shift the focus from the art of movie making to the plot and characters in the movie. It is something that the audience should get emotionally invested in just like any other art form. According to her constructing a story involves three stages. The first stage is when the mood is set and the audience is taken to the historical and geographical context of when the movie takes place. The characters are introduced and the audience is given insight into the life of the protagonist. The second stage is when the conflict of the movie is introduced. A conflict is an event that will create an imbalance in the life of the protagonist that Robert Mckee calls as the „inciting incident‟. The second act of the movie will then portray the protagonist trying to overcome that problem or conflict in life, trying to restore balance in his life and the ones‟ around him. Through this act the protagonist will be shown to experience many difficulties. The last act or the climax of the movie will show the protagonist has restored order in his life (Rogers). The author also emphasizes on the directors skills and tasks. The director is the one who visualizes a story of the movie and controls various aspects to create the desired effect on people. Director is the one who implements multiple layers into the movie. He controls many different departments like the casting, sets, color, lighting etc., all those aspect which are essential to convey certain meaning. The art of storytelling in films starts when the screenwriter writes down the idea of the movie and ends with the audience response to the movie. And if the movie is well designed with all the elements used appropriately then the audience will reciprocate the response that the filmmakers had intended. (Rogers)

2.3 Auteur Theory The journal article describes about what exactly auteur theory is and why it is important to identify who the auteur of the movie is. This theory can be used not only to identify who the author of the movie is but can also be used to understand new film directors work process. In this journal article the question of who the auteur is transferred from a film criticism to that of film making process. The author tries to understand this theory just not from the perspective of a textbook, but also look at it from a sociological point of view. By analysing it sociologically, it enables one to understand a social product and its structures. The author presents two case studies of debutant Danish film makers. She says that in the film projects, the motif, and the idea of who the author is embedded within the story hence, the final product comes out organized. However, she is also of the belief that by putting things in this way has some serious consequences which is not necessarily a beneficial one (Strandvad, 2012). In the journal article titled „Autuer theory re-examined, the author tries to look at this theory and find out what this theory is actually intended for and what it actually means while analysing films. The author says that the history of this theory can be traced from 1954 in France. At this point of time, Auteur theory was basically writing against the traditional and commercial French film writers. He quotes Truffaut and says that French films shifted from poetic realism to psychological realism and these writers were underestimating the capability of the film. The author also believes that the director is the true author of a film. It was in Andre Bazin‟s article where the concept of Auteur theory was first discussed in detail. Further the author states that the progress of the author‟s capability from one film or project to another is an important component of this theory. The article is concluded saying that every critic will have his/her own interpretation and inferences and if it is deeply analysed they might come up with their own theories about the movies. Auteur theory is not a perfect theory to critic or analyse a film, the author further states that there is no single perfect theory but the point is to make use of all existent theories while analysing films (Staples, 1966 - 1967). The journal article, „Theory of Authorship‟ debates on who can be considered as the author of a film! The author says that usually the question of who the author is never comes up since this concept of authorship concerns only with aesthetic objects. This theory can be used to anaylze if one assumes that a film has organized all the issues it addresses and its implications about what would be considered as desirable or undesirable for the audience. One of the criticisms against this theory given by R.

Coward and John Ellis is that this theory gives a closure rather than displaying the richness of the text in all its openness. The author introduces a concept called as „author- function‟ given by M.Focualt. Foucault was of the belief that the name of the author has the ability to characterize the way in which a particular discourse would work/function. The author then introduces two of Robert Altman‟s films and discusses the same using this concept. He says that if one analyses Altman‟s movies from Auteur structuralist perspective one can see that his films try to find coherence between the shots and the theme of the movie. He concludes by quoting Peter Wollen who says that Auteur theory basically states that a Hollywood film is basically a network of various statements and contradictions which is then showcased in an organized manner. (Self, 1985) The journal article talks on how film styles of directors emerge and how there is a change in the film art world. According to the author just like how a work of art is made, reputation of a director too is built in a similar manner and the level of reputation changes from time to time. For example, what was a canon ten years ago wouldn‟t be considered as a canon of work now or how genres fall in and out of time etc. Author gives example of one of the greatest film makers, namely Alfred Hitchcock and traces his development or change from someone who was known to be an entertainer to a distinguished auteur now. Before the 1960‟s, this director wasn‟t taken seriously by the Hollywood industry however, in the past 20 years there has been immense change which has led him to have a reputation of an renowned auteur. According to the author, Hitchcock is a brilliant example and can be studied if one has to examine how an artist is constructed socially and how various factors and forces can influence the reputation. The article largely focuses on how these artists build their image and also assess the influence of factors such as sponsorship which can impact the acceptance of artist‟s redefinition of himself. (Kapsis, 1989)

2.4 New Wave in Marathi Cinema In this article the author has traced back the history of Marathi New wave cinema. He has acknowledged the fact that the new wave in Marathi cinema was not as drastic or wide scale as compared to other new wave cinema. In Marathi it started with a simple intention to deviate from the cheap comedy films that were being made to appease the audience. It started with the movie Shwaas and was implemented by debut directors. The idea was popularized with the government policies and subsidies for filmmakers. The filmmakers did not have to worry about appeasing the audience or

12 going at loss at the box office. The government was funding their projects and even coming out with new films awards for their creative ideas. This gave rise to a new form of cinemas that varied in ideas and did not follow the norms of mainstream films. These films carried social messages, satires, tragedy, realities of the societies, socio-political problems, personality growth, rural backwardness, unemployment, etc. This change in the stykle of filmmaking in Marathi cinema was recognized by the National Centre For Performing Arts in Mumbai they called this new turn in Marathi cinema as, „Nave Valan‟ which means „a new turn‟ or „a change in tracks‟ (Tirodkar, 2011). Some of the major factors that popularized this new wave in the Marathi Cinema are new directors who have innovative ideas and used this as a platform to explore their new ideas for stories. The impact of theatre has been tremendous. Even today the theatre industry is quite popular among the Marathi audience. Most of the actors and screen writers were originally from theatre and still work side by side in both the industries. And the new wave cinema became the means to convert many theatre performances into movies. Theatres in Marathi industry focus mainly on issues that need to be brought to light and new wave cinema became the new window to broadcast these plays. Lastly the need for Marathi cinema to come out of the shadows of the Bollywood filmmaking style was intense. They were fading away in the background with better and popular actors all in Bollywood and with same plots as the Hindi cinema. So they needed to create their own mark by creating these movies which were different form not only the mainstream Marathi movie also but also the Hindi movie. (Tirodkar, 2011)

Chapter 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Problem Regional films have hardly been given any importance and the Marathi film industry has recorded one of the best movies in the history of Indian cinema. However they are not research or conducted study on much. They are famous for the socio- political themes in their movies. Jabbar Patel especially is known to make movies with a central theme that is socio-political in nature. So the researcher aims at analysing his movies to see if there is a pattern of similarity in the representation of these socio- political elements in his movies.

3.2 Media Content Analysis Neuendorf (2002) described content analysis to be primarily a message centred analysis. Content analysis is used to analyse a wide range of media content like interviews, discussions, films, TV programs and advertisements in various media platforms. Harold Lasswell (1927), was the first to use and introduce the method content analysis for a systematic study in mass media to study propaganda. Booming film industries in the 1920s and 1930s around the globe, became a reason for the popularity of content analysis as a research methodology to study the fast growing communication content of the movies.

3.2.1 Manifest content analysis Manifest means that we count what is tangible and observable. In movies it implies all that is directly perceived through the scenes in the movie. It reads the message from the sender‟s point of view and how the encoder has encoded it physically. It is surface level research. It takes the content on face value and the response is quite objective and universal among the crowd. It analyses the plot, theme, setting, characters, camera shots, etc. (Treadwell)

3.2.2 Latent content analysis Latent content analysis studies what is hidden or not directly perceived. It looks for deeper and symbolic meanings in the messages represented in the films. It reads the message from the receiver‟s point of view, more like the different possibilities it could be decoded in. It tries to measure abstract concepts in a message like, hatred, violence or love. It works with various theoretical approaches like, feminist, deconstruction,

14 structuralism, cultural, communist, etc. (Treadwell) The results obtained from latent content analysis can be subjective and not universally applicable. In films latent content analysis is done by studying the film themes, dialogues, lyrics, background and scenes, representation of society and characters, etc.

3.2.3 Advantages of content analysis Content analysis helps to systematically sample, code and measure media content. It emphasizes that the process of content analysis should be detailed, precise, and replicable so that the results obtained are the same irrespective of who the researcher is. The material for analysis is easily accessible and manageable because we will be analysing the media content and it does not require any subjects or participants. However one may require permission to access some content or publish the analysis if the content is unpublished or personal. (Treadwell)

3.2.4 Disadvantages of content analysis A limitation of the method is that it really only has application if used for comparisons. Another strong criticism against content analysis is that the interpretation of the content does not have strict guidelines or classification. The researcher always needs to study the content with regard to its context, be it cultural background or language (Treadwell). The researcher has used manifest content analysis for this research as he aims to look at the structure and the physical characteristics of Jabbar Patel‟s movie to identify if he has a significant film making style while dealing with socio political themes. The researcher does not aim to find the interpretation of the messages conveyed by the movie but how the director has attempted at putting the message across to his audience.

3.3 Parameters

3.2.1 Setting The setting of the movie basically looks at the time and place the movie depicts. How this setting helps the plot of the movie and how it represents the society of a certain era and place. It also identifies if there are any change in setting. For example, a movie that depicts a time period of two different eras or two different places. The significant elements used to show the different setting.

3.2.2 Plot The plot studies the flow of events in a movie or storyline. It draws an outline of the main events of a movie that is introduced into the character‟s life. It analyses the emphasis given to the events in the movie if they talk about one event or briefly talk about many events. It also looks at the sequence of the movie. It studies the opening and closing scene of the movie and determines the significance of the scene. It studies how the story develops between the opening and the closing scene of the movie. It also looks at the narrative style and what is the goal of the narration. All the movies directed have some basic motive that is achieved through the plot like the following. The characters in the plot are striving toward a goal. They come across an obstacle in their life and the plot grows in their attempt to overcome this obstacles. Or some plot is formed around a mystery that the characters in the movie solve. Another famous plot is when the protagonist is in midst of a chaos and is trying to bring the society to equilibrium. Some plots deal with the journey of the character or characters through life or a stage of life. Some plot deal with the awakening of a character to the real life. It shows the innocent character coming across experiences that show his growth (Layne & Lewis, 2009).

3.2.3 Characters The researcher will identify the protagonist and the main characters in the movie. Understand and describe how the characters are related to each other. Examine the actions of the certain characters in the movie that leads to certain events. Understand the nature of the characters in the movie and how they do justice to the movie plot and the setting.

3.2.4 Conflict The conflict also deals with the central goal of the movie. Any movie made has a central conflict that has been introduced to the character‟s lives and the movie revolves around this conflict. Sometimes there is more than one conflict that the characters face.

3.2.5 Genre The researcher will identify the genre of the movie and how the movie has shown the traits of that genre. It will compare the features of that genre and compare it to the plot of the movie.

3.2.6 Codes Codes are key elements of the movie other than the plot and the characters that help in the making of the movie or encoding a certain message through the movie. The following are the codes in the movie that the researcher will be studying. Technical Codes the camera techniques that the director uses to create a certain impression. This is achieved through different angles used, the framing, the distance, etc. It will analyse important scenes from the movie that the director achieves to create an impact with, using certain technical features, like zooming in on the face to create a sense of isolation. It also studies the overall lighting used in the movie. The background music and sound effects that help stimulate certain emotional reactions, excitement, mystery, etc.

3.2.6 Written Codes Give the viewer information [eg. street signs, newspaper headlines, and letters].It studies the various codes, symbols, signs that are deliberately provided in the movie to give the viewer more insight about the scene or event. For examples, street signs, newspaper headlines and letters.

3.2.6 Performance Codes Performance codes looks t the character performance by each of the actor and how they have succeeded in representing certain characters and personalities of the character. The stereotypes they portray or break.

3.2.7 Social / Historical Contexts This parameter studies on the different societies portrayed through the film. The different culture and traditions represented throughout the films in terms of the dialogues, costume, etc. The different stereotypes they portray in the movie and how they represent the reality.

Chapter 4 ANALYSIS

4.1 Umbartha The movie was made by Jabbar Patel in 1981. It is in Marathi language and was released 31 December, 1981, the duration of the movie 2 hours and 29 minutes. The movie is based on a Marathi novel "Beghar" by Shanta Nisal it was adapted by Vijay Tendulkar.

4.1.1 Setting The movie is set in modern day urban setting. The movie shows the urban city in Maharashtra. The movie is made in 1981, depicting the modern day society then. The movie uses the setting of an urban and rural house as a major difference in the setting between the two. For the urban setting we have the big bungalow and the well mowed lawn with car parked in the front of the house. On the other hand we see they show the rural or slightly less modern locality with the hand pulled rickshaw and houses with thatched roof and very basic necessity items.

4.1.2 Plot Like every movie plot, this movie too has a main objective. The objective was to portray the journey of the protagonist. It is a part of her life and it shows the various choices and decisions she makes. It shows the interference of the society as a single entity but in various forms in her life and how it forces, enables or persuades her to decide certain things. It shows her individual existence and participation in larger political system and as a part of various institutions like family and marriage. The protagonist of this movie is Sulabha Mahajan played by Smita Patil. The story speaks about her life journey and her need to experience something out of ordinary or what she was always expected to do. The major event of this plot is introduced in the means of a job offer letter addressed to Sulabha. The job offer is to work as a Superintendent for a women‟s correction home, in a suburban place, away from the city. The events that follow are the consequences of this letter. In terms of a plot, we could say this was the start of all the problems in the life of the protagonist. However since this plot focuses on the journey of the protagonist this letter also becomes the first step to the growth or experience in the protagonist‟s life.

The following events show her struggle to get along with the inmates of the correction home. She discovers about the exploitation of inmates for prostitution and the committee members‟ involvement and indifference to it. Sticking to the concept of a political thriller she is a one man army against many bureaucrats of the society and the exploited who find an easy way out by being exploited. The committee members advise her to turn a blind eye to the exploitation happening in the correction home. She is an innocent outsider who has no experience of this world and wants to enter it, but once she does she is overwhelmed by what she finds and wants to, an attempt to change the system. Within her world the director show two parallel parts of her life. There is one where she is a part of a big system where she chooses to take responsibilities by being the superintendent and there is another where the responsibilities are pushed down upon her. Her work life and family life are the two different worlds that the director successfully shows where there is equal importance given to both. It starts off with her family life where she is expected to act in certain way as a mother, wife and daughter-in- law. The plot slowly moves to her work life where she takes over the job of looking after the inmates and supervising their lives.While she is trying to gain control over a world that she has no experience of, she loses control over her family life and relationships. The plot shows the two worlds coming together, when the husband comes to the correction home. The protagonist is split between her needs to be with her husband or maintain her persona as the superintendent. We see turn of events when the matter in the correction home go out of hand when two of the inmates set themselves on fire. She accepts her defeat and resigns her job and gets back to her home that she feels a stranger to. The final straw is when she finds out about her husband‟s infidelity. She leaves her home, and sets out on another journey to the oblivion to start her life again. The events are in a chronological order. The plot always follows the protagonist, as in there is no event occurring parallel that excludes the protagonist. There is a significant contrast between the first and the last scene of the movie. The movie starts away with the protagonist and her disappointment and lack of motivation in life and throughout the movie she grows by her experience that she was ignorant to. She comes across various hurdles in on the way. Sometimes she overcomes the hardships but the director shows finally, the protagonist just walks away from it to start from the scratch.

Figure 1: Umbartha 1st scene

The first seen of the movie begins in the protagonist‟s house. She is sat in her lawn but is not at all at peace (See Figure 1). There is no commotion around her the background setting is very calm and serene. Yet the protagonist feels agitated, tired and distressed. She is oblivion to her surrounding and looks disconnected. She even has her eyes closed as if she is tired of what she sees around her and she has reached the end of her life where she is giving up.

Figure 2: Umbartha last scene

The last scene of the movie (See figure 2) shows the protagonist in a train. She is sitting by the window looking outside. She looks distant but there is a sense of determination and resolution at the same time. The very fact that they show her setting on another journey at the end of a movie is very significant. She looks outside, her eyes set on something far from her, a distant future which is very significant, showing the

20 growth of her personality, in comparison to the beginning. She has no idea of the future yet she is not upset or apprehensive. The plot is open to different kinds of interpretation. It can be interpreted that the character had grown through the plot and learnt many new things about life and can now live life with more caution on the other hand it could also be considered that the movie shows that at the end corruption always wins. If you fight in a one man army you will lose all that you have.

4.1.3 Characters The protagonist of this movie is Sulabha Mahajan played by Smitha Patil. She is an educated wife living in the urban city with her husband who is a lawyer. She has a degree is in social work. From the very first scene it is established that she does not like her high-society living. She feels like a misfit in her life. In the beginning of the movie we see she scolds her daughter for throwing a temper tantrum. She feels upset when she asked to do certain jobs as a part of the role she was playing in her life like being a mother and wife. She wanted to do something for the downtrodden and exploited. We don‟t know anything about her upbringing or family all we know is that she finds the high-society people, namely her husband‟s family hypocrites. She shows her annoyance when her husband shares his experience about how he would win a case by fake evidences and witness. She believes in justice and righteousness and cannot tolerate exploitation and corruption and life where charity is for show. In terms of emotions she mainly shows negative emotions like distress, turmoil, anger, confusion or sadness. In the entire movie there are only a few scenes where she is seen smiling and that is when she is with the inmates and when her husband comes to visit her in her work place. Her relation with both her husband and her daughter is strained and distant. She does not connect with her daughter like mothers are stereotyped to be. She is a woman attempting to break all stereotypes of being a mother and wife. She chooses to work away from family as she feels she needs to put in her time and effort in doing some good to the society and not just stay at home or in her comfort zone. Between her and her husband there are very few intimate moments, all except one that are abruptly ended by her. For her, her husband also comes after her duty. She takes her duty and work responsibility. She makes serious attempts at making the life of the inmates better; by bringing order in the system she inculcates habits like prayers in the morning.

Sulabha represents a modern day woman who does not like to be just an ordinary wife or a home maker. She likes power and wants to bring order in the system. But through the movie we see her helplessness to change the system. Her personality grows through the movie. She realizes many aspects of life. She learns to deal with issues like the commotion created by the affair between to women in the correction home and dealing with the wealthy MLA who exploits the women and uses them for prostitution. She tries to fight back but in the end she loses all battles. The inmates go against her, the committee members ask her to resign to avoid investigation against her and she loses her husband and daughter too. She comes back her husband and finds out that he had an extra marital affair and her daughter avoids her. She sets out on a journey realizing that there is no more she has to fight for. In the beginning she was a confused and frustrated person who felt a misfit in her surrounding but in the end we see her as an enlightened woman who has learnt a lot about the world and life. The protagonist‟s husband, Subhash Mahajan played by Girish Karnad. He is an advocate by profession and is the younger son of the wealthy, Kusum Kulkarni, a social worker. The role of the husband is very intriguing and thought provoking till the end. We see him as a loving husband in the beginning who is just trying to help his wife and then in the middle of the plot we see his longing for his wife and then in the end he just breaks all norms and tells his wife that he had kept a mistress while she was gone. Yet, we cannot completely hate him because the way the character is projected, needy desperate for affection, patient, etc. He loves his wife but he does not understand and support her many beliefs (See figure 3). He is born into the upper class wealthy family where the elder most person of the family is the one in control. He obeys his mother and does not do anything without her consent. In the movie they are already married and have a daughter.

Figure 3 Protagonist and her husband

Time and again we see Subhash‟s frustration with his wife‟s incompetence to perform the duties as a mother, wife and daughter-in law. He is portrayed as conservative but attentive to his wife. He is not in support of the idea of his wife working, he is of the belief that the men earning is enough for the family. He is also in disagreement when his wife says it is her desire to work, and not just for the money. He does not support her going out of town to a suburban town to work away from family. He poses the question to her if she was willing to desert her family just to fulfil her passion to work and do some good for the society. He also cowers when it comes to standing before his mother to support his wife. Nonetheless he supports her and lets her go. We don‟t see much of him in the later stage of the movie until we see him visit the correction home. He is desperate to get some attention and time from his wife. The events do not turn out like he desired and he ends up having to take a pregnant inmate to the hospital for the delivery. He leaves frustrated. The next we see of him is when Sulabha resigns her job and gets back home. They have an intimate night together after which he confesses to having had an affair, and that they could proceed with their old life as a happily married couple. This betrayal becomes the reason for her to leave the house again on another journey. The whole character portrays a common everyday husband who is expected to act in a certain way as in, dominate his wife and earn money for the family. He is also weak like any other man with needs, his betrayal is hardly perceived as one because he is shown to be faithful and supportive all throughout but loses his control over his emotions when his last attempt goes futile he resorts to infidelity. He is not shown as a perfect husband; he is one with flaws who resorts to acts like extra marital affair in desperation.

Sulabha‟s mother in law, Mrs. Mahajan played by Kusum Kulkarni (See figure 4), is a wealthy social worker. She is powerful and organizes charity events. She is the commanding voice of the family and the organisation she runs. She is the representation of the modern day women who dominate this male centred world. . She talks about revolution and bringing a change in the society but she is against her daughter in law leaving the house to do some good work. She still has conservative beliefs for a woman in power. She believes that women has certain duties as a mother, daughter-in-law and wife and a woman should first fulfil all those responsibilities before she wishes to do anything else. She strongly disapproves Sulabha going away from family to do a charitable work that she could do by staying with her family. However she decides that Sulabha‟s husband has to decide on that matter. She falls under the upper class category that does a lot of charity in terms of money but do not try to break the system nor help clean it up.

Figure 4 Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law

Sulabha‟s sister-in-law, Maya Mahajan played by Ashalata Wabgaonkar (See figure 4). She represents a wife that a woman was expected to be during the modern times. Even in the modern urban setting a woman is expected to remain within the confines of their household. The character appears in significantly lesser shots. The pain of not having kids is displayed through the affection she shows towards her niece. She is also the perfect daughter-in-law that respects, fears and cowers in the presence of her mother-in-law. However, she is everything that Sulabha is trying to escape from. Maya is the epitome of all those women who give up on their dreams to set up a happy home. In

24 the course of the movie we see Maya take up on all the responsibilities that Sulabha is expected to do, like be a good daughter in law and serve her mother in law and be a good mother to Sulabha‟s daughter and show her affection. And the lack of having her own kids, she loves Sulabha‟s daughter, and is more than happy to adopt her as her own. The protagonist‟s daughter, Rani played by Purnima Ganu is an innocent character. her innocent mind easily allows her to drift apart from her mother and get attached to her aunt who shows her more affection than Sulabha does. She is symbolic of what you lose in life if we lead our way without thinking about the ones we love. Her hostility towards Sulabha when she returns is intense and has a look of betrayal, hurt and anger in her eyes. Daya Dongre plays the role of Chairman Sheela Samson. Her character is one that will make the audience despise her insantly. Her dressing and style to the way she asks for thermos instead of drinking the water of the Ashram shows the high society people who don‟t like getting dirty but saying that they do charity. Her money and influence has her on the committee board of the ashram. She is one of the impediments in the way of Sulabha. Her constant reminder to Sulabha that she has to report everything to the Chairman tells us she is a woman who likes being in power. Then there are many inmates who each have their life problems that are told or narrated through the movie. Each of these stories contributes to create a powerful impression on the audience. These inmates are helpless, desperate, and aimless in life. They do not trust anybody and then when Sulabha comes as the superintendent they like her and grow fond of her. But the movie takes a turn when some inmates go against Sulabha because she had started caring for the inmates and doing these out of the order which she thought was morally right. Jabbar Patel uses these inmates to portray the downtrodden of our society that are always used and exploited by the high society for their own personal use. They are ignorant and start hating the world. They do not know a world that could give them a better than the condition they were in.

4.1.4 Conflict The whole movie is about the journey of the protagonist. It presents many challenges to the life of the protagonist. There are conflicts right from the first scene, where we see Sulabha distressed and demotivated with her life. She has luxury band every other need that a woman would need yet, she is unhappy. She later gets a job offer

25 but she has to choose between her dream to work outside the four walls of the house and staying with her family. She finally chooses to leave her family behind. After she reaches to the correction home she has a tough time trying to get the inmates to like her and trust her. She is conflicted being standing for her values and just letting the correction home function like it does. She chooses to stand in a one man army against the corrupted system and tries to bring some order into the system. At one stage in the plot she finds everyone turned against her, her husband was frustrated with her, the inmates were angry because they did not share the same values as her, the committee members of the correction home was against her because they felt she was trying to rile up a system that was functioning fine without her interference. She is faced with the issue of a homosexual affair in the correction home. She believes in free will and wants to let the couple free but the other inmates demand a punishment for their actions. When she resigns her job she is conflicted with the same problem that she had faced before she left her family. She felt like she did not fit in that society. Her husband‟s revelation, about the affair he had been having in her absence, puts her in another conflict to pretend like nothing happened and function normally or muster up all the courage and dignity she has and leave. And she decides to leave. The protagonist is presented with conflicts throughout the movie. The movie is about how she makes those choices and the consequences she faces in return, and her personal growth.

4.1.5 Genre The movie contains elements of more than one genre. It cannot be classified under genre. But then no movie can be classified as one genre alone. And Jabbar Patel was one of the few New wave cinema directors who wanted to think out of box and create something that was common. This movie, Umbartha is philosophical as it shows the journey and growth of personality of the protagonist. The movie focuses mainly on the protagonist. It does not show parallel plots where other characters depicts their story, it is focused only on Sulabha who is the protagonist of the movie. The movie also shows traits of being a political movie as it discusses various problems existing in the political system, like corruption and exploitation wherein one person or protagonist is trying to fight the deep rooted system. As a political thriller movie we expect the protagonist to be victorious in the end and having brought about a change in the system. However that is where Jabbar Patel has

26 brought in a twist and shown us the harsh realities of life. This is why the movie is also philosophical, it teaches us that sometimes you cannot always win, sometimes you will lose no matter what, and more than once or in more than one area of life. It teaches us the lesson to give up and walk away and move on. The movie starts of as a political movie showing us the reality of the society however towards the end it gives us some very important lessons of life.

4.1.6 Codes Jabbar Patel is very straight forward in his approach, especially when it comes to the dialogue delivery, it is direct. The dialogues, analysed were in Marathi and an informal tone. The message was mainly overt.

4.1.6.1 Technical Codes The camera angles are mostly still. He uses tight framing. He gave immense importance to the subject and kept the setting or props as minimalistic when possible. There are many scenes with close-up and mid shots to emphasize on the emotions portrayed by the protagonist (See figure 5). There are very slight pan movements in the movie. The director has also used extreme long shots to portray the setting or landscape. For instance when the protagonist arrives to the rural area called Sangamwadi, there is an extreme long shot scene during her journey to the women‟s home on a the horse carriage.

Figure 5 Protagonist mid shot Other characters were given equal emphasis with mid shot or long shot. There are very subtle camera movements like zooming in and zooming out and panning. There are no sudden camera movements. In terms of lighting he uses some bright contrasts to set different moods. He uses dark backdrop to show the scenes where the protagonist is faced with reality situations or conflicts. One more contrast in lighting is that the scenes set in the urban setting that is in

27 her house are bright and well lit while the scenes in the correction home is generally dark. It sets the mood for a dark, evil scene.

Figure 6 The protagonist facing conflict in correction home

Figure 7 The protagonist facing conflict in correction home (2)

Figure 8 The protagonist facing conflict in her house

He has set a clear distinction between the urban and rural divide. There is a clear distinction in the lighting when portraying the different setting. The shots in the rural setting are much darker playing with more of shadows and backdrop while the shots set at the house of the protagonist are well lit and brighter. In the audio department the director has been a minimalist with very little background music for the movie. The movie has soft melodious music during the sorrowful scenes. They are soft and not quite prominent they only add in creating extra emphasis on the mood and do not over power the scene or dialogues.

4.1.6.2 Written Codes The movie does not contain any written codes. The writing on the letter is also narrated and not shown to the audience.

4.1.6.3 Performance Codes More than one character in this movie are stereotypes of various real life behaviours of people in the society. Like the chairman of the women‟s correction home, Sheela Samson (played by Daya Dongre), she is portrayed as a stereotypes woman of the high society world, who likes to say that she does charity but does not like getting her hands dirty. Her sleeveless blouse and glasses or her action of drinking water from her own thermos to avoid drinking water from the women‟s home, these are typical high society kind of dressing and behaviour of those times. The characters other than the protagonist are not given much emphasis regardless they have portrayed extreme emotions in their part. Smitha Patil is one of the renowned actresses of both the Marathi and Hindi film industry. For this particular role she has received, the Maharashtra State Film Awards - Best Actress award in 1982.

4.1.6.4 Symbolic code The symbolic codes encrypted in the movie are in terms of the lighting. The scenes where the protagonist experience conflict or sorrow are dimly lit. The director has quite elaborately used the lights to his advantage. Overpowering shadows can be seen where dark or negative emotions have to be conveyed.

4.1.7 Social / Historical Contexts The setting is very correctly portraying the social times of the 1980‟s when the movie was made and released. It shows two distinct worlds of the urban and rural places

29 in Maharashtra. The people, mode of transport, lifestyle, houses and dressing support this idea of two distinct worlds.

4.1.8 Themes/ Issues There are many different themes and issues discussed in this movie. A few major ones are Corruption, Exploitation of the downtrodden, Abuse of power and wealth, Inequality against women, Poverty, Rape, Prostitution, Crimes against women, Hypocrisy, Stereotyping, Patriarchal society. These are a few that are seen throughout the movie especially the patriarchal society. Although the mother-in-law is head of the family and is dominating even she mocks the idea of women being away from home and working. It is a patriarchal society where women in power also think that women are weak and should be controlled. In the background we do see a few other issues discussed like Motherhood, Gender based jobs, Teenage pregnancy, Abortion, Lack of medical facilities, Homosexuality, Adultery, Death, etc.

4.2 Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar The movie was released in 2000 and is a biopic of the life of Dr. B R Ambedkar. The movie won the National Film Awards in 1999 for Best feature film in English and also Best Art Direction by Nitin Chandrakant Desai.

4.2.1 Setting The movie is set in a historic period of late 1800s and early 1900s. This was the pre, during and post-independence period in India. The geographic areas shown in the movie vary from a small town in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Pune, United Kingdom and United States of America. The plot is constantly shifting between these settings. The settings are established through the use of props and infrastructure that depicts that time period. They show the huge Victorian library and the English speaking people to show the England setting. And the Indian setting was set by hand pulled rickshaw or men dressed in coats and dhotis. Although the movie was shot in 1995 the director has achieved to create a good feel of the contemporary India.

4.2.2 Plot The movie is biopic. The director aimed at showing the life of the legendary Dr. B R Ambedkar. There is not much in terms of plot that he could explore. The events in the movie were a part of the history that is known to common public. It is the style and the narration that really mattered. The plot happens in a linear pattern. However there are many flash backs in the movie that takes us back to a time that happened before the narration. The movie records a large span of years. It starts of with the protagonist in the age of late 20s and ends with the protagonist being 65 years of age. So the movie approximately covers a period of 40 years through the narration. The movie happens in third person narration however many a times it is narrated through the letters that the protagonist writes or receives. The events in the movie are 3.2.6. Technical Codes brief and happen with no pause. The scenes are given utmost importance however they are short lived. There is a change of setting in every alternate scene. The first scene starts with images about caste system with a voice over talking about caste system and stating facts. Immediately after, there is a scene of a man from the lower caste being beaten up for entering the Hindu temple. The last concluding scene being Babasaheb Ambedkar taking up Buddhism as his religion and helping his thousands of followers do the same. It is followed by facts about Babasaheb‟s death and

31 his works. The significance of the starting and closing scene in this case is that it starts with religion and a conflict created by that and it ends with another religion bringing peace among the society.

Figure 9 First scene of Babasaheb Ambedkar

Figure 10 Last scene of Babasaheb Ambedkar

The plot shows the various hurdles that Ambedkar faces throughout his life time. The story shows his family background, the environment he was exposed to. The role of society in influencing him to decide and act the way Ambedkar did. It shows Ambedkar in two different roles. They portray him and his struggles as a member and leader of the society. And on the other hand it shows his struggles to be with his family and provide for them. The difference between both the roles and what was expected of him. How he chooses one over the other or how they coincide in their objectives. And in the midst of all this struggle how he nourishes himself psychologically and how it affects his health.

The focus of the movie or rather the protagonist shifts to different issues throughout the movie. For example, he starts off as a person who does not want to participate in any national movements. He was content with his education and wanted to concentrate only on that. Then the focus shifted to his family who were suffering from poverty and he could not provide sufficient money for their well-being. It showed the protagonists confrontation with sorrowful events like the death of his son. As a human how he deals with it and copes with his loss and how he consoles others who suffered the same loss in this case his wife. The focus of the plot shifts from his family to the society that treats him cruelly for being born into a lower caste family. It was not that the audience did not already know that, but the director gives equal and undivided emphasis on each issue at a time. The focus of the movie is finally laid on the larger issues of the country that dealt with the caste system in India. From then on, the struggles he faced were not just for him but also for the downtrodden public of the society. The plot shifts from an individual story to a story of the mass.

4.2.3 Characters The characters in this movie have very brief roles. Apart from the protagonist no other character is given majority emphasis. The movie has characters portraying some of the important personalities from the history of India like, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, etc. However their participation in the movie is very limited and not supportive of the protagonist‟s actions. The protagonist, B R Ambedkar is a member of the lower caste community; he shows immense interest in reading and acquiring knowledge. He had spent almost half his life in higher education, through the storyline he acquires a degree, post-graduation and PhD in Economics. He is a person whose sole purpose in life was to acquire knowledge. His passion for studies was noticed by the Maharaja of Baroda who offered scholarship for his studies. He was grateful for the opportunity and made sure to spend his time in studying only. He was directly concerned by the freedom struggle against the British rule. He was of the opinion that the British rule would do the country some good. He supported the British presence in the country. He is portrayed as very unusual man for those times. The stereotyped men during those times were considered to be hard working, who would toil hard in the day earn money for the family and return home with resources to run the house and spend time

33 with his family. Here on the other hand we had Ambedkar who was engrossed in acquiring knowledge, he didn‟t earn any good money to provide for himself and could hardly save anything to send to his family. He barely spent time with his family and was in England and United States for most of his youth. He deeply cared for his family, his wife, father and children; however he was not portrayed as the sacrificing type of man who would let go of his dream to be with his family. He is calm and very patient, he followed non-violence. Even when the other racist, British students of law try to humiliate him, he maintains composure and comes up with a smart retort or ignores them. Even when Gandhi disagreed with Ambedkar‟s values and principles he took the whole issue calmly and with a humour in them. He is portrayed as a very rational man. He does not make decisions based on attachment or personal feelings he rationalizes every choice he makes based on different pros and cons. For example how he rationalizes that British rule is good for India and how he concludes that Buddhism is the best in what it offers and expects form people. Even in most painful moments of his life, Ambedkar maintains a calm exterior. For example when he reads his wife‟s letter informing the death of their son, he is heartbroken and pained but musters enough courage to write a reply. Ambedkar is actually shown to have normal human conflicts and selfishness. Throughout the movie we see his selfishness portrayed in various scenarios. For example, he was of the belief that British rule in India was good in India as it took away power from the higher caste Brahmins, who made their own civil laws. He did not want to participate in any anti-British movement; he just wanted to complete his education. Even when he finally decided to participate in a revolutionary movement it was to liberate his own people from suffering. When the country was uniting to fight the British, Ambedkar was approaching the British to fight against his own countrymen who indulge in unequal treatment based on caste. Towards the end he gets very unselfish who does not even regard his own health in attempt to reforming the country. He shows how people can fight and attain anything by peaceful manner and with their wisdom and knowledge. Throughout the movie he has grown from a man who just wanted to acquire knowledge to a person who was preparing the constitution for the entire country. There is dialogue in the film that Mahatma Gandhi tells Jawaharlal Nehru when they were discussing who should formulate the constitution. Gandhi says, “I think sufferer should write the constitution of this country…. I am thinking of Ambedkar.”

This is precisely the personality growth that Ambedkar had gone through in the movie. From an individual sufferer to a person who empathized with an entire nation. The other prominent character in this movie is Ambedkar‟s first wife, Ramabai enacted by Sonali Kulkarni. She is a very supporting young wife to her husband. She is the stereotypical wife who sacrifices everything for her husband and her children. More than once we see she calls Ambedkar to eat something out of concern, when she had herself not eaten. And twice in the movie we see her outburst when we see she finally tells her husband that she cannot support her husband in his endeavours. She was tired looking after the family in severe poverty state. She had to go through many hardships in the absence of her husband. We don‟t see her display of emotions much except through the letters that she sends to her husband. She finds solace in her husband and although she has company, like her husband‟s brother‟s wife and family she awaits the arrival of her Saheb always. And in the movie she has lost 4 of her children at a very young age, and she deals with that loss quite calmly and courageously. Her courage is evident through the words written in the letter.

Figure 11 Ramabai sharing her emotions with Ambedkar However, this character is also the one that loses a lot due to the shift of focus in Ambedkar‟s personality. From the time Ambedkar had started getting involved in revolutionary movements, he had given lesser amount of attention eventually she fell sick, her dying wish was to visit a specific temple but even that request was turned down by Ambedkar, because it was against his beliefs. Even after her death she did not get her wishes of being wrapped in white saree fulfilled. She was a wife who felt the same emotions throughout the movie, even after years of being married her husband‟s presence made her feel shy and embarrassed.

Mahatma Gandhi (played by Mohan Gokhale) is a powerful character in this movie although the number of scenes he plays a part in is very few. He can also be considered as the antagonist, since his beliefs are against Ambedkar. Gandhi was considered the father of the nation, Bapu. He held satyagraha to fight for the freedom of the country against the British rule. He was a non-violent and calm person that everyone knew to be rationale. However he disagreed with Ambedkar about abolition of caste system in India. Gandhi here was of the belief that caste system was an integral part of the Indian Hindu system and taking out the lower caste or caste systems on the whole would disrupt that sacred system and cause chaos. The Gandhi portrayed here is very different from the Gandhi we see, in the movie Gandhi and The making of the Mahatma which focuses on Gandhi as the protagonist. There Gandhi is portrayed to be a rationale man who takes decision wisely and takes them keeping in mind the greater majority. But here we see Gandhi‟s reluctant to let free a large mass of oppressed people form the cruel treatment of the society. This is new to the Indian public and there were many criticisms against this portrayal but Jabbar Patel responded saying that his emphasis was on Ambedkar and how he viewed and experienced the world so it is possible for the movie to look slightly biased.

Figure 12 Gandhi and Ambedkar resolving issues However keeping all the differences aside, Gandhi admired Ambedkar‟s will power. He considered Ambedkar suffering and his immense knowledge as Ambedkar‟s greatest strength that will make him a great leader. He is also the one to suggest to Nehru that Ambedkar will be the right person to work on the forming committee of the Indian Constitution, because of his immense knowledge in politics and Economics and because he has suffered a lot being a low caste. The other characters in this movie are either for or against Ambedkar. Their existence is to show the different inequalities in the country and outside. It also gives a different

36 perspective to the common knowledge of the Indian history. The director wanted to merely show the life of Babasaheb Ambedkar and in the process he did not want to show any prejudices or extremely negative characters. And whatever disagreements the characters have between them the director shows clear rationale for the reason behind it. He reasons their morals and values. For instance when Ambedkar walks out of Gandhi‟s ashram, after a disagreement and Gandhi has the revelation that Ambedkar himself is from the lower caste, therefore empathizing and rationalising Ambedkar strong sense of beliefs against the caste system in India. Other characters used in this movie are only to give a contextual understanding of the period then.

4.2.4 Conflict There is no central conflict in the movie based on which the storyline progresses. The movie is a historical collection of events in Ambedkar‟s life. It portrays the various levels of problems that Ambedkar was confronted with and how he overcame all that or how he dealt with loss or defeat. His conflict started at a very early age. Even in the movie, from the very start of the movie, Ambedkar is shown to be subject to discrimination from his fellow students at England. Discrimination based on his nationality and discrimination based on his caste. Other conflicts that the protagonist experiences throughout the movie involves poverty stricken family, having to choose between providing for the family and accomplishing his dreams of acquiring knowledge. He also faces conflicts in his work place. He finds it difficult to get a place to stay when he reaches Baroda. He realized that even if one rich man has a good heart it is not easy to change the mind set of thousands of people who were brought up with a certain beliefs and values. He faces a lot of problem when he leads his people on the right path to attain equality among the society. He realizes that violence is an easy resort to assert your voice but he struggles to change the minds of people to carry out a peaceful satyagraha. He had conflicts of ideas with some if the major leaders in th freedom struggle like, Gandhi, Nehru, Lala Lajpat Rai, Shahu Maharaj. When he decides that conversion of religion is the only way to free himself and other lower caste people of the Hindu religion, from the inhumane treatment, he is confused which religion to choose. He realizes that his decision is going to change the lives of thousands of people; he takes his time and finally decides to convert to Buddhism. Meanwhile he constantly has close ones telling him to focus on his family rather than his studies and liberation of the downtrodden. Ambedkar‟s brother picks up a fight with him,

37 because he is tired of the way Ambedkar was living his life. He felt that Ambedkar was ignoring his wife, who was of frail health, to fight for a cause he deemed greater.

4.2.5 Genre The movie is a combination of historic and biopic genre. Historic movie basically narrates the event of a certain historic period. There is very little fiction and the movie would basically just narrate the events from a third person point of view. It is unbiased and objective. A biopic is a movie that narrates the life or a person, who was a prominent figure in the society. The movie could be subjective and might cover the protagonist point of view. It could slightly differ in perspective and give you a totally different view of events that we already know of. It might not be the correct perspective and the director has the liberty to manipulate the point of view based on his research. This movie based on Ambedkar talks about him as the central character. It does not cover all the events happening in India at that time but only the ones where Ambedkar was concerned. It gives a very small part for the other leaders to play. Characters like Gandhi are not given much prominence in this movie and are also shown in a negative light for not standing up with Ambedkar in his fight against abolition of caste system.

4.2.6 Codes The different codes in the movie like the language and accent has been very purposeful and well controlled. The movie was shot in English, Marathi and Hindi simultaneously. The researcher has analysed the English version of the movie. He noticed that the director has quite deliberately given a very Indian English accent to the characters. And although the movie is in English it uses many colloquial words like Mooknayak (the leader of the dumb). The movie has thick Indian accent.

4.2.6.1 Technical Codes This movie has long shots and wider frames. The director has to give a sense of the time period the plot of depicts therefore the movie accompanies props and setting that will remind the audience of the time period or era the movie is depicting. Camera movements are limited. The movie has a few scenes where there is a slow pan or zooming in movement. The lighting of the scenes is mostly bright. However it is dark when portraying moments of loss and despair.

Figure 13 Ambedkar in despair The movie on a whole is dominated by the colours brown black and white. It gives the audience the opportunity to connect with the historic period the movie was set in. The dominance of white clothes throughout the movie is also prominent.

4.2.6.2 Written Codes The movie has a quite a many written codes. Throughout the movie the protagonist is indulging in either writing a letter or reading one. Though they do not show the written words, there is sense of visuals created by those scenes. Other than that there are images of newspaper headlines that summarize certain events in the movie and give it importance. Like the proceedings of freedom struggle or the conflict between Gandhi and Ambedkar was recorded in the newspapers. It made the event look more authentic. These written codes are also significant because in that time period the newspaper were the only wide scale mode of communication among the people of India. Publications became the new source of fire for the freedom struggle. The strong visuals take us back to that time period.

Figure 14 A newspaper report on Gandhi's satyagraha against the demands of Ambedkar

4.2.6.3 Performance Codes The character in the movie had to portray character of people of a different time period. In the way they dress, walk and talk. All the characters form the movie had helped the researcher connect to that time. An average Indian viewer would already know if these characters through the history texts. So it was not only important for the characters to portray the character good through their acting but they also had to live up to the expectation of the common public who have a certain image of Ambedkar and Gandhi and other characters in their mind. The way they talked with the thick Indian accent only helped furthermore to that association. The costume they wore for example, Ambedkar wore a dhoti and a black coat on top that was considered to the dressing style of a learned Indian man during those times. We see Ambedkar‟s costume change with the setting of the movie. While in England he would formal English clothes with a black lawyer‟s coat on top and when he is in India among his people he wears the white dhoti and coat. When he is in a social gathering with his close ones he wore long sleeved long shirt, also called a Kurta and when he is at home with his wife or jus relaxing we see him in merely his vest and pyjamas. For the other parts of the movie he is dressed in a formal suit. So the costumes of the characters have been taken care of to suit the back ground. The characters portrayed many stereotypical actions like for example a wife bowing her head and not looking into her husband‟s eyes as a sign of respect. The stereotypes helped us understand the character better and classify them into various categories, for example the wife showed immense sacrificing nature for her family and more specifically her husband.

Figure 15 Ambedkar with his wife portraying distress

The British lawyers, classmates of Ambedkar who constantly passed snide remarks at him, were easily identified as the racist British men. The character of Fanny is a representation of the typical white woman with a sincere heart and who is against the crime against the downtrodden and tries to help the protagonist. We see a similar character in the movie Lagaan, the white woman who tries helping in the oppressed.

4.2.6.4 Symbolic code There are some very obvious symbols in the movie like the prominence of the colour white and black and the various they have been used in. In terms of lighting too the director has portrayed scenes depicting negative emotions in a comparatively less lit setting to let the darkness loom over the character‟s face.

4.2.7 Social / Historical Contexts The movie is set with very strong sense f the time and place it is epicting. Whether it sis depicting a small village in rural India or the big Victorian library in England the director has taken everything into consideration. The costume, props, setting, lighting, accent or the language characters are speaking in, they all successfully help the audience travel through time and space of societal evolution.

4.2.8 Themes/ Issues The theme discussed in this movie mainly is caste system in India which was the major focus of Ambedkar‟s life. Other than that in the backdrop we see many other issues that were brought to light through this movie. These issues and themes were also some of the common problems prevalent during that period. The issues brought to light through this movie are, poverty, religion and religious complication, need for education or lack of education among Indians during those times, lack of medical treatment, superstitious beliefs, idol worship, racism, discrimination, violence, patriotism, satyagraha, principles and morals. These ideas formed the core of the movie and helped form a plot.

4.3 Ek Hota Vidhushak The movie was made in 1992 and was produced by the National Film Division Corporation of India. It was one of the very few movies to lay emphasis on the life of theatre artists. It is based on a book written by Jabbar Patel, himself. The film very laurels like it won the Best film award in the Maharashtra State Film Awards in the year 1993. It also won the best feature film (Marathi) in 1992 at the National Film Awards. Quite unusually, the film also won the award for the best choreography, it was the first time the award was won by a woman.

4.3.1 Setting The movie is set in modern but in a very rural setting. The movie is a story about a circus clown and how he grew to being more than a clown so the first half of the movie was set in a circus background. The sets are very simple. There are no complicated sets or props required to make the setting look like a circus ground. There are tents and bright stage arranged as setting and people in the audience. The people‟s dressing style suggests that the movie is made to depict modern day time of the 90s.

4.3.2 Plot The movie starts off with a tragedy and is actually retrospection into one‟s life. The plot talks about the various conflicts one is born into and the various conflicts that rise up in years. The director has the plot following the protagonist. It is not from the protagonist‟s point of view but every scene involves him, there are no parallel plots taking place. The plot starts of as retrospection but from the events in the flashback are in a linear order going in the order of age chronology. The plot shows the protagonist as a child and the different hardships he went through being a fatherless child. He was faced with having to guard outside the house while his mother was involved in prostitution, inside the house. The man who took the protagonist‟s mother as a mistress became the father figure in the boy‟s life. He even took up his surname. The movie is about clowns and entertainers and the central idea of the movie is built right from the start when everyone around the protagonist see him as an entertainer. As a child the young boy made people laugh with his mimicry skills. He got nothing in return except a few people‟s roars of laughter. As a child the protagonist suffers, with a lack of a father in his life and therefore being ridiculed by people. The protagonist very unusual for a boy his age knows and deals with his mother trading sex for the welfare of both of them. He is not ignorant of all the

42 comments they pass, but he learns a way to crack a joke about it and make other‟s laugh too. When the only father figure in his life passes away he is taken back to the circus by him mom a place where she used to work prior to being taken as a mistress. He is at awe of the people in the circus and their ability to cheer and make people laugh especially by Nanu the boy learns many mimicry tricks from him and gets even more interested in the circus. Finally he starts to work there, in plays, singing, mimicry and dance. The plays he wrote and performed were a satirical with humour dealing with the real life situations in the society like marriage, corruption, politics, etc. He had become quite popular among his crowd and people came back to him for more. His school friend, who has become a politician visits him and suggest he promote his talent on bigger platform and he provides him enough funds for that. His popularity increases. He gets invited into the cinema industry and he leaves theatre behind. He gets wood by the fame and money that cinema was giving him, which obviously lacked in the theatre industry. He falls in love he has to choose between the girl he liked and supported him for a long time and pregnant by him. On the other hand he has a famous film actress who likes him and is promising a brighter future for him. The movie shows the various choices the protagonist makes do leave the world of drama and theatre behind and move on to something that is does not involve him acting like a clown while people laugh at him. But by the end of the movie he realizes that wherever he goes he will only be a clown for people, an entertainer to escape from the harsh realities of life. The plot reveals that the even for the protagonist this satire and other ways of entertaining people was his way of dealing with and escaping reality. He realizes his wrong choices he tries to correct them, he lets his wife leave and agrees to take care of his daughter that he conceived from his deceased girlfriend. The story ends with his daughter opening his eyes to the fact that sometimes satires and humour cannot make you laugh or forget your problem sometimes you need a simple fairy tale story to feel happy and in the end he lets go of all he knew and the only skills he owned as an entertainer to tell his daughter a fairy tale story that makes her smile. He loses his audience and the applause that he was used to but he realized that one smile given by his daughter meant much more than the applause. The plot is simple; it is simple man‟s life. There are the usual troubles and falling in love and sorrow and heartbreak that any other story would normally have. However

43 the difference here is that, there are many layers of meaning in this simple storyline. It successfully touches upon various aspects of life and society. It makes the audience laugh but it also makes them think. More than half the plot is dedicated to the plays and performance by the entertainers, there are not merely supporting the plot or the setting but they are a part of the plot. The plays are not directly related to the storyline but they form a parallel world of ideas that the audience should think.

4.3.3 Characters The protagonist in this movie was the character named, Aburao played by actor, Laxmikant Berde and child actor, Aseem Deshpande. He was known as a clown, entertainer and Songadya (Marathi for clown). The first half of the movie is the younger version of the protagonist. He is child born out of an illegitimate relationship. However he is close to his mother and does not despise her for the lack of a father in his life. He was a subject of ridicule between his friends and teachers. His mother is a dancer and she initially trained him in this art. However the protagonist is naturally an artist in mimicry, singing and acting.

Figure 16 Protagonist dressed like a clown He is a young man who is optimistic towards life. Or like Sigmund Freud said, the protagonist finds a way to cope with his distress by looking at life with humour. He learns to enjoy being the laughing stock among people. He adjust with what we he has because he is given no choice but when he gets an offer to act in films instead of working in theatre, he takes the opportunity. He is astounded by this different world where there is so much fame and money that one can earn. He is easily accepted into both the worlds

44 however his role in both the worlds remain the same, that of a clown. His personal life is not very different he leaves behind his lover to accept a new life of fame and money and marry the popular actress. However after his marriage he realizes that even his wife liked him for his skills as a clown. She admits to having used him to forget all his sorrows of life. After his wife leaves him and he is told about his daughter from his old lover, he takes up a new role as a father. Ironically, the clown that could make anyone laugh could not make his own daughter smile. He was left with many questions, he tried all his different acts and finally his daughter told him that little girls don‟t want to listen to such jokes. Children like to hear fairy tales as a part of their bedtime stories. He is taken aback by this information; he always assumed that people only liked listening to satires. Meanwhile he also realizes that everyone he thought of as friends like for example, the school friend and chief minister of Maharashtra, Gunwant, did not really care about him, they all saw him as a clown that would attract people towards himself with his jokes and actions filled with humour. The other important character, is his mother, Manjula Devgaonkar played by Madhu Kambikar. She is the main reason for the personality he created over the years. She is not a bad mother; she is a helpless one who has to see her son sit out in cold while she trades her body for the wellbeing of her son and herself. She loves her son and has feels pride in his skills as an artist. She is herself an excellent singer and dancer. She has clashes with her sister who runs the circus, where she had to reluctantly return to due to the demise of the wealthy man who took fed them. She swallows her pride and goes back. She has a supportive son who rescues her in every time she is faced with a problem. She sees him grow up wisely and beams at him. She is a little reluctant to let him go into cinema but she lets him go and after that she feels that she lost her son, her son comes back once and tells her that she was wrong and that he would not leave her but

Figure 17 Protagonist and his mother she was right and finally she dies with her son not around her. And on her funeral the protagonist is forced to think about the past. So she or her death becomes the start of the plot. Although the circumstances have led her in a terrible path she instils good behaviour in her son and is affectionate towards him. The popular film actress, Menaka played by Varsha Ushaonkar is the character that brings a different world to the protagonist. Until her presence the protagonist is quite content with his life and his occupation as a clown. Then for a celebratory event of his theatre company, Meneka comes as the chief guest. She is very entertained by the protagonist‟s show; she offers to take him to the world of cinema. She gets him many opening and then he naturally gains popularity. Eventually, she falls in love with him and tells him she wants to marry him. After a while their marriage falls apart. She admits to the protagonist that she only liked him when he was like a clown. She also admits that she got close to him to get over her feelings for her lover of the past.

Figure 18 Protagonist and his wife

She symbolises everything that the protagonist was trying to escape. She was the dream life that he had no idea existed but when he met her she opened a new world for him, but soon realized even she wanted her for amusement and that both worlds were filled with sorrow.

4.1.4 Conflict The movie portrays conflict in the protagonist‟s life throughout. Although the protagonist finds a way to deal with the insulting remarks of the people about his mother and himself he was internally growing a personality that used satire to break out of the reality. He is conflicted between choosing the world of theatre which he is so good at and has been an integral part of his life and kept him content or choosing the film world that was new to him but much more promising. After he experiences the life of leisure, fame and popularity he is conflicted about staying there or coming back to theatre where he belonged. He decides to remain in the film industry but after his marriage with Meneka it falls apart in a short spa of time and she reveals many facts about her feelings of him and he is again conflicted with letting her leave or asking her to stay. The final conflict he experiences is when he is introduced to his daughter that he had no knowledge of. She was a young girl who would not smile no matter what and he was confused and clueless about how to make her smile or make her happy. During every conflict the protagonist questions himself, his needs, skills and achievements as a person, artist, son and a father. That‟s why by the end of the movie the protagonist emerges out with a different personality and content with something as simple as his daughter‟s smile.

4.3.5 Genre The movie is a satire but it also has humour in it. The response to this movie can be both shocking and thought provoking as well heart lightening and humorous. The movie uses the plays and the theatre performance to point out various issues and flaws in the society. Though the audience in the movie and in reality have a laugh about it, they are later forced to think about it. Jabbar Patel is more inclined towards theatre compared to the art of film making and this inclination is clearly seen in the emphasis he gives towards the play in the movie. The humour element of the movie prevents the social messages from coming harshly to the audience. The audience are gently coaxed to think on such trivial matters that concern the society.

4.3.6 Codes The songs and the dialogues used for the theatre performance form a major form of coded messages. The dialogues are powerful and have punch lines in them.

4.3.6.1 Technical Codes The framing and camera angle in the movie is usually wide and still. The theatre performances were mainly captured from a wide angle. The camera was placed in such a way that the audience felt that they were a part of the audience in the theatre. It was mostly still and had very slight panning movement along with zooming out. There was extra emphasis given to the performer or character in the frame to an extent where the background was either blurred or darkened to give undue importance to the character. The overall lighting in the movie was bright and there were bright colours used for the costume and props.

4.3.6.2 Written Codes There are no written codes in the movie of any sort.

4.3.6.3 Performance Codes The characters in the movie are limited to the performers in the circus/theatre and the few supporting character in the film industry the rest are all masses of people who came in as the audience or viewer or fans of the film shooting. The character that‟s were of importance played their role very well be it the under privileged theatre performer or the

4.3.6.4 Symbolic code The movie was very direct. There was no hidden agenda or symbolic codes in the movie.

4.3.7 Social / Historical Contexts The movie was modern based concept the idea of film popularity was well established by the huge mass of people shown in the very first scene.

4.3.8 Themes/ Issues The central idea of the movie was personal growth but there were many different issues that were brought to light by the play and songs. The issues that were brought to light were poverty, corruption, bureaucracy, marriage, extra marital affair, divorce, infidelity, politics, exploitation of the poor by the rich.

Chapter 5 CONCLUSION

The three movies that the researcher analysed were of various genre and diverse plots. The movies were made at different time period and portray entirely different setting. The genres of the movies were biopic, socio-political, philosophical and satirical comedy. The themes and issues discussed in the movies were similar in many aspects. They all spoke about the development of the society, corruption, mentality of the society and their attitude towards certain communities and groups. The conflict too, was same in all three movies. They all dealt with the personal and psychological growth of a person. The protagonist in all three movies had to choose between pursuing his/her dreams and staying with their loved ones. And all three protagonists chose their dream over their family. That in return led to many problems. In terms of characterization Jabbar Patel has given a lot of emphasis on the protagonist. All three movies have effective supporting characters, but the protagonist is the only one given importance. In fact the story always followed the protagonist. It is not necessarily from the protagonist‟s point of view but the camera follows the protagonist with no scenes shot parallel in the absence of the protagonist. The cinematic technique used is consistent with the time period in which the movies were made by Jabbar Patel. In terms of cinematography, he has many close-up shots to give importance to capture the protagonist‟s emotions. He has also used light and shadows very skilfully to portray the different emotions experienced by the protagonist. So we can conclude that Jabbar Patel has a dustinct style that he implements in the characterization, conflicts, storyline and lighting in his movies.

5.1 Limitations A perfect auteur theory process can only be conducted if all the movies of a director are studied irrespective of the genre and style of the movie. However Jabbar Patel‟s movies were not readily available which made it difficult for the researcher to

50 study more of his movies. The dialogues of the movies are a vital aspect of the movie. The researcher has not analysed for two reasons that they are in different languages an also because of the researcher‟s lack of perfect understanding of the Marathi language.

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