Ei st ribut ion limit ed PARIS, 23 December 1964 Translated from the French

W T F D NA'EONS EDJCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND C W R A L ORGANIZATION

INMAN FILMS AND WJBTERN AUDIENCES

Jerzy Toeplitz

.Part 1: ~ TI= HISTORY OF TRE INDIAN CINEMA Page

1. Introduction ........................................................... 1

2. mie silent cinema ...................................................... 2

Mythology .............................................................. 2

' -

Historical films ....................................................... 3

Social films ........................................................... .......................................... f Detective and adventure films

Talking pictures, from the flïst, to (1931-1947) .......... 4 3* - The return to popular tradition ........................................ 5 The language problem ................................................... 6 Film-making centrss .................................................... 7 k&k,?lGlOW .............................................................. 8 Historical films ....................................................... 9 Social films ........................................................... 9

4. Fifteen VearS: V14-1363 .............................................. 10 - The Lidian cinema politically, economically and geographically, after independence ........................................................... 10 Contacts with forelgn cinemas ......................................... ; 12 The different types of modem films .................................... 13 l+ftholo@;y .............................................................. 14 Realism ................................................................ 14 Satyajit my ........................................................... 16 f i l o t i ~ ~ u .............................................................. 16

Part II: NATIONAL CXARACTEJSTICS OF THE INMAN ELM

1. General ................................................................ 18

The opinions expressed and recomendations put forward in this document involve the au%hor only,

2 . 3*

4 .

1 . 2 . 3- 4 . 5 .

1 . 2 . 3* 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 .

1 . 2 . 3-

- 2 - Page ..

The continuity of a civilization (literature. theatre. msic. dance) ... 19

The screen a?d modern life ............................................. 22

Film . a new cultural phenomenon ....................................... 24

Part III: THE IMKEAN CINEMA AN3 THE WEST

First attempts: situation at the end of Second World War .............. 27 Exports of Indian films since the War ................................... 28

Participation at Festivals ............................................. 29

Co-productions ......................................................... 30

Some data on Indian films exports ...................................... 30

Part IV: SOME IMPO"

Britain ................................................................ 34

United States .......................................................... 35

Denmark ................................................................ 36

Soviet Union ........................................................... 37

Poland ................................................................. 38

Eungary ................................................................ 39

Som general considerations ............................................ 39

Part V: POPULdlRIZING INMAN FILMS IN THE WEST

Festivals .............................................................. 41

bseums. film libraries. clubs and associations ........................ 42

Newspapers. magazines and books ........................................ 42

Part VI: FINAL CONCLUSICNS

1 . Quantity and quality ................................................... 44

2 . A world unknown ........................................................ 44

3 Acoepting the artistic conventions of others 46

4 . It is up to India ...................................................... 46

Notes ....................................................................... 48

. ...........................

WS/0764- 102( CUA)

INDIAN JXLMS AND WESH3RN AUDIENCES

PART I

The history of the Indian cinema -- 1. 1ntrod.uction

In ~lny country, the development of the cinema as an art will depend on two main factors. One is the artistic m d technical standard of world production. In cinemas everywhere, a more or less large number of forelm films is shown, and it is these which, side by siCe with the home films, form public taste and encourage those interested in cinema - directors, writers, producers and actors - to experi- ment. The other factor is the country'rs own heritage, the development in it of art in all its forms through the ages. By its very nGture, the film has always and everywhere been influenced by the other arts, adapting and transposing the work and the traditions of writers, painters, composers, actors and playwrights. However cosmopolitan, however much it owes to foreign models, a film nevertheless remains essexLially national, linked to ths social, political and cultural tradi- tions of its country of origin.

Th@ contribution of each of these two factors will vary with place and time. Sometimcs it m y be the foreign influence which dominates - in the days of thk silent film, for example, Ep %-'ywood swamped out any chance of serious film-making in the underaeveloped countriEu3, new perspxtives for national prc;dv.ct.ion, and speech and sound considerably rein- forced the national character of films.

The advent of sound films opened up entirely

India is a classic exzimple of a country where, since the beginning of the cinema and the first films, the conflict has existed between a trend towards blind imitation of foreign models and the desire to create an original cinema of its own - a conflict all the more acute becauss it involved the collision of two dif- ferent civilizations, East and West, formed under widely different historical con- ditions. The foreign film in India means, above all, the American film, product of an ultra-"n civfllzation and a way of life that is brscd on technology. India he=.zclf ia the product of twenty centuries of tradition, religious, philo- sophical tJlci artistic, a tradlticn, perhaps, often deformed, half-forgotten but, from the €Il.mahyas to Ceylonp always d%ve and always present, passed on from gen- eration to generation through pogulcr entertcciments, dances, songs and poetry. Spread over an im.nse territory, among h u n m of millions of people who speak many languages, this age-old civilization has defended itself against aggressors and colonizers and, from the beginning of the Nineteenth century when Indian cational conscioumcss re-awakened, soon found patrons and enthusiasts of the arts among her more enlightened citizens.

When the film first appeared In India, a new movement had already started in letters, music m d the thcetre. Coining from the Wetst - at first from Europe md, after 1914, from America - the film clashed with the cultural trsdition of the Fast. sevsral secade;; betwaen these two widely-differing civilizations, the result of a compsmise, a symbiosis, and often a bizarre one, between ideas that are at OPpo- site poles.

The Indlan cinema toby is the product of a conflict that has lasted throueth

It is a phenorsnon unique of its kind.

WS/W64-102 ( CUA )

c - 2 -

The object of this extremely cc3d3nsed history of the Indian cinema is to retrace the course of this conflict, and identify the battlefields and the For as Erik B~~rrlouw and S. Krislmawtmy, co-authors of the book '1ndla.n film"^^) have so aptly said: history of Indian films and American films.

ctors.

The History of the cinema in India will for many years be the

2. Tho silent cinem

Those who first showed "moving pictures" in India at the end of the Nineteenth century, found the conditions in cities and towns ideal. and the cinem imedlately, almost automatically, filled one that existed. There were no clubs or simiLa2 meeting places.me pe.ople,used to famtly rather than c o m - na1 sbcibl life, facusd in the cinema ran entertaining way of passing the time thatwas within the reach of all. The legitimate theatre, then in its infancy, existed only in the big cities and had only a minority appeal. Popular @ntertainments were a mixture of acting, singing and danoing that did not travel beyond the home, In other words, the cinema had no serious competitor, and was an lnm,-tdiate success.

Nature abhors a vaouum

Only a few years after the first films were shown, exhibitors set out to con- quer the country and, in towns m d villtzges, received the swne enthusiastic wel- come as in the cities. until r$jnight, and bullock carts were needed to carry off the sackfulls of money taken.

Pex-for,mces were continuous from seven in the morning

Whology

The first Indian film, "RaJah Harlschandra", was produced and directed by Ih"raJ Govind h l k e , (kdasaheb Phalke) , and first shown on 17 %y 1913 at the Coronation Cinema in Bombay. For the time, it was an ambitious work, if only by reason of its length - 3,700 feet and five acts; "Queen Elizabeth".with Sarah 1. Bernhardt, a contemporary film, had only four.

Phalke came from a priestly family, and his father wanted him also to devote himself to the sha5ters. Thics was not to be. pory, the young man's bent was towards painting, acting and magic; both found themselves absolutely at home in the film.

Like ßeorges WliBs, his contew

Even in this first film, it is easy to recognize which elements b l k e deri- ved from Europe and which he owed to Indian clvilization. The idea for "Rajah Harischandra" came from a European film, probably Ita-'Ien, galled "The U f e of Christ" and he took his theme from the Indian national epic "Mahabharata". The national heroes portrayed in the film and their exploits were as familiar to audi- ences in Bombay, Calcutta and Wdras as the persons in the Bible were to Paris, Roms or London audiences. But, arrayed in their oriental costumes, the Eastern gods and mortals were brought before their au&ences by t'ne technical processes of the Western cinema. ing fn turn, the decapitated head of the cruel Kamisa joining again onto his body - these were the sort of thing with wkiich the maker of "~oumey to the Moemw used to asto:.u3d his audience; B l'indienne.

Riding above the clouds, Krishna appearing and disappear-

"Rajah Harischandxa" really was very mch a Georges Mlil?s

The fashion caught on, and soon an avalanche of mytholbgical epics followed. The formula was always the same - familiar stories and chmacters based on populw belref, myth and Legend - and on a style barrowed from Frame, Italy or *emote America. WS/W(64-102( CUA)

> - 3 -

While Italian, German and Amerfcan studios were churning out historical dramas, in Irdia the first cinema rm.gxt@J Jamsethji Framji M a h , of Calcutta, a kind of Indian Adolph Zukor, omer of a chain of cinemas, made his "super" film "Nala Damayanti". It was directed by the Italian Eugenio de LiQ;uoro, and had an English star, Patience Cooper, in the title rôle, combined Eastern splendour and Western technique. (3)

A critic wrote at the time that the film

In fact, these films were just the old religious entertainments, presented, thanks to the technical invention that was the cinema, in a new form. For cen- turies, at the fairs that accompanied reli&" fexstinl8, mortals had acted the part of gods; could only relate. Fzunayar~pr and thc Mahab'narata, ft'om the Sanskrit plays of the golden &@;e of Kalidasa, -sa and 3udraka.

now they could seem to perform the miracles the poor village actors The screen lent a new splendour to the characters from the

13?3.stor?.eal films u

After legend, it was the turn of the historical film, always with a blending of lcgcncl. Th3 gods were succeded on the screen by warriors fighting aggressors, For the most part, tt&y were Kshatrlya caste, of royal blood, distinguished for their courage and nobility. Their legend had grown over the centurias; like the brave, generous cowboy, they had a ncw leace of life after l920 - in fact, the westerns provided the example. Once again, Indian themes had borrowed a new technique from America.

W Fajputs", knights descended from the ancient

Detective and adventure films

During the twenties, so great was the Influence of Hollywood that even rqd-ho- logical and historical films on tradEtlona1 Indian themes failed to hold their ground against the inf1.u of films from the West, alien to the Indian form of cfvillzation. serials - slapstick comedies, and p a t numbers of films on the Near &st, an area wNch hacl a particular fascination for the Indian public,

India began to make detective films - faithful copies of American The favourite actor was Douglas Fairbanks, the most pQpA13r film his "Thief

of Ekg?.s¿i". Do-dgks Fs.ir3ûaks. Srdia e.nd the Arab world in the past. they wanted to film an Arabian tale or an African advonture, they went to HalQwood for the beckground.

An Indian actor, hster Vithal, prided himself on being the Indian As their art testifies, there were very close ties between

The film proCucers forgot all that; when

Adventure films featured Indian stuntrnen and an Indian-bom star with the E;h@;lish gserdcaym E s 3 Ekmline, and ev3rything, from the script to the oamera angles, was borrowed. The titles a130 had a true Amricm ring, e.g. The Veiled Enemy, Tkie Vamp, At the Clang of the Fetters and CO on. The mr-?la for irdta'cion did not stop at orima stories; a whole ~crie3 of =ropean writers of all kinds, including the two Dums, . HdJ. Cwirie, &rie CorrelZI, Thomas 1Iard.v and Victor IIugo, w e m served up with an Indian sauce. (4) versions were ma&.

Of "Les Miserabld alone , several

WS/0764-102 (CUA

r

- 4 -

Social film -- Only after 19s 21d some evidence egpear of attempts to h i p down this tend-

It was far from easy in India ency. effort to get closer to contemporary life and art. to get down to realistic subjects. Tine mom daring attempts of producers constantly came up ageinst the censorship. Many of the films ma& were never shown, or were taken off after a first showing. This happened, for example, in the case of R.S. Chow&wyrs "Anger1', in which Mahatma Gl-~ana appeared, &nd "badur" (The Worker) which cmtained plenty of social criticism (script by Pzem Chand who wrote in End%), wzs stopped by the censorship for several years, and then allowed to ba shown only after many cuts had been d e .

Thls was done, not in the name of the p3ot but, on the con%rary, in an

The country was still Briti6h.

The mod3rn trend in the cinema also received Some impetus from literature, from wrtters like Fhbindranath Tagore and Bankin Chandra Chatterjee, whose novels and plays were often sdapted for the screen. The director, Chandulal shah, made two imwrtant fllms on family problems and the inability of old moral stanckrds to cope with new conditions of life. Unfaithful) , and "Typist Girl" were as successful ffnanaially as the mythology films.

These films, "Gun S u n W i " (Why Husbands are

These were exceptions, however. On the whole, the Indian cinema, at this time groducing a few dozen films a year, was unable to stand up to the pressure from outside. script, stars, acting, even the costumes were Imitations, often heavy-handed, S o m times quite ludlcrous. The circus stunts, the vamps with plunging necklines, the g&-a!ve;rs a d chcses , the gua battles, the "butterwr>ul~'t-melt-in-their-mouth" heroines, might be macle in India but they smelled a mile off of California. the time the silent film went a t , the Indian oinema hm2 lost most of its national charactcr5stics and it sceme3 that its future history would be simply a specifi- cdly orieatal variction on the Aìncriaan. The advent of the talking picture was to chenge things radically.

Nearly every film had the HoUywood stamp. The style of film,

By

3. Talking pictures, from the first to in&pnc?ence (1831-1947)

The first talking picture in India, Ardeshir K Irani's "Alam Am", was shown at the kjestic Cinema in Bombay on 14 March 1931. even the most optimistic foracasts. besieged by crowds, and police reinforcements had to b called in. Tickets were sold on the black market at fifteen times their prica.95) And all this just to ha,r at last from the screen a language tkìt one understco d.... .

Pt.blic enthusiasm exceeded From nine in the morning, the cinena m a

The success of the Eecond talking picture "Shirin Faxhad", a Persian lore Etcry, was even more spestaculsr. Indian cir,ana.

A new road hzd been flung wide open to the .*.

From now onwards, the number of imported films decreased every year, while th3 nuìk2r of home-prodaced filas steaGi:y rose. 6O$ of the screen tima in the silent c&vs in Inclim cincms, took up less than 5$ in 1981. In 1926, Indian directors made 106 films; in 1962 they made 320. In terms of world output, India now W e s more films each year than the United States, comlng second only to J e m . in films.

American films, occupying over

Such were the results of the revolution sound E d e

WS/0764-102( CUA)

- 5 -

The return to m m l a r trzdition

The change is not explained only by the fact that people prefer to listen to a language they understand. In other countries, sound film neither gave rise to a new national cinema nor resurrected an old one. But in India, the sound film made it poss3Sle to revive in a new way, more attractive than ever, the old popu- lar entertainments, the infinite variety of stories, songs and dences which had taken the place of the Sanskrit court dramas. Suddenly, in all its glory, a traution twenty centuries old could be revived. Whether the old wine has retained its exquis-lte bouquet in the new bottles is an open question; far from reviving popular tradltions, the sound film has merely helped to kill them off. We shall return to this point later. For the moment, our concern is with sociological rather than artistic factors and, from this point of view, there is no doubt that the Hollywood formla of the all-talking, singing and dancing film, was a perfect vahiele for transferring to the screen all the vital elements of popular entertainment,

some maintain that,

Unc?er the rules formlated in the "flatyshastra", a treatise on aesthetics attr5butod to the Sage -rata, the cla&sic Sanskrit theatre represented a har- monious blending of poetry, msic and the dance. the Sanskrit court theatre disappeared, and the only remaining entertainments were those Given by strolling plzyers who derived their material from the two ancient national epics, the khabharata and the Ramayana. These entertainments always formed part of the religious rites attached to cults of gods and holy men. In Bengal, this popular theatre was calleci the Jatra, and- its players - mimics, dancers and ms:cia.ììs - were known as Jatrawalas. In the north, the same form of entertatnment, based on subjects taken from the Ramayana, was called Ram Lila. In South India, the Kathakali, a dance thestre, wi%h performances lasting several hours, Serived from the same tradi'cions. In Assam, the name for the theatre was Ojapali, in KeEhir it was called the Jasha, in Orissa the hela, and in the PunJab the Swang. As Erik Bernouw and S. Krishnaswamy point out in "Indian Film", the Indian cinema in 1931 was not on!.y a heritage from the days of the silent film, it had inherited something far more powerful and significant; sion aombined with the great tradition of msic that had con

When the Moslems invaded India,

the new means of expres- ued during the

thousands of years of m unii-iterrupted theatrical traG.iticn. ti7 In Western termg, %he sound film in India became a kind of screen opera. Songs

were not Just added to films, they formed an integrel wrt of the story. singing there wa3, t,% richer and more attractive the film. picture, " A l m Ara', had only a dozen songs; in "Indra Sabha' had to sing 59 songs, and this was by no means a record. msic was the principal ingredient in a sound picture.

lbe more T%e first talking

hardly two years later, the actors In short,

But if music was the main element, it was not the only one. The cinema also turned for insgiration to the modem InClla theatre wXch had grown up, *ader Ehropxm irct'lüence, at the turn of t b 'hsntfeth ccntury; in Bombay, for instance, then the p-iocfpa.1 centre of film production, it drew upon the theatre of the Parsees, a group ethnically small but culturally very active.

Flying from Moslem persecution, the Parsees c a m to India from Persia thirteen centuries earller. "hey settled in Bombay and adopted the GuJarati language, but remained conscious of their points of differonce and of their Western affinities.

- 6 -

For ttzis reason they were the firnt to be inI'l.uenoed by B.wopean civilization, brought to India by the British. English, had its own style of qeaking, rather meloclmmtic, dith elaborate gestures, and a dialogue replete with rhetorical flourishes. (7) language was transferred unaltered to the screen, b;?.inglng with it a stiffness that did little to h3lp the film to deal with the hppenings of ordinary, everday Life.

The Parsee theatre, playing in GuJarati and in

This theatrical

Apart from the theatre, Ilterature, too, had its share in exaggerathg the artificiality of films. silent films, only the story had been borrowed; tirades, the bamgue, inflated 1 age, was taken over as well, and uninterruptedly

When M k i m Chandsa Chatterjeers works were mads into now the florid style, the endless

kept at emotional boiling-point. @Y The first talking pictures in India then, were srmply replioas of mshal

dramas and plays, with the scxmd taking precedence Over the visual aspects. we should reme&er that the solution of treating the cinema as a transposition of the theatr-e was wideapreEd in the twenties, ard resulted from the inherent diffi- culties the new means of expression imposed on creative artists who, very naturally were tam2ted to take advantage of what lay ready to hand. a difference between India ax3 the West. In Euroge and t'ne United States, people soon got tired of the theatrical formla, preferring the vivid and lively style of the old sflent film, butthe Indian public remained en-thuslastic, entranced by the talking p.J.cture, k~ this way of gettl.ng back ideally by 60~r1d if not alto- gether by sight to the d d popul.ar traditions. The visual side of the cinema was not entirely neglected, of course - there were always the acting and the dancing. Gdt their presentation was entirely theatrical, without any concern for cutting, depth of field or camsra angles, and cinema-goers were perfectly happj.

k t

Nevertheless, there was

The language I problem

the cinema in India, was by no means an easy operation - not because of the cost of equipping cinemas an3 studios - that presente3 the same problem in all com- tries - but beczuse of the mltitude of languages and dialects. The 436 million inhabitants of the Republic of India speak 845 different languages and dialects, of wkdch 14 are recognized as official by the Constitution. The largest group, 1kO &X!.ions living in the States and in the north snd centre, speak Findi, the official State language. In the north-east, about 53 millions speak Bengali. In the Bombay area, 21 millions 53eak Marathi. In the south, 20 millions speak Tamil, a langxigs of Dravi6.im origin vrfiich bears3 no receriblancz to the languages of the north. The language closest to it, and also of Dravidian origin, is Telugu, si;oken by the 14 million inhaitants of the State of Andra Pradesh. 1-5 million; spsek Punjabi, 11 millions Gujamti, 11 mlllions Kannada, 9 millions klayalam, 2 millions Assamese, 2 rnillions Orìya, and over a million speak Kershmiri. Fach of these groups really needed films in its own language, as any other was as incomprehensible to them as French or Ehglish.

P

The introduction of eoUn2, however muoh it may have helped the development of

In addition,

Obviously, as the offioie.1 and majority language, most films ha(? to be in

In Calcutta it was Hindi. leriis. hngnli, and in hdras Tamil. Nor was this all. Hindi itself hzs many variants. Foremost is Hindustani, a kind of Hindi vernaoular used in commerce, and in general

As there were no studios in Hindi-speaking areas, this raised further prob- The languages in Bornbay were Marathi or Gujarati.

WS/Gï'G4-102( CUA)

- 7 -

use since the M231e Ages along the banks of the Ganges, the Indus and their tribu- taries. privately often keep to their ancient dialects. by vari~us Sanskrit terns, is uscd for administrative purposes.

It is also the language adopted in pzblic life by national groups who Yet another form of Ein&, enriched

The Moslems adap- to their own pUrpoSeLi, mixing many Persian words, and this evolved into

urdu. ted "t"' 9

iJhich Hindi was the cinema to uset

As usual in such cases, there was a compromise. Cinema Hindi was a mixture This con- of vernacular Hindustani and official Hindi, with Sanskrit additions,

trived language was F11En&whtr stlffDdan&arb%fioial, especially ia, Ohe bbgfnning. Actors were more at home in other languages which had a richer historical tradition and received continual adations, and were put off by this artificial, fabricated Hina. pelled to use for artistic purposes gn official larqgmge intendad for civil sec1 vants was a serious handicap.

These afficulties soon disappeared, but in the early thirties, being corn-

Filmmakina centres

Bonbzy soon beceme the largest producer of Hindi films. Films were also made in studios in Poona, Kolhap~r, Calcutta and Madras and, being made forthe widest public, brought in even more, Eventually, it became the practice to mabe several versions of the same film in different languages, either simultaneously or when the original version proved successful.

Bombay continued to produce most films, but Calcutta began to produce the best. It was in Calcutta, in the thirties, that New Theatres Ltd., the most ambitious of the Indian film compmies, was set up. Pramathesh chandra &rua, son of the Rajah of Oauripure. and Prince Barua's "PevdBs" were among the finest Indian films made at that time.

Its directors included Debaki Bose and Dcbzki Bose's "Chdidas"

Bengal, and particularly its capital, Calcutta, had always been very live artistically. Fkbinclr~mth Tagore. Calcutta in 1000. tory coaipmies where several plays, mostly by Indians, can be seen nightly.

It boasted m a y fmouo writers, the most illustrious being The first permanent Dengali language theatre was founded in

It remains the only city in Inaa with several permanent reper-

New Theatres Ltd. was founded in 1931, Its owner-kmager was an energetic young engineer, Birendra Nath Simar. An excellent business man and organizer, Sircar had a great flair for finding collaborators, and soon had collected a dyna- nAc group of artists. Their main aim was to create a national cinema, rid both of the mania of foreign imitation and of the ties which bound it to the singing and dance trar3tions. In common with others interested in literature and the mod- ern theatre, these y o m g people were trying to find a synth3;i-s that would e~braoe both Lradition and coiitemporary problems, and wanted to make films with a Social context thzt was relevant to national condltfons. The door was not to be entirely closed on mytholow, bJt the accent should be more on the present.

In style and subject, "Wtdas", directed by %rua, WRS considered the tuming point in the Indian cinema. Today, thirty years later, the scenario may seem somewhat insi2id a d melodramatic, but when made, this story of a young aristo- crat's unha2py love was seen primarily as a violent protest againet arzanged

- a - marriages. novel, written in Bengali. cion of his film. a gifted singzr with a fine, sensitive voice rQo has since become im,snsciy Fopular.

Tine soript was adapted fmn! Sarat Sendre Chatterjoe vs bes%-selling Barua also played the leading rôle in the Bengali ver-

In the Hindi vmsion, the r81e was physd by Kmdanla1 Saigal,

"Devdas" marked the final break with the old declamatory style, Barua, who knew firope and was greatly taken with Western films, especialu those of Rent? Clair and Ernest hbitch, firmly deciCed to have nothing more to do with the florid rhetoric so dear to his comgatriots. The actors were @sinst him, but Barua stood firm. He insisted that, In his film, actors must speak, not as they would on the stage, but as they normally spoke; m y singing must be closer to a lilt than to grmd opera, of Western film conventions, was really an attempt tc bring the 1nd;tan film into touch with ordinary life; it is difficult to be contemporary in a language that is both archaic and backward-looking.

This seeming treeson to the Indi-- cultural hepitage, this adoption

In addition to New Theatres Ltd., two others stand out during the thirties: the F'rahbat Film Company of Poona, and Eonbay Talkies Ltcl. company was RaJaram Vanakudre Shantaram, known as V, Shantaram, who specialized in mythological and religious films. His studlosf greatest artistic success was "rl.ruk,ram", the story of a Thirtamth century roet-saint who livcd in the little village of D;thu, still a place of pilgi-image today. Shantarants partners and collaborators, V. Damle and S. Fathelal.

At the head of the Poona

The film was made by

Bombay Talkies Ltd. was managed and directed by Himansu Ray, already known before 1930 as the leading light behind the first Indo-European Co-production, "The Light of Asia", Like Birendra Nath Sircar, Hfmansu Ray gathered'around.him a group of talented p ~ n g people who became the great hop= of the Indian cinema. K.A. Abbas and several others learned tbeir craft with Bombay Talkies. Hlmansu Ray himself made "Acht Kanya" (The Untouchable), a violent attack against caste pi-cjudices, one of whose victims is the heroine of the film. played by a public idol, the actress Devika -li.

Raj Kapoor, In 1936,

The part was

Following Bombay and Calcutta, Madras was the third geographical centre, most of the film3 in T a l aarl Telugu being made there. singing films. In the thirties, apart from these three centres and Poona, films were p~oducecl in fourteen other towns, mostly in the south. After partition, some centres like Lahore had become part of West Pakistan.

It specialized in elaborate

This, in broad outline, was the geopaphy of the Indian cinema after the advent of sond. In speaking of the chief c o p i e s which ma3e films, we touched only incidentally on the subjects. Let us now look at them in more detail and - without losing to sight the clash of civilizations, East and West - see what the m i n themes were.

The mythology film is still favourite with most of the public, but is no longer as exclusively representative of the national cinema a8 it was in the silent -7s. bhhz3hnrate or the Ramyana. treatment of mythological subjects, e.g. Dabaki Bose's film "Sita". is Seen looking at some ancient frescoes, and begins to tell the story of the hero- fne of the m a n a , The film returns, at the end, to the frescoes and the

ws\U{% 102 (CUA)

It became possible to make purely Indian films without going back to the The opposite has also been tried - the realistic

The conwiltator

. - 9 -

comentator. mirecul.ous aspect and shocked what might be ozlled the religious infantilism of some of the public but left the tkLeaners histor3cal perspective Intact.

This novel formula deprîved the protagonists of their marvellws and

Nevertheless, songs and dances continued, almost invariably, to be the main ingredient of films. Theatres Ltd., had the impressive total of 62 songs, not to mention three dance numbers. made by Bhal Q. Pendharkar in 1932, ran for 25 weeks at one of Bambayrs main cinemas.

'Krishna Leela" (The Story of Krishna), merde by Modern

Another film of the same type (in the Marathi language) "Shyam Sundar",

Somewhere between mythology and contemporary life come the devotional films In common with mythology, old tales m d legends provide on the lives of saints,

the Inspiration, and there is no attempt at historical accuracy. contemporary, however, in being deliberately intended to influence the thought and behaviour of audiences. Most devotional films, and especially those made by Ikbaki Bose, were concerned with Vaishnava, a religious revivalist movement which gained ground in India in the Sixteenth century, and has its devoted followers to this day. to preach the love of one's neighbours, 'Chandleas" (1932) znJ ''Vic!ppathi" (1933); by V. Damle and S. Fathelzl, the best-known film of this type. It ran for a whole year in a Bombay cinema, made over to look like a temple or a place of pilgfimage;

These films are

For the Vaishnavians love is the essential, and a man's first duty is 'This was the motif of Qebakî Bose's

and of "Sant Tukara"' (1936), directed

brought flowers, and laid them in front of the screen as before sn

Histo??lclal fil 5s

The historical film also had a polltical and a social rale. As with mythology films, part of the audience simply wmted an opportmity to a&ire lavish scenery and costumes, but others were patriotically stirrecl by the evocation of the glori- ous past and the heroic deeds of princes. was Sohrab Modi Is "Sikander" (AlexanCer the ffreat ) (1941). pride by relating the great conqueror's defeat at the gateway to India. sidelight: taken over.

A typical large-Saale historiaal film It aroused national

Interesting this film w?.s revlvsd in 1961, when the Tortuguese colony of Goa was

Social films

However, the period 1931-194'7 was marked mainly by the increasing affirmation of contemporary trends towards reforming sooial conditions in a country where so m x h of the past survived. with the approach and the courage of individual dlrectors and producers; but In all of tham, even the m s t sentimental and melodramatic, the message was easily discernlble. social temperature coi;tinued to rise, the demand for reform beoame more direct wnd open, end ooclal critiofsm sharper.

The degree of urgency in these films varied of course

Durirq the war years ad immILately after, until Indeper&noe, the

The main repreceatative of this tren4 in the Indian cinema in the thirties was V. Shantman of the Prabht Film Company. left-overs from the past in such films as " A d t h Ibnthan" (Sazlfice),(lg32), a protest agzlnat "kai!in9nn, the custom of sacrificing the living to the gods; "Ixuriya Na I"" ("be Unexpected) (lgfl), against forced marriages between old men and young girls;

€le fought social preJudices and

and 'Ad~ní" (Life Is For The Living) (1939), against houaes of

ws/oy64-102( CUA)

- 10 - prostitution. All these fiXm were comewhat ml&znatic, avoiding notkhg which might move the public, but the aim was praiseworthy.

!Che Second World War imposed economic eurterity on the Indian film ixvk..stry. Film was short, electricity rationed, films were limited in length aïiu number, cad a licence bad to be obtained before a film could be mde. of these difficulties was nothing compared to tho- political effeats of the war. The Congress Party preache0 prssive resishxo, and urgsd the poTulation not to help the British. of a Japanese attack created a new s!.tuation. Would the Japanese be invaders or liberators? For Indians end for Indlan film-mkem, the mommt to choose hacl com. Som favoured a Japanese alUaï-me, but the merJorlty, were against siding with the allies of Hitler even though, for them, the war offered an opportunity to intensify the fight for freedom.

But the si@plificance

The presence of Jeanese troops in %rma and the direct menace

Something else, this time In the cinema, also helped to enco&age the trend towards social criticism in films. screens. Until then, only a few people in the in&rt;.y had aoen them, durhg the visits they paid to &rope. For some directors, this new Und of film, so far removed from what they wel-e used to, was a ravelation that there were other ways of premnting life. The firct Smlet fil.= s>wn in ZnZlc were Mark Donskob's llIpni! Ckrildhood of Gorki" and "Th Rainbow", a d N. &kts "The Roa3 to Life".(12)

In 1942, Ssviet fibs began to appear on Indian

Fore.wst among the directors with social preoccupations in the Indian cinema were &hbob K h i with U s two fiho on p e a w t life, "Aurat" (Wo") (2940) and

Brothers), (194.4); and V. Shmtaram who directed and played the lead in "Dr Kotnis Ki Amar Wa~baI" (The Journey of Dr Kotnis) (1946) - the script adapted by m a j a Ahmad Abbas, a talented journalist with radical ideas, from his own book, "The One who Never Came Raak".

Roti" (Bread) (1942); Biml Roy with his film about workers "Warnrahi" (The Il

In 1946 Ahbas directed his first film "DhmAi Ke La1" (Children of the Soil), about the famine in Beneal in 1943. plays. operation with the All-InGa S",udents' Foderat2.m and Kisx Sabha (the farmerst association), which organizations provided actors free of charge for the crowd Scenes. be desirea. Its strength la2 in its indisplltcble authenticity, its sincerity, and in th2 total absence of embellishment or watering down. The tragedy of the fanine, which ccst millions their lives, was recounted i?? a wejr which was meant to startle the com7lacent. Xe proposed a remedy which agricultural Co- operatives. 713s. "Children of the Soil" was one of the first attempts in 1fid.ia.n cinema history to produce an ideological rather than comercial film. of the Indian cinema cannot be ignored.

The script , also by Abbas, was based on two The film was prodiuced by the India People's Theatre Association, in co-

It was scarcely a work of art. Acting an3 direction both left a lot to

The author did not limit hfmlcelf to depicting the oatastrophe. ou d help to avoid any recurresce of such calamities:

It was not yet a success but its importance for tine subsequent dsvelopmnt

4, FTfteen Years: 1948-1963 - The Indian cinema, politically, economically and geographically, after Independence __I

Of free nations. The sub-continent split into the Moslem Statz of Fakistan (in two On 15 August 19!;7, India ceased to be a colony, and becme one of the fan5ly

- 11 - sepsrated portions, Esst and West Pakistan) and India, predominantly Hindu in ~e3.lgicn. lems wepe Prmnse, far beyond the Government's economic resources or organization for coping with them. avercge liff~5pan was 26 years. more or less independent or autonomous principalities. of the dlfferefit ethnic, religious and Bocial grou;?S paralysed all attempts at integration. The Indfans left Pakistan, the Moslems left India. found for millions of refugees.

The eituatim of the new Indian State wa8 mything but eafiy. The prob-

Hardly 185 of the population could read or write. The One part of the State was divided Into some 600

The centrifugal tendencies

Partition was followed by bloodshed and by mass migrations. Accommodation and work had to be

In these conditions, neither the Federal Government nor the authoritiers in the 16 States and 6 autonomous territories (set up under the Act of 1 November 1946 which defined the boundaries) cared m c h about the problems of the cinema. industry, Their only interest was that cinemas should pay as much tax 88 possîble. This soon led to protests, and even strikes, in the industry.

There was no crisis in the actual production of films, even though the statis- tics sliow that, apart from 1949, the number of films made dropped off steadily at ffrst. figures begm to gr> up again and by 1%0, had reached the record total of 324 full- length films. These figures seem impressive, and the Indian cinema is certainly a real force but, on a closer look, the situation becames rather disquieting.

In 1951, 224 films were produced, as against 276 in 194.7. In 1952, the

There is now a steady annual outpul; of between 295 and 324 films.(l4)

First of all, filmmaking is very dispersed, being carried on in a great many small centres, and this scarcely helps to raise technical or artistic staadards, The number of direûtors (679 in 1961) 1s incredibly high, even allowing for the fact tbt, aprt from the full-lei* films, India produces 1 O to 200 dooumentaries a year. In 1951 there were '73 studios and 43 laboratories, (18) which indicates that the techniaal infrastructure is poor. Most of the serious companies which formerly m d e successive films an3 meintained certain artistic standards have failed to survive - New Theatres Ltd. (Cal-cut%as) the Prabhat Film Company (Poma), and others.

Secondly, the fragmentation of production is matched by a chaotic system of India is admittedly mormous, but the figure of 1,023 distributors distribulion.

is staggering, especially in relation to India's few cinemas - in 1952, 5,000 cinemas (3,600 permanent and 1,400 mobile) in an area of 1,260,000 square miles. For come obscure reason, temporary hut ainemas, which are given a licence for one year only, are listed as permanent cinemas. the four States of Madras, Kcrala, &@sore and Andrah Pradesh. centi-, they are still very few. In 1959 cinema seats numbered 3,Z5O,OOO, i.e. one seat per l b inhabitants.(l8) The possibilities of development are, tharefore, almost nlimited, and more cinemas might perhags make prcduction lees vulnerable to every risk and chance, of high taxes and competition, the average film &es a profit, but rational plan- ning seems almost impossible for the moment.

Half the cinemas are in the south, in In the north and

Some 5OO,OOO loaalities have never had cinemas(l7)

In spite

It may be ad&d th:t production costs are continually rising, principally because of the enormous ems - often e.mounting to hundreds of thuuszmds of rupees - paid to the stam, wtrlle the pay of stuao technicians is nur.&crzd in tens or at most a few hundred rupees a month. In Bengal, five films can be made for what is

WS/O764- 102 (CUA)

- 12 - p d d to one star in Bom3ay. oi'ten what remains is not enough to my the others properly and the technical stan- dsrds suffer as a result. In most Illclfan films, photography, cutting, sots and direction leave a great deal to be dmlsed.

This weighs so hewily on the production budget t:nt

Contrary to what the Congress Party exp?cted, independence saw a considerable growth of centrifugal tendcncies within the mltil.ingual pophtion. The m w e prosperous south, which has more and better cinsmas, did not w m t films in Hindi. P.s east Bengal became part of Pakistan, the &aga1 industry lost 40% of its market. &ay of the best directors, Bimal Roy among them, abandoned Calcutta for Bombay, the Hollywood of Indla.

The nuniber of films in Hindi decreased from 181 in 1947 to 91 in 1962, rvld was smaller still in l%3, only b2 bei= produced in the first six months of 1963. Films in Bengali, 62 in 19$l, now average 35 to 40 a year, while the number in Tamil doubled (30 in 1947, 61 in lg&!), and films in Telugu rose from 7 in 1947 to 48 in 1962. Films in Kannada and Pblayalm similarly incremed from one or two in 1947 to 15 or 16 in 1962. Gujarati, they decreased from 25 in 19h7 to 5 in 1962; interest in praduclng films for a popahtion of a mere 11 million (we are in Indial) arAd GuJarat itself has no pcrdao-bion centres, naturally had repercussions also on the artistic aide

Fi1.m in &.Fathi remain Qn average 15 per annum. In Bombay producers saw little

in language ratios Thepe

Calcutta - m x t to Eo&:.y the largest procfuction centre - gradually lost econo- mic prestige and the support of many of its finamial bacbers. Thanks mhdy to Satyajit by, however, it has re-mtned 88 fertile as eyer in young talent, nnd a p!.oneor in artistic experiment. The importmce of Madras has steadily own, and

put was mostly In southern languages, Tamil and TeXugu, but also included Hindi- speaking films intended for other parts of the courttry. for mythological and historiczl subJeots is bound up with the movement for the revival of kavidian oivilization and to the activities of the Wavida Mumetra Kazaham, (Dravidian Progressive Movement), which favours autonomy in southern India, or evnn sesration. The movement has many supporters among t5e film-makers and actorz; hema %he plethora in so m y s m t h e n films of accusatioris against the north and unfavourable references, while everything achieved over the centuries by the south is presented in the most flattering light - not only in films fn Tamil, but aaso in those in Telugu -,i Kennada. Ths latter coxist almost exclusively of stories taken from the hhabharata and the Rarnayana; films in Palayalam, the language spoken in the State of Kerala, alone reflect contemporary life and a realistic approach.

in lN2, with 143 films, it wes ahead of Eolltbay wXch produced onPj 125 r 2 k t s out- The preference in Madras

Contac+,a with foreign cinema

Western art, of course, nerer ceased to influence artistic trends in the Indian cinema, Sound did not eliminate imports and, after independence, the Indian market began to attract more foreign interest - political as well as economic. Ca?ite'!iA-, and sccialist counL,rfo:: were alike in wooing the most powerful of the non-com:iitted countries. of prestige to have its films appearing on Indian screens. anxhus; to have her own films shom abroad, willingly allowed imports, seeking a?.wzys to maintab a balmce - this time pddtfcal. - kí?tw~en East m d West. Year# m r e and mora official Indian delegations went to film festivals or visited

--

It became for each oowtry,k-hatevcr its ends, a question Meanwhile, India,

Eae:iy

- 13 - other aountries and so came into direct contact with foreign colleagues; too, mturally had its results.

this,

%%e first International Film Festival, in January 1952, was a decisive event for Lndia audiences. They szw, for the first time, the artistic spontaneity of Italian neo-realism, the new Japanese cinema, and films from the People's Demo- cracies, In the following yeare, EXrropean film3 (British incluc?ed) which had been almost superseded in Inclian cinemas by Hollywood, gradually regained lost ground; they were greatly favoured by film dubs in Bombsy and Calcutta, despite difficul- ties which included strict censorship and Customs restrictions. The Calcutta Film Society (run for many years by Satyajit Ra;y and Chitanand Das Gupta, enthusiastic admirers of the Seventh Art who were to become two of its major creative artists) was outstandingly energetic end constructive. These contacts between India and the West naturally did not directly affect the great mass of cinema-goers, and were to that extent isolated and superficial, but they did Influence the creative artists, and thereby helpedto shape the modern Indìan film.

The different types of modern films

In 1963, the Indian cinema was fifty years old and during the last fifteen, India had been Independent. Given the maturity that that implies, it is obvious that the typical Indlz? film - or films, since there are a number of types - will not be a recent creation, but the outcome of years of trial and error, of setbacks and successes, the mutml accommodation of creative aspiration and public demand. Time will no doubt bring its own chmges but, for the moment, there are three distinct types which set the pattern for all the films produced,

"he first two are the outcome of two preceding stages of development; third represents a compromtse, an ettergt to amalgamate and anhance the beauty and qualities of the other two and psduce something that will attract the largest possible audience. The first type is the lavish mytholo@cal - or occasionally historical - epic. The second is the nodern film with a strong social content. The best-hown directors of both ty:p?s have always trhd to make their intentions quite clear and avoid any possibility of misunderstanding es to which school they belong, S.S. V e m , Sirector of the fZlm ballet spectacle "Chandraleld.la", declared that his sole elm was to entertain the public, not to try to educate it; audiences were millions of simple peasants who went to the cinema in order to get away for a while from the cares of everyday life.(23) standing artist in the Indim cinema today, takes the opposite view. his f i m to reflect life as it is, nefther glossed over nor embellished, Simply to tell the truth about the country and Its people.(24)

the

This has led to a oei3"cain palerization, an Lmtistic exclusiveness.

to him,

Satyajit Ray, the most out- He wants

Most fllms can be placed somewhere between two extremes, between the merely spectacular w4d the purely social. msic and dating, ths theme modern or, occacimclLy, historical. Very recently, musical comedies bave been unde m d proved tmmendously s~.iccessful. maintain that the public likes this type of film best, that it provides something for everyone, a dash of realism, goad, ancient music, and dancbg. It is also the safest formula, well-tried, acceptable to all, involving no rleks. K.A. Abbas has polnted out that in India, aontrary to what happens in the West, the success of a play or book is no indicatimi that it will be a success as a film, theatres being so few, =J. book sales so modest.

The most usual formila is meloclrama, with

Many producers

It is therefore somewhat rare for a play

- 14 - OP novel to b3 E d e into a film. (3) adapt or imitate films which have alrca5y baezl successful. b.s serialized, Elnd the makers of melodramas w e most fervent In their enthusiasm for serials.

mz siwlest cmrse is, then, to repeat, Every type of film can

Qi-thology - As already stated, the popular e s c type of film is taken from mythology and,

in the villages, these films have replaced mtortalnments that used similar thmes. Today, strolling players are seen only very rarely at religious festivals, and no- body is inte-fixed in them when they can see a "flesh-mid-blood" Krishna or a Harishmdra at the cinema. In the olden &LYS, audiences had to use their i-na- tions and conjure up their o m images of the gods; themt5e trouble and provides a tangible image of miraculous happenings and imagin- ary characters. These films appaal to the devoutly religious - particularly women, who go faithfully to see them. mythological subgects, but in the country, as op,e diatr3mtor said, "When we show a mythological subject, the old women ccma; and the girls will bring four young men".

the film producer now saves

City audiences are begimiiag to get bored with

each will bring three girls along,

The undispted master of the epic film is S. Srhivasan, otherwise known as S.S. Vasan, who In lgll bmght the kdras studios, modzmized them, and so in- augurated the Gemini Studios. de Mlle liges. sentiment, &-ad cex. turnes, and any aaowlt of dancing and acrobatics. "Chandralel-ha" in 19h7 at a cost of three million rupees, first In Tamil and then in Hindi. It broug,,t in 10 million rupees, mythology film, but an extension and development of it, but behave like heavenly beings, and their movements and gestures, like those of the gcds and heroes of the bhéibharata are impregiíattecl with the miraculous. The story is Unimportant, a mere pretext to hold togethsr the different episodes, each of which builds up like a circus turn: the tension mounts to a culminating point, whereu1.m the next episode immediately takes over. Somsthlng like thls has been the tgpica!, entertainnent of the Indian pscpla for centurles, and "Chandralekha" and other films made by Vasan ("AwaiyLtr" in Tmil in 1953, "Banut Din &we" in Hindi in 1954, and "Insanylet" in Tamil in 1955) follow the same traditions.

He established his own formula very much on Cecil B. The thrze essentials for mcc!ess with the public are sensation,

Over Eid dxve, there must be gigantic sets, ravishing cos- To thls formula he made

"Climdralekha" is not the old type The characters are mortals

Vasan found imitators in Bombay, and even in Calcutta. In l9T5, Shantaram, whose theme in the thirties was social reform, made a popdhr epic in technicolor, "Jharlak Khan& hyal Baje'' (Mng-ding go the Bklls), whlch was nothing but a dis- play laûting several hours by a pair of famous dancers, Sandhya and Copi Krishna. The most costly spectacular film to da$, Is "bghal E Aza"', ddch was awarded the Silver kd8l of the President of the Ftp:lbl1o in 1960 for the best film made In Hindi. for Anarkali, a young slave. The film was directed by K. Asif, took nine years to make, and cost 10 million rupees.

It tells the tragic story of Salim, son of Akbar the Great, a d his love

?%e growth of interest in the realist film dates from the success, in India and. abroad, of "Do Eigha Zaain" (Two Acres of in 1953 for his own compmy, Bimal Roy Productions. infhenced by Italian neo-realism, and Western critics rightly began to write of

which Btm1 Roy macle in Bombay 'ilne f"r'.m WJS mC!oubtemF

- 15 - Indfan neo-realism although it w m neither Eira1 Roy's first realist film nor the fjlrst Indlan film that had sooial preoccupations. spectacular film which was not only a big commemtal success but alsa heralded a ohange in artistic formla.

It was simply the first non-

The script was logically developed, never getting lost in sub-plots, very dffferent fram the usual mere pretext for a succession of songs aid dances. film is addrecsed directly to the spectator, to whom it recounts the bitter facts about 8 poverty-ridden peasant and his vain struggle to hold on to his plot of land. his plea for the poor soberly, with remarkable restraint and shows what life is llke at the lowest social level. is, is obviously influenced by gast-war Italian films.

The

Except forthe occasional and inevitable touch of melodrama, Bimal Roy makes

"Two Acres of Land", unmistakably Indian as it

Bimal Roy has never repeated this artistic mccess. The new 1953 version of "DeVdas" and "Sujsta" (1%9), both mark a return to melodrama. occupation with social problems is still there, a message, an appeal for reform (mostly moral) but as an aFt:st his methods no lorig6r have anything o r i w , and he tends more and more to rely upon what he knows will sell.

A certaln pre-

Abbas in probaN-y the director who has been most consistently realist, refus- ing to m:&e concessAons to public taste. Traveiler) (ls3), and "l"natt (The Lost Child) (1959). of a disillusioned soldier who, after the war, becames a watchman on a tea planta- tion; it exposes the exploitation of indigenous workers. of a child who lives in a working-class district of a large city, and it seems to have been t5e first Indian sound film without either music or dancing. also mote the script of Rad Kapoor's "Awara" (Vagabond) (1%1), but this was less sticcessful.

He made two more good films "Ra"' (The The first is the story

"Fhnna" is the story

Abbas

RaJ Kapoor, son of the famous Bombay actor Prithviraj Kapoor, is himself an actor, singer ayld film director. Ee became well-known abroad (especially in the Soviet Unian) as well as in India after tSAwaran, a melodrama about the moral down- fall of a young man cast off by his family. the malodlrama far outweighed m g cls!m to socirzl or arkistic Iagmltance; same is true of another successful film of Kaportsr "Shri 420" (Ivtr. 420) (1955).

Cramned with songs m d sensation, the

An eclectic director will occasionally meceed in &Zzg a f:lm which is significant both socially and artistically. India*, wPth the excellent actor Nargls, a film about 8 devoted peasant womm with high moral standards whose whole life is spmt in serving her family, and in the spirit of neighbourly love; tions, it is the family which mst give way, nMother India" is realistic, deeply moving and admirably acted.

In 2357 blahboob Khan made "Mother

if the good of the family conflicts with moral obliga- In spite of a eertain sentimentality,

BJ the end of the fifties and the beginning of the sixties, f i b s with a social content had become relatively numerous, a d not only in Nina. Without wing into details, it m y be mentioned that, in 1962 and 1363, the Fresident's Siiver lkda.1 for the best film of the year in Ilindi was awarded to such films: in 1962 to Josh Choprafs "Dh&rmpSltra", dealing with relations between Hindus and Moslem, an6 in 1963, to Abrar Alvi 1s "Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam", a study of the d.ec- line of an epoch, and of the family of a once all-powe-fu1 win9ar (tax-colkztor).

WS/O764-102( DJA)

- 16 - SatyaJit Ray

An outstmding figure in the Indian c i m m is the Bengali director Satya3i.t Ray, who made the unforgettable trilogy: "Pakher Fmchli" (Ballad of the Rozd) (1955); Apx) (1Bg). it adequately to the West. Among the thousmds of Indian films made.to date there are, of course, other fine films as there are other talented directors, but Satyajit Ray ha3 been the only director of world stature, one of the select few of the cinema's really creative ar+tists.

"Aparajito" (The unvanquished) (1957); and '(Am Sanear' (The World of He is undoubtedly its patest &*ist, the m l y one who can represent

The key m s t be looked fos in the m m himself. whsn he first started making films, he knew what he wanted to do, rnd how to go about it. working with the Calcutta Film Societj,hi$ three months in'Londad *&sn he saw ninety films, hls contacts with Jean Renoir when *The River" was being made in India, the impact of "Bicycle Thievesn and Dovzhenko*s "Brth" - all contributed to his arti- stic educztion and constituted the theoretical prelude to his own film work. None of his Indian colleagues can c l a m sc thorough an apprenticeship.

The years he spent

He hzd grown up among literary and artistic people. His father was a writer, He himself' studied with Rabindrmath Tagore, cad 1c.ter palnted, partly as a hobby, partly to e a m a living. When he eame to make ''Pather Pachali" from Bibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay!~ popular novel of the same title, he knew exactly what he wanted. Ha ha2 his progmmle and his artistic creeds: to describe material surroundings as authentically as possible, to get to the depths of human relationshfps, avoiding ariy short-cuts that non-artistic considerations might impose; ew.?ry suggestion of th5 theatrical and the picturesque, the two cardinal sins a w n s t the purity of a work of art,(z>

and to keep out

Rut Setyajit Ray is not only the writer and director of the film trilogy in Eeagdi which shows the life of simple people as it is in the India of today - and as no one befcre him had or has since. He has also made several historical romanoe films &bout a world which is fa& disappearing - the old potentates, today reduced to ru-in, living in a twXlig!!t society of their own: (1958) ; the comedy ??"ra~hpathr" (The Phfloso$&3r s Stone) (1958) ; "Devi" (The Goddess) (1960); Kanya'' (The Three Sisters) (1961); a documentary on Rabindranath TagoFe, the psychological film "Kanahefi janga" (1962) and the contemporary and rather sensational drama "KbU jan" (Expedition) (1962).

"Jalsa&arn (Mmic Room)

an aaptatian of short stories of Rabiridraneth Tagore, "Teen

TheGe do not reach the artistic level of the trilogy, but nevertheless, all Some have excellent sequences, and show plenty of evidence of artistic maturity.

of h ~ s experiments in ''&vi" may be opan to question, but one thing is certain: R.IY*S experXments are never compomises. Few Iru2ian film directors hiwe so Jealously guarded their originality and their freedom of action.

Ws have referred several times to the third type of fib, the commercial melOZ"a, epic os social. They are too many to need mention. Nearly every Indian fikn commercially produced in the Eonbay, Calcutta or Mad..- studios falls into thts category. sPE&ing of films by Kapoor and Shantaram, may be praiseworthy in intention;

They need not be condemned out of hand. Some, as we have seen in their

- 17 - forìmla is deliberately chosen to attract as large an audience as possible. it can h.app-2n that serious problems are distorted arid over-simplified in this kind of film. mass taste, continues to be obligatory in them. In the moment of orisis, the hero must sing whm a normal person woilld want to meditate in silence. stops, the conflict mst wait, simply to permit an elaborate and inappropriate exhibition of singing and dancing by the Stars in vogue.

But

The introduction of msic and danoing at m y cost, merely to cater for

The action

The foreign influence remains, While realism - influenced by the Italians, Rumians and even the Japanese but without blindly imitating them - is analytic and objective in its portrayal of the Inddan scene, melodrama continues, as in the old silcnt d q s , to copy the themes and situa%ions of American comedies and dramas. This Is especially true of the pseudo-realist.detective films. The w0r-U of night clubs, strip-tease, and alcoholic orgies is copied to the letter from somewhat dubious Western models - even though it simply does not exist in India. Just how far thio mania for imitation is pushed can be realized from scenes in which evi* ence is taken before the police or in court. of detective films - but the legel procedure In India Is altogether different. The foreign influence is so strong that no room is left for anything national or original.

These are, of course, the very stuff

Dcn2ite statistics and production figures, the artistic outlook for the Indian The spectacular epic is a favourite w%th &mers

this makes it difficult to treat contemporcry cinema is not very encouraging. because it is what the mblic loves; subjects. Vaszn's point of view (why edu zte and train audiences? - that's the Goverrìment's Job; ours is to &ahrsct them)?28) provides a convenient response to critics who would also like to see serious Indian films with some social and intel- lectual co2tent. haalin$ begins with the producer, who immediately wants to incorporate it into the safe framework of a detective story, or else to use it to feature a star or a singer with, of course, a few dance nunibers thrown in - m d inevitably, it ends up as a melodrama. Neveì-theless, for the future of the Indian cinema, if it is impor- tant to malce as many cousageous an& independent films as posstble, the possibili- ties melodrama offers should not be ignored. and valuable in mch films, ED popt1r.r ana so generalk~ liked should not be blotted out by the accompanying lavishness and the variety aots. mind that the cinema in Sndia is a national art that is developlng at the top, thanks to the innovations of outeterd.ng artists; but that it is also developing lower ¿own thanks to tne constant raising of the average level of ccmmercial pro- duction, and this latter plays a very big part in forming public taste.

When a director rashly decides to treat a topical subject, the

The maln thing is thct what is sound

It should be borne In

ws.076rC- 102( W A )

1. General

In the words of Prime Minister Jawahrlal Nehru,(a) the India of today is the result nat only of the inmeGIate past but also of sevem1 thDuSand years of historj; making the Indian peoale what it is today. it has set about remaking an indepenlient existence. history find a reflection not only in the extemals of life, but even in the Indian mentality. The atondc age coexists with vestiges of a once dominant Moslem civilization, or even more mcient customs that go back to the golden age of Indian rulers; astounding changes on one sido, on thz other, stagaation. The moderniza- tion of this immense country is slow, beset with frustration. There is no easy solclLion to all the national, religious, linguistic and social problems. Patience, goodwill and, &ove all, time are needzd to bring to the millLons of the under- privileged, not only political rights, but also material well-being.

sxcensive k3;,em of ideas, experience and achlevemts have gone to

The different eras of its After centuries of foreign domlnation,

Nelm an3 th.z Cong;rcs; Pa?tg placzd their trust in g%&ual, evolutionary change. flicts should be solved peacefully, without violence or coercion living as a contjny-al ed:.ptation to ever-changing conditions; (w) by all means let us acajt, and loJk to the fLiture, bat withoat forgetting our nation’s past. Nehru’s great mentor, Mahatma Ghana, never, in all he said, ceased to emphasize the impor- t-nce of historical continuity, and Nehru constnntly reiterated the the

In keepi.ng with mcl.cnt Indian and EuC&X¡.Lt philoso2hical traditior-s, con- Nehru defined

ame Idea: focndations of the future are $3 the past as well as in the present. tu

The philosophical approach to today’s problems m s t be sought in the past. Ths Sanskrit soriglures say hrd we should behave towards others a d towards ourse1 es

Only the saints possess the plenitude of abhayab, but common mortals, too, must try endlessly to coxper fear, the evil counseJ-lor, and seek in abWadan, confidence, fa::sightedneos in their julgemzts on life and on others road to coapasaion ancl tolerance, without which life becomes mbearable. is the other key to Indian tkifnkfng: the sense of responsibilit , of self-srcrlfice, of having a d$bt to pay towards one’s neighbour and all mankind.ft33) When demnds accu-mlaLUe, and the impatient want violence, it is Exrma which holds the social order together.

and, as Nehru streszed, the gods’ greatest gift to m m is ebhyad.m - courage. 132) - the ms%l

Dharma

It would of course be abswd to suggest that 430 million Indians order thefr behaviour on their &€me Minister’s w0rd.s but it would be equally wrong to ignore the fact that misses of the people, deeply influenced not ocly by the teachings of Gmt2.i but also by centuries of cultural tradition, respect, or try to respect, these principles; and it is these principles which help to maintain peace in a country torn by national, religious, political and economic divisions.

The film, being by its very nature the photogrrrphic image of raality, cmnot simiX-y ignore life and all the rich variety of present-day India, even if some prothczrs are onlg Intereated in escapfsm and want to make of the cinema a closed mr=31 world whe-e fiction is lived by n3 less fictitious ckLzrccte?s. ne-Le- entirely succeed. if nzcessary, invade the screen by force.

Eiey c&n Life In the end proven too much for the obctccles an9 will,

WS,’D;G’&- 102( CUA )

- 19 - In the thrae variants described above, the Indian film does reflect, however

unevenly, the Ineia of today where past and present constantly intermingle and, e-t eveiy atep, modern progress contrasts with old swvivals. The resulting image of IndLa is often untrue, distorted, zofietitnes even deliberately falsified; often the question of art does not arise at all. None the less, after fifty years of existence, the Indian film, with all its faults, its deviations and its períods of stagnation, has & unique, distinctly Indian character. An attempt mst now be made to analyse it, and identify &?d cle-ssify its constituents.

2. The continuity of a civiliz.tion -- .-.lll.L

Few countries are as profoundly conscious of the continuity of their history as India. The feeling is general, although it varies in intensity. With certain, prlvfleged cnd'educated groups, it is heightened by historical erudition. The people In general know of certain traditions, know them to be age-old, but are, of course, somewhat hazy about their origins. Sanskrit, a language dead for centuries, is responsible for the astonishing unity of the cultural ties that exist between peoples that b w e othemtse been always divided by estances of thousands of miles, by different poutical systems and by the ambitions of their rulers. the khabharata and of the Ramq!ana, in their complete versions - those which today we calsicaer acthentic - are known only to the learned, but the country people of India Inow, r.'rthou,;h in different liariguistic versions, the contents of these great natioaal epics. Films on mythological subgects have no surprises for them - on the contrary, they tend to go to the cinema with the mental question wJust how are they going to show that?''

The texts of

The national characteristics of the India? cinema derive, then, in the first place, from its ties with the other arts: literature, the theatre, nusic and the dance, stantly appearing on Indian screens for ths past fifty years. &. R.P. R a Q a m a r , a learned jurist who is president of the Sangeet Matak Aka4amî (Academy for dramatic and lyric art), conciGers t k t no one has yet succeeded in rendering intact on film the bewty and richness of the originals. In the literary prototypes, the gods and mortals are admirably real, the dramatic construction is flawless, and many of the problema &alt with by the ur,';nmn mthors are as ur@;ait as ever.(34) Mr. Fhjamannar may perhaps be too severe, although our experience of what happens In the Western cinema W e s one wonder. Films based on th3 Bible convey singu?.arly little of the ghi1o:;o~hical conkent or the art of the original &id, in &rope end America - like the Mhabharata, the Ramayam and the S?uranas (eighteen cantos or "ancient traditions" in honour of the gods) in India - have hitherto been used only because there was something spectacular that could be exploited through the use of lavish costumes or scenery or, at most, because of some telling realistic observa- t i m in the story. sacrifice - the perfect prototype was Sita, the wife or Rama - may represent a borrowing from the Ftmayana; as, for example, the mother in Mehboob Khan's "Mother India" - is patently modelled on the legendary Sita,

Characters and themes from the Nshabharata and the Fbmayana have been con-

A recurring theme in the Indian oinema, that of the womanls

the Indian wo", indomiteble zmd self-sacrificing - The Sanskrit dramas, especially the Sakuntala of Kelidasa, have also been

repeatedly adapted for the screen. The adaptation of plays, particularly ancient ones, obviously presents considerable difficulties. Indian clessic drama used no scenery, and Cerended exclusively on the descriptive poetry to tell the spectator about the action, which happened off-stage, Nasic and dancing were used to create

ws/0764- 102 (CUE;)

- 20 - atmosphere. Th@ action meant so little, and was in so undrmztic a form, thût it was impossible to film classic plays directly; and little-exploited source of mbjects. to by W. RaJmannar (quoted above),as one such source,astonishinglg modern in some of its situations and sentiments. (35)

they thus served only 88 a rich l%e play KatAhmarit Sa@&ra is referred

The most dubious and debatable feature of the Indian cinema, is its use of music and dsncing. Furists who want the treesr.lzes of classical msic to be trans- mitted intact to f'uture gcmerations, mathematka film producers, maintaining that the msic beard in the cinema is a psrgdy of the true and noble original. To aut- siders, especially Europems ani Americans, Indian f ilm music sounds strangely old-fesbioned, and f3.1-adaptcd to r?s,watic convention. somewhere between the extreme views.

As uounl, the truth lies

, Clasaical music was a hermetic art of the elite, flrst ccnfined to the temples, and later introduced to the palaces of the rajahs. notation from generation to generation by musicians who jealously guarded their secrets, revealing them 0nl.y to sons who were also musician? or to favourite disci- ples. India begun to popularize it on the radio.

It was transmitted without

It might have died out altogether had not the Government of independent

Apart from the classical nusic of the palace, there was a msic of the people, often deriving from the same origins. varied, ch&n&lng from area to area, but everywhere imbuing every aspect of people's live:, - their work, leisure and reiigicn. to sleep to the sound of music. The cinema almost automatically adopted popular msic since, with dancing an8 recitations, it macle up the popular entertainments referred to earlfer; years that classical music begm to be adapted for the screen.

The popular music has always been very

The Indian countrysit2.e awakes and goes

it wa: not until thse had be= sound films for several

Cor~troversies about music in the Indian film centre on three points. composers and ayrangers are blamed for their choice of melodleo and for the in- defensible way in which they cut up original melodies for film purposes. Next, whol.ly apine-t traclition, songs are orchestrated for Western instruments. And, flra?.Pj, they are resroached v:-l.th mixing classiccl and popAzr muslc, znd chocaing their folk music without any regard to its relevance to the region where the action of the film takes place.

First,

In most cases, all these accusations m e well-founded, but can the faults - particularly the first and second - be avoided? whether or not written for the cinema - wozzld dislocate the film's construction and coherence. If music is mecnt to be an integral part of the film, and not Just an. arbitrary ade-tion, its rights cannot be blindly accepted. A w n , if it is : delsi?.ed to have a musical background, an omhestra becomes en essential, even if such orchestras were entireXy unknown until recently in IndAa. is the most reasonable: mixing up the folk msic of different regions.

Too long a piece of mslc -

The third complaint there can be little just2fication for so arbitrarily

The Indian cinema popalwizcs all national mslc, classical m d popular, but not in the same way as gramophone records, which simply reproduce the original. The cinema arouses interest in popular tunes by ths fragmznbs and arrangements it may offer in accordarice with a film's requ9Yements; th3 barbarous practice of westernizing Indian S O ~ ~ ~ S or? worse still, the Inaimiza- tion of European and American themes.

t M s is not the s3cs tung as

WS/0764- 102( CUA)

- 21 - p3ncing Is repsoached for much the same reasons as rmsic. There are four

distinct schools of classical dancing in India: and Manipuri. today by womn in recitals that lagt two to three hours. lar &lassical dance from the &-iabar area, danced by groups of boys. danced, by men or woman, in Uttar Pradesh in the north. Mmipuri also comes from the north, from Assam; being the eastest of the four, it berxm? very popular with non-professional dancers.

I a t a Natyam, Kath&, Kathakali B W a t a Natyam is en ancient dmce ritual of the south, danced solo

Kathakali is a very pow- Kathak is

In films, dancing wes introduced at the same time as sound, without the slightest regard being pdd to the purity of the style of the dancing - and none of the four tgpeo lmds itself to a straight transfer to the screen. dance has its own dramztic con.rentions, and cannot as a result be used to illus- trate any other form of recital. An attempt could certainly have been made to adapt the dances of any particular school to the cinema's needs; actor-dancer was left to create his own style, basing himself on the school he h e w best. And let us not forget that each spectator, depending upon where he comes from, will know one or other of the four principal types. for film use, c-me into existence, called simply oriental, and consisting of an entirely arbitrary mixture of the old. Indian h c e , W. Faubion Bowers, has said that the cinema variety, which at first horrified the purists, becomes better and more gracious every year, and will even- tually become India's fifth major variety of dancing. (37)

In India, each

instead, each

So, a new type,

A great connoisseur and admirer of the

As with cinema "iCJ dancing also has its exceptions. Som danoers have retained the pure style of one of dances exist in their own right and are not Just fortuitous additions included to make a film more attractive. an authentic Ihthzk; Uday Shankar is the most universal in that he dances all four schools, although Kathakali is nearest to him. he made "Kalpana" (Imagination) , a film that remains a unique cinematographic record of the richness and beauty of Indian dancing.(33)

four schools, as there are filma in which

Kumari Kamala -ces a Bharata Natyam, and Sitara S-hanta Ra0 dances both.

In 1948,

The cinema Is weakest whenever the collaboration of the fine arts is involved. Films are selCom shot out-of-deors in India, =id autheatic interiors are used still less. Satyajit R~ty offers almost the only exception. ness - often wholly out of keeplng with what they are supposed to represent - sets are of poor quality. "hey md36ed one critic of ex2ressionist scenery in the G e r m cinema of the silent days, minus the worst excesses.(%) Just how oasually this side of Indian films is treated can be seen from "Pardesi" (The Stranger) (1957), an Indw-Soviet Co-production, directed by V. Pronfn on the Soviet side and K.A. Abbas on the Indian. Followlng the proposal of the Soviet partners, most of the film was shot outdoors, often in front of historical buildings - but without bothering very much which they happened to be. are supposed to take place in the west appear against a background of temples that everybody bows to be in the east,

Despite thzir elaborate-

"he result is that scenes whlch

Let us say It again: the Indien film has constant recourse to the treasures of the past, but too oftcn its maner of utilizing them is careless and illogical. Traditj.on m y be simply the point of departure for the action of a film, and the ties with the other arts are superficial. version, inter-ded for the screen, of the work of writers, musicians or painters.

A film is not just a photographic

ws/o764-102( Cu>.)

- 22 - The cinema is an autononaus art, not a recordhg of the areations of other artists; to act on any other principle wlll be as disaztrous for the cinema as for ths other arts. The stgle of a given perid must be respected, together with the artistic conventions of the art from which the model is taken. This is perfectly feasible in reapeet of all the arts - thaatre, the dance, sixglng, msic or the fine arts, aiid actually has happened in a few cases - but there are mltltudes in which it has not. Pcrha2s w k t Bowers said of the new form of dace created by the cinema may at some time also become true ekscwhere. Smgs crested for the cinema have in fact been absorbed iato the repertoire of rel.i,a,ious festivals, and some of th.e music written for films is worthy of its place with Indian classical msic, Cay there will be films tkat can hold their own artistically with adaptations for the thaatre from the kbbarata .and the liama;yana.

Perhaps one

When Parlianent debated the Ithistry of Information budget, the views.exp~es- sed on mythology films were extremely varied. T.S. Avinashilli-q$.mn Chettiar, of the Congress Party, deplored a portrayal of gods and godGesses so'disgraceful that a subJect of veneration to the whole people was made to appear r 9 d i " - hardly the beet way of preserving tbe country's cultural heritqc. was expressed by Amoleki Chand (also Congress Party), who maintainedthat mytholo- gical fil s shculd continue to be made because they provided a unique window on the past.741) With certain resexattom, his view seems rlght, It is these films the redly commercial fiI.ta - aad not t:ie documentary or ehcational film which interest only a very limited public - that cculd, in the India of today, serve as a bridge between p m t anC presznt. Its scope is very m c h greater than the old populai- en-te?"mts. ensuring that (spart from television) the unique possibility it offers will be used to preserve tradition and save it from distortion.

The opposite view

Filmm~ksrs, critics and the general public should aim at

3. The screen and modern life

Since LumiBre's day, the film has always m2lrrored reality.

The cinema-goer is avid for the mrvellous but also welcomes what is every-

Erten WliGs, pioneer of cinema entertainments, was prepared to film h?penings or reconstruct them. day. Obsessed at first by &?liC?s, the Indian cinema had already discovered con- tempormy subJects by the twsn-biss m d was ex$oiting them. increasing number of prducers and directors sought inspiration not only in tlzeir countryls past but also in its present, and even In fts future.

Subsequently, an

It is certainly not easy for any film to s h ~ w the complex and complicated pokitical, economic and social realities of life in the India of the sixties; if dr?lic3te abjects are to be avoided, there are some wbo even think it impossible. What are these subjects? Com5I;tee towards the end of the twenties, a representative of the €"Jab said it Wzs dlfficult to show on the sareen anything that happened in India since the year 1030.

Replying to an inquiry made by the IfidAm Cinemtograghfc

Since that inquiry, much ha8 happened. India has regained her independence, and tha religious conflicts which once separated Hindu and Moslem no longer exist, but there is still a certain rstlcense tcwards prl.e%ly w+jeats. Mast Indian film-makers prefer their characters to be well-to-do, withcat; material. cares, and they never dream of menticniru occupation or status. And yet the problem of giving eveqrore a reasone3ls standard of living, of elimtnatirg extremes of wealth m.d Wu-erty and the nightmare of famine which is a.n evar-preswt tfixxit to Illillicr,s

WS/GïCk 102( CUA)

remain the constant preoccu:jations of State authorities. a true picture of India without speaking of its fundamental economic problems. Many producers think that filas on such subjects would not interest the public, that the cinema-goer prîmri?.y seeks distraction, wants to forget rather than to have to analyse the difffcult conditions under which he m s t live. Vasm's view is that the social reformers' films may h v e an audience of abouk l5,cloO it takes the ticket money of several millions to cover production costs.f1+3)

It is Impossible to ,give

wneroas

In the Indiar cinema, therefore, there is a tendency to keep sdtlext OR defRcate or corìtroversial subjccts or them--.s which might provoke audiences into ?rotesting against tMngs as they are. K. Subrahmaniam, President of the mdras dame accademy, minta ps that an unofficial code of film censorship prevents the showing OP such films.i&) In point of fact, films which expose the blaoker and less attractiva aspects of Indian life are becoming more numerous. the masses? incite spcnt.meous and radical reactions. ending, the reform of' the black sheep. If, despite all the misfortunes, there is still hope in a better future, then everything in the ge-rden is rosy; will always Se punished, and often, before dying or being brought to justice, begin spontaneously to repent of their crimes and wickeclness. These formulae are wonder- fully successful in neutralizing radical and extremist ideas.

Will they stir up discontent in This depends mainly on their tone - and they do not too energetically

The fmtliar clichBs appear - the happy offenders

The imperfect image the film provfdes of Indian society results not only from the tendency to tone down the contrasts and avoid difficult subjects, but quit.e simply .also from the general lack of knowledge everywhere about the comtry and its people. begin shootin "Pather Panchali". As the critic, LWiindra K u m r Ray, has so rightly said,b5) his rôle in the Indian cinema was to redfscover India. In his films he showed what has existed for centuries, but what producers, directors, the public itself, were completely unaware of. If other directors had followed suit, I

the Indian cinema would inevitably have become more realist. Bound to the studio and the artificial backgrounds that are always the same for the same scenes (love scenes can take place only beside water on which lotus flowers are floating) the Indian film, however honest or well-intentioned, is necessarily devoid of verisi- militude.

Satyajit Ray discovered the Bengali countrgside when he left the city to

Apart from the formidable subjects which must be chunned, apart from the pre- vailing ignorance referred to above, the psychological naivety of film scripts makes a third reason for the lack of realism. The characters are so uncomplicated, so dominated by a single feelfnz, that sumrise is excluded. They are monochrome, over-sfmplified in the extreme. The good man is wholly good, the bad man is truly wicked. thing subtle, whether tragic or comic. On the other hand, as mentioned above, the Indian film will inveriably shy away from a tragic endlng. a happy ending, and even if not, the optimistic message of the fflm as a whole ~ 3 x 1 provide the necessary consolation.

This black-and-white presentation of humanity inevitably precludes any-

Thsre must always be

All this demands the strictest observance of the rules by disector, script- writer and actors. in the review "Filmîare": he must be threatened with unemployment. He revolts against his blood-sucker of an employer, but is in love with the boss's

B.D. Garga summarizes the typical plot ingredients as fellows the her2 must be victimized by society. If he has work,

Preferably, he is already unemployed.

WS/O76k-lOZ( CUA)

beautiful dxmghter. ever relative it m y be) to fight at the side of her arder;t revolutiona,ry,(461

In the end, the girl leaves ner fEther (or uncle, or which-

P~rhaps it would be unfair not to see iE these ingomous sccial dramas the good intent, the desire to fmgriove the human lot, an apgeal tfl Jvatice. But any- thing that may be positive has to be accommodated inside a never-changing fairy story or, at best, a popular morality tale. Even if the story is present-¿?y and working-class, there will always be the good, honest boy who loves the beamiful girl and who, deaste all obstacles, will marry her in the end. story, although set in the present, deviates very little in form, from the pTAmlar entertainment of old. fa-lrs or rellgious festivals, the words and the song6 are what count, side being only of very secondary importance. for hour3; so also may the film, especially if produoed in the south, where audiences are accustomed to performances that last all night.

This po,pular

Like the entelrtdnments presented by strolling players at

Such entertahnents orten drag on the visual

The drãritic struzture of the film fs rudimeïitary and often gets obscured by the music and dances, or lost altogether. Comedies are rare, although they bring in enormous retums, but comic interludes - also from popular sources - are indispensable in all films, Here, again, two very different traditions mingle; the Indian, often centuries o?-d, and the Mack Sennett slapstick cf the American silent film. men, hunchbacks, dwarfs, paralytics, stutterers, the blind and the deaf'. (k7)

The Indian film gives a panoptic view of a world that aboundF in fat

To conclude: where, want to see a picture of the world they live in. satisfied; way. but is only an obstacle to the making of 8 realict film. Ray, Abbas, and perhaps Bimal Roy, are still the lone ones who go against the current. on the screen.

producers try to satisfy audiences who, like audiences every- Esut they a1.e only half-

they are told only a p m t of the truth, in an absolutely inadequate The pop,~lar entertainment provided a useful model for the mythology film

Directors like Satyajit

As a result, an authentic image of the India of today appears only rarely

4. Film - a new cultural Dhenomenon It wo-üld be a gross over-simplification, obsolete and outmoded in approas;h,

to label the Indian cinema with either traditional or contemporary national charac- teristios were it not for the fact that any film, however mediocre, trivfal or commeroialized, is always a product of the mass culture of our time and a reflec- tion of changes takhg place in the comtry which produced it. Partxioxical a6 it may seem, therefore, the 1nd:ia.n film retains a distinctly national character, not orAlgr wiien it affirms what is generally ccnsldered to be typically Indian, but also in repudiating it, since tus, too, results from a well-definad and widespread attitude, Let us take, for example, the westernization of Qiothes and interiors. If an Indian film has a scene in a night club, this is pure invention on the pro- ducer's pst , a blind imitation of a foreign model; but if a couple - abp, a doctor and his wife - are shown, not in Indian but in Western clothes, this is in faot true to life. Hollywood" when he saw the leading lady in an Indian film dressed in trousers. In reply to this kind of comment Abbas points out that copying foreign ways AS in fact become an aspect of social reality in India, and the cinema merely reflects it; as industrialization progresses, increasing numbers of Indiczns, including simple industrial and agricultural, workeps, dress in Western style, or simply wear Western clothes. (@)

Abbas tells of an American director saying "but she is aping

ws/076h- 102 (CVA)

- 25 - These - often exaggerated - Western influences in the Insian cinema reflect

something which has social reality therefore - the dream of millions who would rather see a motor-cycle or a car than a splendid "oriental" app-rtment. rialization is creating new dreams, and film-makers do what they can to gratify them, r.t least for the two or thrae hours the film lasts. President Suksmo, during a visit to HolQwood in 199, spoke of the positive side of this infatuation with the tecknical civilizaticn of the West. When the cinema showed ordinary people owning cars and refrigerators, he pointed out, audiences living in primitive conditions were made aware of social injustice, and stirred to improve their lot; the masses would no longer be content with what they possessed, and would want to acquire things which, a short time previously, they did not even know existed.(49) In the case of India, to abandon certain traditional characteristics in cinema portrayals does not mean abandoning the attezpt to show India as it is today: the contrary, the westernization of the cinematographic image of India reflects the dreams and ambitionz. of millions of spectators.

1r.dust-

on

It is ri&%, and even praiseworthy to deplore the artistic poverty of the Indian cinemzi, the mfgid patterns and the starleotp7ed idenu. cinema from a sociologkal rather than an aesthetic pcjint of view, however, the question mises whether the third type of film (meXodrmna) has not already become - unhappily perhaps - one of the criteria of aesthetic appreciation that the masses apply. c o m n t s that, m y time a worth-whíle Indian film appears, its reception by the public is enough to preclude the possibility of its hving successors; s?cquired a taste for mediocre films, the public is incagable of apprec€ating the qualitres of a good one.(50) what producers have been inculcating for years. and m s t go deep, and results cannot be expected from one day to the next. we like it or not, the melodrema is for the monent the typical product of mass culture in Tnd,ia, and is what the taste and standards of the majority public demds, The criteria can certctnLy chmge in the future, and change may be a steady but imperceptible process; ducer's stereotype is accepted unreservedly, willingly, even enthusiastically.

Considering the

In a letter to the editor of the Ind?"~ film review "Screen", a reader

having

Directors cannot uproot, with a few ambitious films, The remedy will take a long time

Whether

but just now, in the early sixties, thapro-

That changes are in fact occurring, however, is 6hown by the way the cinema When the first sound films were mde, Hindi was has affected the Hindi language.

artificial, unformed and often difficult to employ for film purposes. the weekly "Statesman" was praising the "bay film-makers for imparting to official Hindi a flexibility and simplicity which made it m c h more accessible.(51)

By 1958,

The ?Cndianness" of the Iszrsian cinema cannot, therefore, be judged in an over- simplified way Recording to old fornulas - either by those of the purists who reject everything that is not "classical' or by those of the "photographers" who insist that evzrythkg that appears on the screen must be a faithful image of reality. nor can both be applied simultanecdsly. ing that, If a society and its cultural traditions smpe a national cinema, the cinema in turn e.ffects society by the habits - if not actually traditions - it forms. The Hindi launched by the cinema will soon be the lanmage of the country's public life. The dance of the cinema is becoming Indians fifth national dance form. A former Tino Rotxi fEvourite "Isola di Capri", which began by sweeping America and then spread to India, is nuyJ sung there by eveYyhdY, Indianized under

Neither formla need be rejected, but they are not the only ones posrible, They need T~O be complemented by remember-

the title "Ml di1 se mela kar dekko". recalls a distant Italy or a Tino Rossi the>- have never hear6 of. Indian, at every step, of the visual and suable environment.

For those who sing or hear it, nothhg It is purely

As known to the West, therefore, ths Indian film has 8. rich variety cf national charaoteristieff that d.erive fiaom various sources. Proper evaluation - and, con- ssquently, the rece3tion it receives fro- \!@stern audiences - depends on a whole series of considerations that are frequenLlg contradictory. the reception Indian films receive in the West which must now be exmined.

It is this questio3 of

W~/O764- 1O2( CUA)

- 2 7 -

PAm III

The Indian Cinema and the West

Until recently, or more precisely up to the end of the Seoond World War, the Indian cinema, apart from a few names, was entirely unknown in the West. In the cinem, East-West relations had developed unilaterally, as it were: India was merely an export market, and nothing W.26 known about its films. nevertheless had an establinhed position for a long t f m in Asian coukrtfiies eueh as CNna, Burma, lblaya, the Phi3.1ppines and Indanesia, in the Arab TEu'orld, and even in tropical Mrica, and these are still the main importers, On the other ha_rld, it has not been easy to build up a market in the West. strong and, by and large, little has been done; the problem of gaining a real foothoid remains open.

Indian films had

Vested interest has been

1. First attempts: situation at the end of the Second World War - &da %heb Phalke, one of the pioneers of the Indian cinema, once had a publfc

showing in London of his first three films: Mohinb" and "Sa-,vdtri''. Press reviews were excellent.

perfect and as a sericws study of h u m life and thought they were incomparable. ""i;'" 53) graph Weekly wrote enthusiastically that, technically, the films were astonAs

A British producer, Cecil Hepwcrth, c&ed Phalke to collaborate in making films on Indian subjecLs in -land. duce national film octside onels o m country. of the Phalke films shown in London for distribution in the United States. The deal fell through for lack of stock, and thus ended the first attempt to place Indian films in Western markets.

"Raja Harischandra", '?Bhasmamr The Bioscope and Kinemato-

Phzlke refused, considering it impracticable to pro- Warner Brothers wanted 200 copies

A second effort w u made by H i m s u Rai, producer, director and actor who, in collaboration with the Bavarian company Rnelka, made a film on the life of Buddha, Light of Asia"in Bombay. The scpipt was by thc Indian writer NiraDjah Pal, Himansu Rai himself played the rôle of Buddha, and the pr>.ncipal female rôle was played by an Anglo-Indian, Sita Deviaen (Renee Smith)', The film-cost what was'ai; that time the immense sum of $30tOC0, and had a German director, Fr&m Osten. The film had some success abroad, &nly in ûermany. The King and Queen attended the London premiare and it ran fo? four months in a concert hall rented for the purpose. reviews were favourable, the public cool. After two years' sbowi,ag in India, there was still a loss of 50,000 rupees.

II

In India,

The suueess of this first India Co-production in Western mrkets encourqpd Himansu Rai to try another film, Again with Emelka, but this time entirely financed by them, he m¿ie "Shire.z" in 1925, about the m m who bu:lt the Taj l"l, and later, with t k Ufa Com,my, he directed "A Throw of Dice". West. receipts, but to put up money for future productions. intematfonal film in the years 1?3O-l932!, at the Stol1 Studios in London, and in India. premiere in May 1933. The reviews were good, with particular praise for the female lead, hvika Rani, who subsequently received offers from American and German pro- ducers. Eut Himansu Rai decided to return to India to m&@ truly national films. From 1935 he was producer and art director for Bombay Talkies Ltd. three predecessors, nKarma" was well received in India, but this w8s in the early days of sound, when any film in a familiar tcngue was sure of an enthusiastic reception. WS/O764- 102(CUA)

Both film did well in the The Eritish distributors were prepared not only to guarartee the cinema

Hlmansu kS made his fourth

It was called "Karma" (bstiny), and, was bilingual. It liad its LonGon

Unl3.ke its

- 26 - 'fimansu Rai did not open up a market for Indian films in the West. The suc-

oessful films, "Light of Asia" and "Shirzz' were r2nlIy Western productcons oi; Indiai subjects, and closar to European artistic con-rentions; in BeTlin and London, their failure in Bombay and CalcuLta.

kence their success

The next stage was Indiars participation in the international film festivals in Vcnice, the Biennale which had started in 1932. Prior to 1939, India partici- pated four times: (Eternal Lights) in 1936, V. Dade and S. Fathelal's "Sant Tukdrm" in 1937, and Shantaram's "Duniya Na Mane" (me Unexpected) in 1938. on the list of sevexa films cited by the Jury as giving evidence of considerable development in the hrt of the cinema in countries with a relatively small output; the other six were two films from Poland, and one each from Hun-ry, Czechosiovakia, Australia and Japan. The success, it can be seen, was more than modest, and tho Indian critics exaggerated, to say the least, in claiming thet India had won intermntior.d prize at Venice (not to mention pure inventions such as the statement in Eanna S ~ ~ I ~ S book "The Indian Fib'' that "Sant Tukaram" was recognized as one of the world's three best films).(54j one found a buyer in the West. nale, and left a viaiting card.

Debaki Kumar Bases's "Sita" in 193h, V. Shantaram's "Amr Jyoti"

"Sant Tukaram" was included

Of the four Indian films sent to Venice, not India had just about signed the Rol?. at the Bien-

To 1941, not a single Indian film was sold in Western countries. ˚ the

It was shown in the United States, but only in a few small provincial war, in 1943, "Court Eancer" with Sadhma Emse, was made in English by W&ia Movietone. cinemas, and had no SUCC~SE. of the Ehglish dialcgue and the starts lsck of attraction for Western audiences. (55) In India, "Court Dancer" was a complete flop.

Beverly Nichols spoke of the poverty and awlmarbess

Ekporta of Indian fi1.m since the war I

An entirely new situation was created by the end of the war, and even more so, India became an autonomous partner, whose permission had to be by independence.

obtained. M o r e goods could be exported to her - or so Western film potentates thought although, in fact, Little changed. Indian films were shown more and more often at festivals, and included in retrospective programmes. fflm-makers were sent practically everywhere, but Indian films were st.ill far from having acquired an assured foothold in the IJesterm cinema.

Delegations of Indian

This was the picture round about 1353.

Befcre India became independent, Shantarm and his wife, the actress Jay~hree, travelled extensively in the United States. They had made contact with Joseph hrstyn and Arth-Gr Mayer, the indqwndent distributors who launched Italian neo- realtot films in tht States and, apart from the prestige, macle a fortune with "Rome, Opetl City' and "Seiuscfa" alme. The Bwstyn-mer Compay bought the distribution rights frcm Shrrntaram of two films produced by the Fbgkamnl Kalamd3.r CO-WJ, &~~dixntp,la" and the Jk~lish version of "Er Kotnis Ki A,mr W&ianiR. "Shanhntala" opened in New York on 25 DecerLiber 1947 at one of tha small art theatres. perhaps prrtly because of the mow-stmm which immobilized the Esstem seabozrd for several days, though a special verslon had been rwde for Western consum2tion; believing that Western audiences would prefer the chamcters in In¿ien dress, Sitaram ha2 changed the costumes before making the Ehglish version. (56)

Il

The press reviews were goQd, but the film ran for only twelve evenings - As for "Dr Kotnis", American cinema-owners turned Pt down, al-

It did not help. Projection

- 29 - was made impossible by the lmge distributing companies. ticai os well as economtc factors (commercial failure) played a part. further effort to gain a foothold in the American market ended in failure.

It is probable that poli- And so, a

Things went otherwise in the Soviet Union. The Fiussians bou,&t their first Indian film, Abbzsfs "Ehartl Ke Lal" (Children of the Soil), in 1949. but it did play am important part in preparing the way in the Soviet Union for Indian films. Subsequent films were more successful, and hj Kapoor's work, especj.ally "Awara" en joyed great populazzZty.

It failed,

Participation at festivals

After the war, India began to take part in the international festivals which brought film-makers from all countries together not only in Venice, but in Cannes, West Berlin, Karlovy Vary and M~SCOW, to mention only the most important. there are about sixty of these festivals, and it is the ambition of every film- producing centre to ]participate in as many of them as possible. Ir,diEsrs annue production figures are enough In themselves to exphin why India is one of the most frequently-represented countries. major fnternational festivals was as follows:

3. -I

Today

To 1963, the number of Indian films sent to the

Full- length Prizes __.

shorts

Cannes 21 16 5 Venice 18 9 2

Berlin 34 7 4

Karlovy Vary 23 11 9

Mvscow 3 2 2

Total 99 45 22 - All these prizes have not the same status; some are only diplomas or special

prizes for msic or acting, others are the Grands Prix, or second or third prizes. At Karlovy Vary in 1952, an Indian film, "Babla", won a seoond prize for the first time (social progress award). "Two Acres of Land" received the Jury's International Prize at Cannes and the social progress award at Karlovy Vary. award for the best human film docmiit for "Psther Panchali"; the Grznd Prix at Karlovy Vary was awarded to Shambu and Amit Mitra for 'Jagte Fiaho" (In the Shadow of the Night); The year 1957 thus saw the culmination of Ray's personal, and the Sniafan cine!tn!s in8ermational success. Between 1959 and 1963, Indian films won minor awards only.

In 1954 India won two second prizes: Eimal Roy's

In 157 Satyajit REY received the Jury's

Satyajit Ray's 'Aparajito" was awarded the Grand Prix at Venice.

Apart from the above festivals, Indian films have often been shown at San Francisco where, in 197, Ray's "Pather Panchali" received the Golden Gate award. Later in the same year it won awards at Mannheim, Edrlnburgh and Locarno.

Festivals are attended for the publicity, and have little comercial impcr- tance, a point to which we shall revert later. It is worth pointing out tha-t, apart

- 30 - from SatyaJit Ray's fil-ms, which owe their popularity and commercial success partly, at least, to the stir they created at festivals, most of the Indian films shown never got into commercial distributior!, even after they had won prizes.

4, Cwproductlons _II_. I--*-

hring the fifties, the co-prcduetioa was ti favourite Indfan method of attempt- ing to break into foreign markets, especially in Italy, France, Spain and the Federal Republic of Gerniany. To lN3, two co-productions were made in India itoelf'. Naya Sensar (Bombay) and Mosfilm (Moscow) jointly nade 'Pardesi" (The S+rmger) which, it will be recalled, had som success in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe but harclly any in India. a contract with the Indian Government to make a semi-documentary on Indian life, provisionally entitled "India 1957". was stopped, m d Rossellini returned to &rope taking the unfinished material with him. cost the Indian Government some 80,000 rupees.

In 1956 the Italian director, Roberto Rossellini, signed

For reasons other than artistic, the shooting

The uncompleted film was shown in the West, never in India. This venture

Films made in India by foreign directors, such 8s "The River" (Jean Renoir), or "Nine Hours to Rama" (Mark Robson), were obvlously not co-productions. help, it is true, to make India better known abrwd, but in no way, directly or indirectly, helped to popularize IndRan films in other countries. or India thinkeJ of "The River" as an Indian film. It is the work of a West5rn dìrector, a Frenchman who had his own particular vision of India. certainly profited from his collaboration with Renoir, but this was not in t e

They did

No one in Europe

Satyajit Ray ro-

ducer's mind when Renoir was sent to make his "Western meditation on India". 2577

5. Some data on Indian film exports

Exports are extremely important not only to the film producers but also to the Indim Government, since they brtng in much-neeeod foreign currency. The foreign buyer usually pays the Indian Government in foreign currency, and the Govemment reimburses the producer in rupees. It is said that the amounts paid by foreign buyers often bear little relation to what they rnake on the distribution of Indian films. The facts are difficult to verify, but producers conplain bitterly of their losses, and demand that the Qovernment should keep a strict check on the financial operations involved.

Between 1954 and the end of 1962, exporte of Indian films generally increased, except for a temporary falling off in 1958, and a considerable one in 1961 and 1962. Receipts from ex;>opts (in thousands of rupees) were as folfouus.

1957 14,2061 58)

wS/0764402( CUA)

- 31 - These are the totd exports to all countries. By far the greater part of

the recelpts come from the Far and Neer East and from Africa. recefpts from Western col,m.tries (including Sovî-et Asia) and Israel were as follows.

From 1955 to 1962,

Percentege of total receipts - Rugees -*-

19s 6 727 3 O00 5

1957 421,000 3

195 8 522,000 4

1959 825 5

1gSo 1,004,000 5.5

Apart frcm 1957, exports to the West thus rose steadily, and represent an increasingly large proportion. Compared with the w$ - 95$ from the East, yevenue from the West is of course relatively insigpificmt, i.e. Indim prochcers are not yet prepared to cater for Western tastes at the cost of perhaps losing par% of their popularity with Eastern audiences. This factor should always be kept in mind, and firopean m d American critics should not feel annoyed if their good advice is ignored by Indian gmdxcers whose main markets are in Burma, Ceylon, the Persian Gulf, and so oa. receíp-ts from Asia end Africa.

For comparative purposes, here are some 1962 figures of

Malaya

Rupees

2,776,000

Ceylcn 1,619,000

British East Africa 1,311,000

Burma 1 p 287 , O00

Fersian Gulf ports l,O~,OOo

Thi k n d 382,000

South Viet-Nan 1~1,000 Z60)

One year's incorne from Malaya done thus exceeded the total from all Western cmntries fcr two years.

W $076 4- 10 2 ( CUA )

- 32 - A distinction m s t be madz, in Western mnrkets, between two main types:

capitalist and socialist - all the more important because -the criteria applied in selectj-ng inprts, p.zztioulayly bsfcre lsk, were entirely different. socislist countries, having State-controlled cinemas a d dlstdbution, are in a better pociticn to organize the dis’cribu-Lion of the films imported. currency of pqment (sterllmg, dcdlar or rcubLe bloc), matters quite a lot to India. Yugoslavia is in the special position of hvl.ng -the rizlectioii cri.teria and dlstribdtion system of a sscislis-c countq, but o9 pay-ing in dollars.

Again,

Lastl.y, the

The 1955-1962 figuren of recaipts from Weatern countries were as follows.

(a) Capitalist countries -I Rusees

Britain 2 I 332 I 000

United States 663, o00

France 357,000

Greece 556,000

Israel 286,000

Canada 15?,(333

Federal Republic of G e r m y 76,000

Cyprus 49 P 009

Australia 22,000

Belgium 15 o00

During t5s same period receipts from other Western countries amounted to less than 10,000 rupees each.

(b) Socialtst countries - Fiupees

Sovi et Uni on 9 3 9 , o

Czechoslovakia 2b3 o00

Folaad 1b3, o m Germa Democratfc Republic 52,000

- 33 - Rupees 38, OJO

Bulgaria 18, OXl

Yugoslavia 10,oo 661 1

The maJor Western markets for Indian films thus are: United Kingdom, 3ov5et Union, United States, France, Greece, Israel. mJ. Czechoslovakla. The first fcur are w,derstanda3le, but why Greece? h e can see the reeson also for Israel, which is a kind of bridge between West and Fast. The case of Italy is strange. Indian films have been &own at the Venice Eiennale for the past thirty years, but Italy buys less Indian films than Gibraltar which has only a couple of cinemas.

- 34 - P m T IV

Some importers

Among the three examples of capitalist countries choGen, two (Eritain and

---_u_

Unit&. States) are im2orters; w?knOWn.

in the third (Denmark), Indian films are practically

1. Britain =u-

Britain acquires more Indian films than any other Westdm coulrtg and, during The

India is much better known in Britain Independence did cot interrupt

the past sewn years, has prdà two million rupees in distrihtion rights. reasons for this larger public are obvious. than elsewhere in Europe or the United Statez, cultural li.nks which go back more than 200 years. of the Comvonwealth. to &gland to study. Indian films.

Independent India is a membep There has been little change in the number of Indians who go All these factors terid to explain the large audience fop

Since 1911.5, twelve Indian films have been shown on British scyems.

First &OMM in Dritx- _I__-

Enstern Rommnce 1349

Am (Family Honour) 195 2

Pmposh (Lotus Flower) 195 3

Awara (Vagabond) 195 3

Aandhiyan (The Cruel Wlnd) 195 4 Do Bigha Zsmin (Two Acres of Land) 1955

Mother India 1993

Pather Panchli 1958

Apara j it o 195 8

Exact revenue figures are unobtsina3lc, but there is res.son to bel5eve that "Am" ran for A m " anci "Pcther Pmchli" had the biggest comercial suczesses. I?

several weeks at a firnt-run hdoni cinema and. the public liked its authentic Eastern theme and its costumes. Bengal trilogy, "Two Acres of b.nd", and ''hm.".

The major prestige successes were Satyajit F@-'s

WS/O?64- 102 ( CJA)

- 35 - Two London film festivals (iss and 1957) played an important part in popu-

larizing I n & m films. The first, at the Scala Cinema, was under the auspices of the Asian Film Society. Apart from festivals, the Asian Film Society and the Indian Film Society arm2ge pa-Fodic! reviews and showings of Indian films for members end guests. from d3strfbutors or from the Indian Wassy's collection of sharts.

Cther cinema clubs have private shwlngs of films obtained

2, Unlted States

Leaving aside the unsucceasfcl episode, drxrf~g the war, of the Ehglish verrjicn of "Court Dancer", Indim films began to receive fairly regular distribution in the United States towards the end of 1947* after the conclusion of the Busstyn- myer and Sltrtntrzmm contzast for the rights of "Shakmtala". end of 1962, the following Indian film were shown in the United States:

Between 1947 and the

ShakuntaLa Devi

Pather Panchali Teen Kanya,

Aparaj íto Jal.sa-r

(63) Apu Sansar The Householder

The Householder" was shown in an kglish version directed by James Ivory, n

an American.

These films, except for the first and last, were all directed by Satyajit Ray. Hence it can be said that, in the United States, Indian film and Satyajit Ray are synonymous, the ordislary public knowing nothing of any others.

"Pather Fanehali" had its world premiere at the hseum of W e m Art, New York, arranged to coincide with the official opening of the Textiles and Ornamental Arts of India Exhtbition, A director of the Museum, Mr. Monroe Wheeler, had seen parts of the fils being shot during a vislt to India in 1954 cnd was so impressed that he personally urged. the West Bengal euthoríties to a&mnce the necessary fuds to enable Satyajit Ray to finish hfs film. Wheeler wanted the film to be ready for the opening of the Indian Exhibition in New York; this is perhaps why the West Bengal Government decided to advance the maney, and so became the producer of the film and its owner. %a any event, the film was finished in time, and Wheeler and his friends used their own money to bv.y a copy and pay for its transport to the United States. public alike were so enthusiastic that there wbs no difficulty in finding a distri- butor - "ard €Iaz-risan, who bought the exclusive Unlted States distribution rights. was now willing to take a chance with Indian films. Satyajit Rayos film won the Cames awerd.

The film was shown without Ehglish mb-titles, but critics and

FES distribution of J a m e s e films had been reasonably successful and he This was two years before

It is one thing to buy a film, and another to have it shown, and Barr5son had d1fficul.ty in finding a cfnema. Vogue Theatre in San Francisco. throumout the world, two years passed before it found a cinema fn New York. at last the Fifth Avc~ue Cinema deci$eC to show it, the success was tremendous, and it beat the record m established bg "Gervaise" (with Maria Schell). This

Finally, "Pather Panchalin was shown at the Even with several awards to its creClit, and b-cwn

When

WS/07&102( CUA;

was the turning point, hdian films, the source not only of przs%ige but of large grofits, States today, Satyajit Ray may be somewhat less famous than Fellini or AntoxLoni but he is as well and perhaps even better knowi t5.m Kuroszwa. It is worth reQall- ing that in India, k y f s films weye at ffrst sham oily in 132nga1, and that it WELS no.& until after their s~ccess ahmad that they were shown, with Eiglish sub-titles, in other parts of his o m country.

Froru k'x!zen OQH&;.R~S, even small provS.scia2 cinemas wanted In the Liiitell

It is somewhat strange, however, t3at hy:s unqualified success does not seem to have made it much easier to place ether Indim films on the American mmket. In 1961, at the request of one of the distributors, the New York Wseum of Modern Art showed "Do Rnl2wn Barn Baath" (Two wes, Twelve Hands) directed by Shmtnrc?.m (1957). T X s was a great success in Ifidia, and won tne Jury's prize at the 1958 Berlin festival. Panckwli" remained the exception.

It failed with audiences at the Ivg_lseum, and the success of "Father A few further efforts were equally msuccessful.

Independent of the trode distrlbutioìi in the United States, non-commercial distribution operates throqh clubs, associations and schools and these often show the Satyajit Ray trilogy. The Wsix. Socflety (for cultural relations with the East) ocdasionally organizes Indias film progreanes, but they are mostly shor-ts and educationeJ films. riiities of Indiam or Americans of Indian origin, Indim films that do not go through the nornal distribution network are sometimes shown. These closed.-circuit showings cl0 little, however, to pqplarize Indian films ir, the United States.

On the ?acific coast in California, where there are many c o m

3-

Only both

from

Dznsnnr-k

Denmark is a cuuntry in which the Indhn film is almcst completely unknown. two Indim films have been cormnercfally shown there, nCMdrale'kha" and "Amn in 1954.(63)

--

They were a total failure, both with the public and the film reviewers. Apart these, the Danish censorship autho.rized the showing of 26 Indian documsntaries

between 1948 and 1957, a few m l y of which wera taken up by comercial clnemas. The h i & National Film Centre has two full-length Indian Ciocumentaries, SatyaJit Ray's 'Rabindranath Tagore" and "Jagriti", which it lends to schools and. clubs. also bought the non-comercial diatribution rights of "Apu Sansd.

It

mree 1ndi.m films have been shown in the W i s h kseum of the Cinema in Copenhagen: "Phna", "Psther Panchali" aììd "Aparajito". Althou@ they were very well received, and the press mote about Ray's il.n?;ernatfonal succzss at Venice and Ca-inss, 110 distributor was willing to talre the rhk.

The Indo-Dmish Society of Cop%hapn has regular shcwings of Indiem films.

But betraem 1956 and 1962, the distribution of Among others it has shown '"Xiaw. it very often lends to sobools. Indian films in Denmark brought in the miserable total of 1,090 rupess.

The I n C m Consulate has about 60 shorts wMch

A m m g the socialist countries, the examples chosen are the Soviet Union (the largest importer), Poland and IIungsry.

WS/0764- 102 @<JA)

- 37 - 4. Soviet Union

So far as the actual nurnber of films imported is concerned, the Soviet Union is the leading Western im2orter and, between 1949 and 2$3, 26 Indim films were publicly shown, In alphabetical order of their titles they were:

Aanc?hiyan by Chetan Anand (1952)

Awara, by Rad Kapoor (1952)

BaiJu ~ w r a by Wijaya Shanker Ehatt (1952)

Eiraj Bahu by Bfm1 Roy (1954)

Char Di1 Char Rahen (The Pour Ways) by K.A. Abbas and D.D. Garga (1959)

Chinnami (The Poor Man) by Nimai Ghosh (1950)

Dharati Ke La1 by K,A. Abbas (19b6)

Do Bigha Zamia by Bimal Roy (1553)

Ferry by Hemen Gupta (1954)

Hum Log (The Nation) by Zia Sarhadi (1954)

Insan Jaag Utha (The Nation Awakes) by Shakti Samanta (1.959)

Jagriti (The Awakening) by Satlen Bose (1954)

Kabuliwala (Native of the Kabul) by Tapan Sinha (1957)

Maa (The Pbther) by Biml Roy (1952)

Mirza Ghalib by Sohrab M ~ d l (1954)

Muma by K.A. Abbas (1954)

Naukri (Service) by Bimal Roy (195k)

New Delhi by M&a,n Sega1 (1954)

Paigham (Calling) by S.S. Vasai (1959)

Fx?-c-by (Xncwledge) by Satien 3ose (1954)

Pdhi (The Traveller) by K.A. Abbas (1953)

Shree 420 by RaJ Kapoor (1955)

Teen Batti Char Rasta (‘ì‘hree Lights, Four Ways) by V. Slmntnram (ï353)

Wams (The Successor) by Nitin Bose (19511)

Sujata by Bimal Roy (1939) WS/O?& 102 ( CIA)

- 38 - This list speaks for itself. The Soviet IJniori buys the reallst films of

K.A. Abbas, Biml Roy and Raj Kapoor. It is strikiw that tilere is no menticn of SatyaJit RayDs films, altaho& "Zalsagh&r" was Shown at the 1961 ~ E C O W festival, and won Lhe mísic award, was himself a member of the Jury of the 1963 Moscow festival. It is eqected that his Bengal trilogy will be shown very soon in the Soviet Union. A few of the films taken, e.g. ''Mrza Ghallb", "Teen. Batti Char Rasta" and "Pai&"", are typical spectacle films.

Awara", with Raj Kapoor in the lead, was the m J o r finmcial success. Its

"Shree &O1', another of KapoorPa films, a h 0 did very

O

popularity may have been partly due to '1 am a. vagabond." sung by Kapoor, which immediately became a hit. well. "The Stranger".

Next in popularity were BfLml Royr, "Two Acres of Land" <and K.A. Abbasfa These two films, arìd "Mimna", were highly praised by the critics.

Non-commercfal distributfor! does not exist in the Soviet Ux€on, all films being handled by ths State. in the Film-IWíers Club and in the premises of the International Frkndship Society, Among others, the Club showed "Eabla' directed by Agradoot (1952).

There Is an occasional non-official showing, however,

The main &le in popularizing Inriim films in the Soviet Unicn is phyed by the Indian film festivals tllat are held in Moscow and elsewhere from t h e to time. Tne Indian Mnister of Culture atta.ches great importance to these festivals and treats them very seriousiy. Delegations of Indian film-makers always attend. The first festival (Ish-) created a considerable opening for Indien filins. subsequent festivals held in 1956 and 1953, "Pather Pmchali" and "Apu Smsar" were shown.

At the

Russia? film magazines devote a good deal of space to the Indian clnema. books, Panna Shahls "The Indian Film" and "The Iridian Cinema" by B.D. Garga and Ealvant Card, have been translated into Russian.

Two

An IndLan film was shown in Poland for the first time in 1954. To the middle of 1963, ten other films (set out below in chronological order, with date of pro- duction first, and date of first showing in Poland second) followed.

Babla by Agradoot 195 1 1954

Do Bigha Zamin by Bimal Roy 1953 1855

Chinnarnul by Nimal Ghosh 1949 1955

Boot Polish by Prdzsh Arara 195 4. 1956

Awara by Raj K a p ~ o ~ 195 1 w56

Rahi bg K.A. Abbas 195 3 357

,bath?r Panchali by Satyajit Ray 1956 195 8

Shree 420 by Raj Kapoor 1955 13-5 8

WS/O76!+- 102 ( CiJA)

- 39 - Jagte Rah0 by Sombhu Mitra by Amit Maitra 1956 1959

Heera Moti by Krichan Chopm, 19% 1963(66)

Amrat', '%ot Polish" and "Rahi" were the most rsuccef-xhl. The first n

was seen by three millian people (out of Polandt s 3 million), the second hy two million, the third by one and a half million. "Chinnam~l" drew less than 35,OOO. 70,OOO - partly becazse of inadequate advance publicity in %he Press, end the fact that the memiere was at the end of June, when everyone goes away on holiday, Th.5~ is harûly enough, however, to explain the Ealmst total indífference to tbe finest Indlm film ever mde. Possibly, the extremely unfavour&le reviews of the first Indian films, shown in Poland from 196 onwards, discouraged audiences, especially the more discerning, whele Ray's films demanded too m c h from an average pub1.i~.

There were also some failaros. Even "Pathm Panebali'' was seen by only about.

With the few exceptions mentioned above, Indian films are not very popular in Poland, The Press takes little interest, and non-commercial showings are rare. The Polish-Indian Friendsntlip Society and oinem clubs occasionally organize retrospective programes. ter of 1962 was on a very modest scede. passed almost unnoticed.

The festival of Indian films held in Warsaw in the win- Only three films weFe shown, and they

6. Hunwm

Durfng the period 1954-1959, the following five Indian films were .+?own in HungaxIan cfnems:

Awara by Ra3 Kapoor (1951)

Rahi by K.A. Abbas (1951)

Do Bigka Zamin by Bina1 Roy (1953)

aree 420 by Raj Kapoor (1955)

Pochee (Two in the Clty) (Erector and year of production not known).

The most succeseTu1 were RaJ Kapoor's "A.wa,ra" (a mlI.lion spectators), and "Shree 420" (gO0,OOO); although the critics considered it the best of the five. Indian films since 1959. Hungarian films WES organized in India but did nothing to extend relations. further festival of Indian filma is now mooted.

the least successful was 'Two Acres of Lemd" (90,oOC;) Hungary has imported no

Press interest is almst nan-existent. A festival of A

So:ne gencm,l aonsfderati ons

Some general conclusions may be noted from thls brief six-camtry survey. -.u- -.--_I_ .̂ -__'

Firsf: not 8. single Indian film was publicly shown in all six of the count- n ries mentioned. Even counting non-commercial and festival performances, Pather Fanchali" was shown in only five, and the other films in a mxirrrum of three.

In English-speaking countries, the I:n&an cinema, by and large, means Satyajlt &jfs fil.ms, and in the United Statas the two are almost synonymous. To the E3cIal..ist countries, th3 major I~&+AII director is Fkj Kapoar,

Second: the Infian films imprted by the West, with the exception of Rad Kapoor's melodramas, are almost exclusively films with a sozial content. tacular (mainly mythclirgy) films are seldom seea in Western cinemas (except for "Am" in Britain).

The spec-

Third: except for Ray's Bensali films, nearly all.the others exported to the West are in Hindi, and fibs in langmges such as Tamil and Telugu m e never seen.

Fourth: even in the Soviet Union where they are relatively numerous, Inaian films are never more than a negligible percentage of the total films shown, and the time lapse between one Indian film and the next is so long that audience;, have no opportmity to get used to f3.11~3 which to them are an exotic tygpe. This seriously hinders the popularization of Indian films.

Fifth: apart from those of Satyajit bjP Incttan films tcake a long time to appear in the West, which consequent.ly remains out of touch with developments in the Indian cineme,. Of the films which received State awards in Indla in 1.960, 1961 and 1962, only Satyajit Ray's 'Devi" (The Goddess), has been seen in the West; and the 26 Indian films shown in the Soviet Union to mid-1363 dated from 1959 or earlier.

PART V

Popularizicg Inbim films in the West

Different ways of pogulcrizing Indian films in the West h v e been mentioned incidentally above. Some general conelusions may now be drawn.

1. Festivals u

Festivals provide the cinemars traditional show wkdcws and governments treat them seriously. with little result,

Ind5a takes part in a great many throughout the world but, so far, There are a number of reascns for this.

First, Indlan films lose rather than gain by being so very different. CH.t?cs and audiences expectantly await the latest Prom the European and American artists they know, and tend to regard films in a totally different style, atffioult to assess, as sonething like intruders. Festival mamgers tend to relegate them to second place, to morning or aftarnoon sessions, reserving the evenings for films whose success is considered assured. There are exceptions, of course, and, despite the reticences, an Indian film does occasionally achieve a resounding succem. This was the case with "Pather Pmchaii". critfc Andrd kein, it was shown a second time so that the members o the Jury cculd see it. Indfsn films require very careful presentation, and this may be difficult to arrange at the big festi.=als.

" k c to the vigorous intervention of the

Again, prizes awarded to Indian films often seem to the public to be just a polite gesture, or eise, incomprehensible. Take, for example, a very special type of prize, that awarcied for the music. In a Western film, the pJ.blic can see the reasons for making an award to a composer - the criteria are generally b o m and accepted. In the case of an Indian film, only a very few specialists are capable of judging the music, aad to the average spectator, the award corresponds to absolutely nothing. the music prize.

This hippcned in Moscow in 1959 when Ray's "Jalsaghar" won

Lastly, since a valid judgement is possible only after seeing most of the films produced, there are often doubts about the criteria used in India in select- ing the entries for festivals, The director's reputation seems to be the decisive factor. Just as Sweden always sends a Bergma, Zapan an fikiro Kurosawa, Italy a Fellini, Indin nearly always sends a SatyaJit Ray. Is this feir? In the caae of the Bengali trilogy it undoubtedly was, but "Farashpat&r" (The Philoso2her Is Stone), presented at Cannes in 1958, was a less self-evident choice. Ray himself said that the humour is so Bengali that it was not understood even in G%heF pa&s of India. (68) producer, director m d leading actor in "Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam". shown at the Berlin festivzl in 1963, said on his return to India that Indias? films on specific social problem were neither understood nor a preciated. In the Nest, by tl~e publfc

Was there any point, then, in showhg the film in France? Gww Dutt,

or by menbers of the fnternational juries.(@ P There is also the other side of the coin. M o h n Segd*s social satire,

"New Del.hi", shom in India in 1956, was not sent to any festival, although The Times of India praised its reallstio dissection of Indian ettitudes and civiliza- tion, and considered Lt tailor-made for Western audiences. (70)

ws/o76b102( CIJA)

- 42 - Commercially, Indian films der"lVe nothing from their acsiiuity at festivds,

as the Italian example so spectacularly shovs. years at the Venin,e festivai, Italy has spent a m w e 75,000 npees 02 Indian films for comercial Gstributim.

Despite Indim pwticipatioa for

The film "Jagte Raho" (Under Cover of Night) (3,956) provfcks cnather example. It was awarded the Grmd Prix at Karlovy Vary in 1957, but neither the Saviet Union nor Ilugary took it for distribution.

Pessimistic cmalusions regarding the iraefuhess of these festivaLs in pro- moting exports of Indian films to the West are drawn by most of the exparting companies. Aceoì3ding to V.Y. Purie, director of the All Indi& Film Corporation Ltd,, film festivals in Western countries are no help to exports of Indian films, which the West judges in terms of its ovm criteria and, in most cases, simplg understands nothing about them, (71)

If the international film festrvals have done little to popularize Indian films in the West, festivals devoted exclLsivcly to the Indian cinema seem on the other hand to have been extremely fruitful - as witness the three Scvlet and, two English ones+ and the Ehglish festivals were meticulGusly prepared, and offered audiences a large and varied selection of the most up-to-date trep.ds aad styles. festival was held in Frankfurt-on-kin in 1960, when eight full-lexgth cad ten &orb Indian films wepe shown.

The choice of films naturally plays a 5ig part, but both the Soviet

Another such

2. Mclseumz ~ f Ilm libraries. chbs and associations

Non-commercial distribution can also contribute agprscTa3ly to the populariza- tion of Indian films in the West. useful purpose. The National Film Theatre, Londm, which is affiliated to tie British Film Institute, widely publicise2 the Flay trilam-. Indian filmc can be seen only in the Cinema Pbseum in Amsterdam. The Cindmth&que fmpaiee in Paris arranges speoiad Indian progmmes from tine to tlme. In 1362, as part of the Sixth Biennale of S8o Paulo, the Cinemateca Brasileira organized an interesting retrospective programme in collaboration with the Indican Enbassy.

Film libraries and institutes c m serve a very

In the Netherlands,

Film libraries can claim m m h of the credit for popularizing Indien films, but the cinema clubs do rela%ivel.y little, gerh%ps considering this a matter for apecial bodies .weh RS the Asian Film Society and the Indian Film Society In aitain OP the Indo-hish Society in Copmhagen. national Federation of Cinema Clubs could do far more than they do to foster cul- tuïal i'c;iutions between East and West.

It wculd seem that the meabers of the In'isr-

3. Newspapers, magazines and bccka -.. _I-*----

Nevspapex., naturally enousi, mention 1ntU.m films only when there 5s a premiere, or in comexion with an inkmatioxla1 festival. ally do a feature on the Indian cinema and current developmats in it, but this is fairly rare, such articles appearing most frequently, it would seem, ir the PJlOccow monthl$ review "Is?Kstvo Kino". dealt ozly with Satjiajit Ray. In its issue of 1 January 1961, "Bienoo e Nera'' published an extensive study by

Film mgasines occtasion-

"Cahiers du Cinema" and "Sight aqd Sa"" have Sometimes interviews with Hay are reported.

WS/'0764-~02( XJA)

- 43 - Charles Cadoux entitled "Uno sguardo al cinema Indino" which had been written in 1957, one of the few serious and well-documented attempts to examine the artistic and economic problems of the Indian cinema.

As for books, three have appeared on the European inarket: Panna Shah's "The Inillan Film" (Bombay, 1949) published in Moscow by Gosudarstvennoe Izdatelstvo Iskustvo in 1956, In a trmslstion Sy 0,B. Gu"minova with the title "Indijskoe Kino"; unknowxi) p1;151islled in Ftussim in 1356 as "Kino Ir,dii" (same translator and pub- lisher); and, most recently, "Inclim Film", by B i k Barnouw and S, Krishnaswamy, published by Cohm3j.a University P-ress, New Ycrk and Lmdon, in 1963. devotes a chapter to the L ~ d 3 - m film in his book "AsijAcy Film" written in Czech, and published in l>rague by Orbis in 1958,

"The Indian Cinena" by B.D. Garga and Balvmt Gargi (pdblication date

d m Soukou];

Among film historians, m l y Georges Sadoul deals at any length with the Indian cinema; fffth and enlarged edition, Flammarion, Paris, 1959.

this is in his "Histoire 6u cinema mondial, des origines a nos jours",

The best descri-Dtion is undoubtedly given by "Sra~i.an Film" (Erik Barnouw and S. Krishnaswarrgr), a detailed account of the development of the Indian cinema to the beginning of the sixties, It is based on over a year's study, in India, of the work of the leaang film-makers, arid research on original documents. "Indian Film" should be translated into other European languages for the benefit of those who want to make a detafled stuay of the Indjan cinema, and for the average reaaer who would like to obtain a better understanding and appreciation of its values.

ws/i)76h-102( CUA)

- 44 - PART VI

Final ccnclusions --- 1. - Quantity and quality These were in several languager;. the West, mostly at festivals, about 15. 20; this record figure, in the coimtry offering the conditions most reoeptive to the Indian cinema - represents 0.5s of th3 total outpía-?; in other counti-ies, the figure never exeeds a small fraction of one per cent.

From independence to the end of 3.352, Inclria produced some h,5OO feature films,

The nuder per country varles between a couple and At mot.:, 90 to 100 (i. e. 2$) have been shown in

The Soviet Union is m e only country which publicly showed mare t h m

The general explanation is that most Indian films are not intended fcr a some people go EO far a8 to mainksin that, espar% from Satyajit Western public;

P,zyfs films, India has nothine sclitable to show in New York, Moscow, Paris, Wtìrsaw, Copenhagen. This view is widespread, but hardly substantiated. It seems unlikely that, of the 4,500 films pruduced, only those of Satyajit Ray find echo anmg Western audiences. Good films thzre oei%ainljr are - even if few in nuTbsr - which remain under-appeclated, or actually unha" In Europe, natio" festivals or special programes often offer foreign critics tie occasion to "discover" films which will amuse general admiration abroad. The exampha, old and recent, are legion, Unfortunately, few cr5.tl.cs or specialista viait India, and amng thoce who do, very few want to spend entire days in pL-ojeotion room, hoping tcj ccine upon the very rare pearls. determined enough to find them.

But the pzarls are there, ff only there were exiAorers

Even if it were true that only Satyajit Rag cen make a Western audience, ten yews of film-making are loxg enough for him to Fave f m d disciples or imitators. Ilas he a following in Bengal? And if so, why h w e Westem screens seen no reflec- tion of it? A young dlrector, Xtwik Ghat&, working in Calcutta, made a fllm AJaantr-Ik" (It's Not a Nmhine), nomirnlly aborit a driver m d his old taxi - 5ut real3y about one of the burning problems of India today, the conflizt in the industrialization of the country, between industry and the traditional, individuai artisan. Another Bengali director, Tapan Sinha, nade two films: "Iauha Kamt'' (Iron Door) about the gaol where, ih colonial days, those who fought for indepen- dence were imprisoned; and "Kudita Paam' (Tlîe Stones a m kngry), an adaptation cf d novel by Rabindranath Tagore, oxe of the most talked-of films of 1960. Ainong what might be called the avant-garde, only "Ganga" (The Ganges) by Rajen Tarcfhn, found Its way to a &rope= festival - Venice in 1961, where it was favourably ing, and finds c m be made.

n

rmhc; --? Ly the critics. These few examples show that the ground is worth search-

The first thing to be done is to breG out of the charmed c?.rcJ.e of a few fan" names - Sxtyajit &y, Dina1 Roy, Raj Kapoor - and let Western audqences see films made by young Indian directam: the repertoire badly needs broadening.

2. A world unknown c_Ic

Although East-West contacts are extending, few people in the West really h o w much about India. some reimte colonial sense and, &a AbSas has said, snakes, tigers, mak?araJ&s

To the average spectator, I n a a is still an exotic coun%ry in

WS/o76b 102( W A )

- 45 - dripping with jewels, half-naked fakirs perched on the icy summits of the Rimalayas make up his picture of Indfa - an image that has lzsted far too long, and left the Western spectator believing that an Indian must be either a mahFtrajah or a stcrving coolte. (72)

W e m realist films have done a lot to clear away these misundesstmdings, but there is now a new difficulty. to the Western mentality, as an example will suffice to show. One of the f'un6a- mental soclal institutions is the joint family: brothers end sisters, w-tth theh respective wives, husbands and children, inhabit the came home, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, mothers-in-law, sons-in-law m d daughters-in-law all living on top of one another. flicts that are central to newly every Indian drama or melodrama, and feels lost, the ptriarchal Joint family having long ceased to be 'Lhe nuclearP unit of Western society. There is the story of the Hollywood producer to show just how far i s o r ance of Indian customs can have a bearfng on the reaction to a film. After seeing "Mother India", one of the foreign candidates for an Oscar, he exclaimed, "I d,onft get it. In the West, it wodd have been as simple as that.

Indian social prQblemS remain incomprehensible

A Western spectator fails to understand the various family con-

What 1s all the noise about? All she hsd to do was to marry again". (73) Not In India.

&.stern and Western civilizations are st1l.l wor1C.s apart. For centuries Western civilizaticn bas been penetrating parts of society in the East but the process has scarcely started in the reverse dfrection, blocked as it is by the almost total indifference of the general public in the West. The public, with its accelerated tempo of life, Is put off by the slowness, the vagueness, by a certain amorphoumess in Eastern art in general and the Indian cinema in particular. yet it could scarcely be otherwise. The Indian is thus because of his history and his specific philonopl-dcal and religious background. Satyajit Ray decided to film Bannerjee t s "Tather Panchali '' precisely because the book s absence of imer truc- ture was at one with the life lived in a Benwl vlllage, In the same way, the slow pace of the fihmfs images reflects the rhythm of daily life among its charac- ters.

And

If the products of Indian civilizatAon are to be properly appreciated, India and the Indian past m s t be better lmown. were available from the students of Indfats mcfent civilization, from journalists, politicians, industralists, business men and, generally, those who have ffrst-hand knowledge of this huge Asian country. who have no interest in the cinema as an art. ever express an opinion about Indian films which have chrmced to find a Western buyer, the general public on the essentials, say w k t is authentic, and put audiences on their guard against the sham and the d.istorted.

Criteria could be established if help

Unfortunately, they are nearly all people They rarely see a film, and scarcely

This is a great pity, because these are Just the peogle who could inform

The pro3lem can, and perhaps must, be approached from tha other end. People often go to the cfnema for the very purpose of getting to know aomethlnq about a comtry, i+,s civil.lzation and social conditions. Since the w m , Japwese films have been extremely effective in maldng Japan more acceasible to the West. then, should we ask more of Indla - why should we have to know India and its people before we can appreciate its films? artistic conventions of the Indian film unmit it for Western consumption, not enough to draw attention to these conventions:

why,

The reason is simple. The very special It is

we must learn to accept them.

ws/o76b102( CIJA)

- 46- 3. Accepting the artistic conventions of o'ih32

Reviewing "Ganga 2umna" (The Two Erctherc) , made by Nitin Eose in I-*, ),he British Film Inst4-tuters monthly Film Bulletin mmïed u;? by saying that the film was a splendid Indian-style meiodrama with lots of songs, dames, tears ?ad frater- nal compssion, Some bad colour, and hard blows. The reviewer found that the naive charm evaporated before the end, and the film as a whole, he said, confirmed the view that Satyajit Ray remined the solltnry exceptim to the unvai-yiiig con- vention of Indian fllm producers.(74) but not bad InCtim film: a supercilious glance, an ironic smile, and a paternal and slightly scornful tone.

Wds is a typical- Westen view of a mediocre,

Could there be any other general artistic convention in India to which the exceptions would become more numerous as social standards rose? As Abbas, one of the most eminent representatfves of the realist school points out, the cinema in India has become the universal armseinerit of millions of refugees - the peasants and people frios haxilets and villages who he-6 lost a rich heri-Luge of songs and folk dances without finr3ng anything in the cities to replace them. ballet or music-nall, and only a few theatres; for most Indiens, the clnema is al1 of these in one, expected to provide the music, the comedy, tie romance that would satisfy their need for the beauty and glamur which are Iseking in tkeir daiïy lives. (75)

There is no opera,

Abbas called this "omISus entertainment" and, naturally enougk, being intended for mass oonsuriplicn, 3% fs not-ove.z?-mftnac?. E%svl.ng contfnued for decades, it is not likely to cbmge from one day to the next. does not disdain the genre, as his film "Jalsaghar" proves.

SatyajiCY Ray, it m y be recalled,

The typical Indian film has little appeal for a Westem public.

"he rhythm m d melOc?lc line Gf the music and songs) so different

In comedies, the puns &id allusions to lacal cwtoms w.Wch make Ind€ans leu@ are nearly always untn"la.tab1.e. from ours, neither interest nor move tis. In the dramas, the song interludes, or entire sequences s m g in operatic fasiilon rather th.= spoken seem to us unbearable.

Providing oth2r conditions are favourâ,ble, familiarity can m&e any artistic convention nccep-table. the beghning end up by being accepted. 31t the problem involves a r2a-t.o~~ circle: no one in Ehrope cr America wants to import and S ~ A U ~ I c Z m films because of their strangeness, but tl-ris strangeness could be overcame only if they were imported by the dozen.

If enough Indian films are seen, features which shook at

4. It is up to 1ndl.a

It is now up to India.

--- If otkie::*s a.ppear tdth the talents of Satyajit Ray,

if general artistic levels coatinue to improve, Indlm filins will gain their foot- hold in Western cinemn. The Govemnent in interested, mid In6Aan Ministers lose no opportunity of remlïiding p,-oducers how important it is to gain an entry izto Western markets, although not, of course, at any price. At a mesting oc the Film Consultative Corninittee in Maclras on 11 July 1963,the then Minister. of Information, Lb. Gopala Reddy, point& .out thit intematlonal festivals eii,ioyed enormous pomlar- itg,and always welcomed Indian films; but that the films entered must be sinc$re, mst show life as it really is in. India,md against an. authcntic badkground. (76) . .

WS/0764- 102( CIA)

Q - 47 - Satyajit Ray alsc wam.ed wainst the facile exploitation of "Eastern exoticism" for export to the West, maintainfng that althou.& it would be much easier from the point of vLew of the cinema industry $0 cont.inïïe ertain mytins, a conscientious m d honest director will not hesitate to re je& them. prt7)

It is LIP to India. On Indian film-makers and artists depends the future of the Indian cfnema in the West. The Government can only help. A more liberal po?.icy on the part of the producers would also help. But it is the gifted di~ectors alone who can create great works of ar? that will captivate the audiences in countries that are thouscnds of miles away.

*

Motes _e-

(1) Erik Barnouw and S. !k-isk,?aswamy, Inelan Film, New York and London, Columbia University Press, p.55

(2) B.D. Garga., Fifty Years of the Indian Ciaem (A Historical Survey), Filmfare, Vol. 12, No. 5, 8 h-r.ch 1963

(3) OP, cit. (4) V.P. Sathe, Western Impact on Indien Films. United Asia. Asian Film NumSer,

vol. =II, No. 5, 1961

(5) B.D. Garga, Fifty Years of the Indian Cinema. Op. cit.

(6) Erik Barnouw and S. Krishnas”y, Indim Film. Op. cit. p.63

(7) Faubion Bowers. Theatre fn the East, A Survey of Asian Dance and Drama. Thomas Nelson anci Sons, Edinburgh, New York, Toronto, 1956, p,7b

(8) Kabita Sarkar, Influences on the Indim Film. NG. 1, January-March 1957

Infian Film Quarterly, Vol.1,

(9) Erik l3u”uw and S. Krisbm”y, Indien Film. Op. cit. p.56

(10) Charles Cadou, Uno sguardo al. cinema indiano. Bianco e Nero, h o XXII, No. 1, gennaio 1961

(11) Erik Bamouw and S. Krishnaswarny, Indian Film, Op, cit. p.105

(12) FhdJbana Krishan IQ”, Za szirokoje kdtizrno je cotrudniczestwo. SowietskaJa Kultura, No. 57, 5 May 1955

London and New York 19k(, p.74

ing, New Delhi, April 1953

(15) N.K. Rahim, ‘fie Film in Indla, The Penguin Film Review, No. 4, Penguin Dooks,

(14) Tenth Year of State Awards for Films. Mlnistry of Information and Broadcast-

(15) Indian Film Industsy (Statistical Supplement) Uaited Asia, Asian Film Nunbell?, VOL. 33, NO. 5, .1961, p.306-307

(16) Tenth Sear of State Awards for Films, IvKnistqr of Infomation and Broadcasting, New Delhi, April 1963

(17) B.D. Garga. Fifty Years of the Indian Cinena (A Ilistorical Survzy). Filmfare, vol. 12 No. 5, 8 March 1953

(18) The Indian Film - Some Facts and. Figures, Filn Section. Infoim..tlon Serqiee of India, India Hause) LcnGon (no dato)

(19) Authcr’s ciiscueoion with SatJajit Ray, Moscow, 32-y 1.963.

wS/0764-102( CUA)

h - 49 - (20) All statfstical dsta taken from the tables entitled “Indian Film Production

Statisths by Language”, page 282. S. Kirshnaswamy, New York and LonCion. Co?.umhia University Press. lp63

InCiian Film by Ekfk Barnouw and

(21) Screen Vol.XII No, 45, 26 July 1963, Bombay

(22) B.D. Garga, Fifty Years of the Regional Cinema. Filmfare, vo1.12, No. 6 2.2 Rach 1963

(23) S.S. Vasm. Pageants for our Peasants. Indian Talkie 1931-136. Silver

(24) Hugh Gray, The Growing Ed$e.

Jubilee Soirvenir, Film Federation of India, Dombay, 1956, g. 25

Film Quarterly, vol.XI1 No. 2, Winter 1955

(25) Indian Talkie 1931-1956. Bombay, 1956, p.34

Silver Jubilee Souvenir, Film Federation of India,

(26) FZdk Barnouw anrl S. Krishnaswmny, Indian Film. Mew York an?. London. Columbia Unfversity Press, 1963

(27) Douglas MC Vay, The Ray Trilogy, Film, The Magazine of the Federatioa of Indian Film Societies. No. 24 March-April 1960

(28) Erfk Barnouw and S. Krishnaswarqy, Indian Film, New York and London. Columbia University Press. 1963

(29) India and the World. Allied Publishers, New Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta,, Mdras, 1952, p.2

(30) OP. cit. g.20

(31, OP. cit. P.9

(32) OP. cit. p.25

(33) op. cit. p. 45

(34) P.V. Rajamarmar. Themes Awaiting FiI.m, Indian Talkie 1931-1956. Silver Jubilee Souvenir, Film Federation of India, Borabay, 1956 p.5

(35) OP. cit.

(36) B.D. Gar@, Balvant Gargi, Kino Indii, Gos. Izd. Ishxstvo, Moskva, 1956,

(37) Faubion Eowem, Theatre in -the East, A Survey of Asian Dance ûnd Drama.

(38) Sìtara Devi - Kathak, the Dance of Gods.

p. 63-04

Tlima,~ Edson and Scns, Eclinbdrgh, New Ycrk, Torontop 1956, p.58

Indian Talkie 1-931-1956, Silver Jubilee Souvenir, Film Feeeration of India, Bornbay, 1556, p.112

(39) Charles Cad-cla, Uno sguardo al ainema indiano, Eianco e Nero, Anno XXII, No. 1, @;maio 195?. p.22

ws/076&- 102 [ ‘SUA )

"3

- 50 - (40) Erik E3arnouw and S. KzLshr,s.swamy, In6'an Filin. New York and London. Cohnbia

University Press, 1963. p. 244

(41) Screen VoLXII, No. 45, 26 July 1963. Bornbay

(42) Erik Bamouw and S. Krishzswamy, Indian Film. New York and London. Columbia. university Press, 1963 p. 50

(43) OP. cit. p.1'16

(44) K. Subrakmaniam, Kino w Indii, Sowietskoje Ishstvo Mo. 78, 29 September 1952 Modsva

(45) Sudhindra Kumar Ray, New In&hn Directors. Film Quarterly. Vol. XIV, Ho, 1, 1960, P. 63-61i

(k-6) B.D. Garga, FLfty Yeas of the Indian Cinema (A Historical Survey) Filmfare, Vo1.12 No. 5, 8 March 1963

(47) Charles Cadou, Ur.0 sgwrdo al cinema indiano, Bianco e Nero, A m o MII, No. 1, gennaio 1961 p.33

w 5 5 P.29 (48) K,A. Abbas, India through Indian Films. F3.rst Indian Film Festival, London

f45) Erik Barnouw and S. Krishna,wamy, Indien Film, New York c?nd London Colwabia

(50) Screen Vol.XII No. 4.6, 2 August 1963, Bombay

University Press, 1953, p. 159

(51) Erik Bamaaw and S. Krishììfmmy, Indian Film. New York and London, CoSumbia Universfty Press, 1953, p. 263

(52) Charles Cadam, Uno sguardo al cinema indiano, Bianco e Nerop A m o XXII, No. 1, gennaio 1961, P. 37

(53) Hznsh S. BO OC^, Phelke - The Father of Indian Motion Picture Industry Indlan Talkie 1951-1956, Silver Jubilee Scuvenlr, Filin Federatfon of India, Boaibay, 1956 p. 20

(54) Parma Shah, Indijskoe Kino, Gos. Izd. Iskustvo, kskva, 1956, p.53

(56) Erik Bamouw and S. Krishaswsmy, In14im Filr, New YoTk and hadon, Colukia Universtty Press, 1963, p. 128

(57) Pierre Leprohoil, Prgsences Contemporaines - CinBma, Nauve3.les E\rtitions Bbresse, Paris lB7, p. 128

(58) From Erik Enrnouw m d S. Krbs!maswamy, Indian Film, New York and Loadon, Columbia University Press, 1963, p.2Ej2 m.d Tenth Year of State AwaAs for Films 1962, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, New Delhi, p.26

WS/076 4- 102 ( CL9 )

- 51 - (99) Stz9ment of Earnings from the &port of IndLan films for the Years 196 to

1962 (Facts protrideci by the Indian Embassy, Warsaw)

(60) op. cit.

(61) Op. cit.

(62) From fnformation supplied by the National Film Archives, London

(63) From informtion supplied by the kseum of Modem Art, New York

(64') From information supplied by the Danske Film bseum, Copenhagen

(65) From informtion supplied by Gosfilmofmd, Bielye StoUsy, USSR

(66) From information supplied by the Office of Distribution, Warsaw

(67) From information supplied by the Hungarim Film Institute ar,d Lib-, &&pest

(68) From the AuLhorrs interview with Satyajit Ray, Mmcow, July 1963

(69) Sareen Vol. EI, No. 43, 12 July 1N3, Borhy

(70) Charles Cadou, Uno eguarilo al cinema indiano, Dienco e Nero, Anno XXII, No. 1, gennaio 1961, p.34

(71) Letter to the Author from V.V. Purie 30 July 1963

(72) K.A. Abbas, India through Indlan Films, First Indian Film Festival, London 1%5 P e w

(73) Letter to the Author from V.V. Purie, 30 July 1963

(74) Monthly Film Bulletin, Vob.gQ No, 355, August 1963, London

(75) Khwaja Ahm;%d Abbas, The Mrror of India, Theatre Arts, February 1948, New York, p.53

(76) Screen VoLXII No. 45, 26 July 1963, Bombay

(77) Erik Ikarnouw and S. Krlsbnaswamy, Indian Film, New York and London. Columbia University Press, 1963, p.234

WS/0?5&- 1-02 (cull)