Having completly enjoyed Our Films, Their Films , i am looking forward to this one



http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/Books/ ... sp?ID=5945

Book Review at rediff --> http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2005/aug/22ray.htm


When Ray talked cinema...

Jai Arjun Singh | August 22, 2005

The late Satyajit Ray often expressed regret about the lack of quality writing on cinema by its own practitioners. 'Filmmaking is such a demanding process that directors --especially those who keep up a steady output -- rarely have time to assemble their thoughts,' he said.

Time constraints aren't the only factor; many leading directors tend to be reluctant to discuss their own work at length, much less expound on cinema in general. Ray is one of the exceptions.

Non-Bengali readers might be familiar with his earlier work, Our Films, Their Films, a collection of essays that was first published in 1976. Now we have Speaking Of Films, a translation of a collection known in Bengal as Bishay Chalachitra.

It's taken a puzzlingly long time for the first English version of Bishay Chalachitra to appear, but it was worth the wait: Gopa Majumdar's translation is impeccable, retaining all the qualities we associate with the director -- gentle yet firm, avuncular, instructive but conversational.

In the 18 essays collected here, Ray covers topics ranging from the history of Bengali cinema to the importance of background music in a film ('in India the problem a composer must face is not one of paucity but of abundance').

There are reflections on great directors of the past, personal glimpses into the vicissitudes of the filmmaking process, and anecdotes, like the amusingly incongruous one about Kanu Banerjee -- Pather Panchali's Harihar -- ruining a shot by repeatedly saying 'Mohan Bagan' (the football club) instead of 'mohanbhog' (the sweet).

Ray also uses the scenarios of some of his movies to illuminate the problems in translation from page to screen.

And there are moving personal profiles, based on his experiences with the blind painter Benode Bihari and with the extraordinary Chunnibala Devi, whose performance as the old pishi in Pather Panchali was one of the miracles of screen acting (and of serendipitous casting).

The master director discusses, at some length, the synthesis between form and content: the two qualities must ideally work in unison, he says, but it is possible for some films to aspire to high artistic achievement even with an abundance of one quality relative to the other; the austerity of the Japanese director Ozu (who refused to employ even widely accepted cinematic devices like the dissolve and the pan) can coexist with the joyful experimentation of Nouvelle Wave enfant terribles like Truffaut and Godard.

At the same time, however, Ray sounds a cautionary warning to those who would seek to break established cinematic norms without a clear understanding of them, 'for the creation of new rules requires a thorough knowledge of the old ones'.

This essay, written in the late 1960s, has a strong contemporary resonance, given the dilettantism and the 'anything goes' attitude we see so much of today.

Even Ray's biggest fans sometimes feel alienated by the levels of perfection the man reached (hence the frequently voiced preference for the erratic brilliance of Ritwik Ghatak over the polished finesse of Ray's best films).

This extended to his personal conduct too; he never came across as the sort who would, for instance, deign to participate in a messy verbal scuffle.

In that context, it's fun to see him take on critics who wrote uncharitable things about Apur Sansar and Charulata. The occasional traces of peevishness in Ray's tone here ('I do not know if Mr Rudra understands anything of literature. Of films he understands nothing, but it is not just that. He doesn't understand even when things are explained to him.') are more engaging than his counterarguments (which are brilliantly made anyway).

But these little glimpses of petulance notwithstanding, almost everything Ray did was marked by empathy. His ability to see various sides of a debate (mirrored in the boundless grace of his movies, where even in situations of extreme conflict and turmoil, one can relate to the predicaments of several different characters) brings richness and depth to his writing.

Rarely has a major director been so generous in articulating his thoughts, not only about his own films and the cinema of his country, but also about the history of the medium and how it has been influenced by societal backdrops in different regions. For all this, and for the lucidity and perceptiveness with which he did it, we can continue to be grateful.



BTW - for those intersted , here are some books on indian cinema that i enjoyed quite a bit

1) Our Films, Their Films - Essential read

2) Rows and Rows of Fences: Ritwik Ghatak on Cinema (Paperback)[/url] - Essential read

3) Essential Mystery: The Major Filmmakers of Indian Art Cinema (Paperback) - Essential read

4) Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema (Paperback) <-- very exhaustive info

5) Cinema of Interruptions: Action Genres in Contemporary Indian Cinema (Paperback) <-- Excellent Read

6) The Eye of the Serpent: An Introduction to Tamil Cinema By Theodore Bhaskaran <-- Picked it up in india , again an excellent read

Enjoy

I never knew Satyajit Ray had written any books or his writings published. Him and Ritwik Ghatak are probably the only two Indian directors to have been taken seriously by the rest of the world. I'm going to have to look out for these. Though when he talks of Indian cinema I think he's referring to art-house cinema. I doubt he meant bollywood, though the films were better back then with the likes of Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor.

In addition to writing nice essays on cinema as a medium, he also penned lot of children novels. The following will list his books

http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/Author ... asp?aid=29


* Speaking of Films published on 8/1/2005
* The Exploits of Professor Shonku: The Diary of a Space Traveller published on 7/1/2004
* The Exploits of Professor Shonku: The Unicorn Expedition published on 7/1/2004
* Incident on the Kalka Mail: The Adventures of Feluda published on 4/1/2004
* The Golden Fortress: The Adventures of Feluda published on 4/1/2004
* The Criminals of Kathmandu: The Adventures of Feluda published on 4/1/2004
* The Secret of the Cemetery: The Adventures of Feluda published on 4/1/2004
* The Royal Bengal Mystery: The Adventures of Feluda published on 10/15/2003
* Trouble in Gangtok: The Adventures of Feluda published on 10/15/2003
* The Bandits of Bombay: The Adventures of Feluda published on 10/15/2003
* A Killer in Kailash: Adventures of Feluda published on 10/15/2003
* The House of Death: The Adventures of Feluda published on 7/15/2003
* The Mystery of the Elephant God: The Adventures of Feluda published on 7/15/2003
* The Emperor's Ring: The Adventures of Feluda published on 7/15/2003
* The Curse of the Goddess: The Adventures of Feluda published on 7/15/2003
* The Best of Satyajit Ray published on 12/15/2001
* The Complete Adventure of Feluda Volume II published on 10/1/2000
* The Complete Adventures of Feluda Volume I published on 8/1/2000
* Indigo Stories
* My Years With Apu: A Memoir
* Feluda's Last Case and Other Stories
* Mystery of the Elephant God: More Adventures from Feluda
* The Incredible Adventures of Professor Shonku
* Childhood Days
* Mystery of the Pink Pearl: The Final Feluda Stories
* Twenty Stories
* Adventures of Feluda
* The Emperor's Ring
* Royal Bengal Mystery
* Stranger: Stories
* The House of Death and Other Feluda Stories



In fact he wrote a short story called Alien which was suposed to be produced by a major hollywood studio - unfortunately it never panned-out and legend has it that this script inspired Spieldberg's E.T !!!!

As a personal level i like Ritwik Ghatak's writing - he somehow seem to put in more personality/energy to his articles .

Satyajit Ray's Our films, Their Films - is a nice collection of essays , though he doesnot go into detail review of films - he does critique popular bollywood films in general ( he seem to like earlier Raj Kapoor movies ) . and was looking forward to the new wave movement in India ( esp. Shyam Benegal - though he was harsh on Ankur ).

If you are intersted in cinema and would like to know more about the psyche of great indian directors then i say pick them up.

I look forward to reading this new book.

In OFTF he does touch on the banality of mainstream Bengali and Hindi cinema, though this is not the focal point of the essays. His critiques of Renoir, De Sica, etc. are good reads also.

Speaking of books on or by Indian filmmakers. I've just recently completed reading a book on documentary filmmaker S.SUKHDEV(or Sukhdev Singh Sandhu). The author is Jug Mohan, and it's a very good book that gives you insight into the whole behind the scenes action of the Indian film industry(expressed in both political & social thought) in a span of almost 3 decades from the 60s through the mid/early 80s. Ofcourse, all of it through S.Sukhdev's observations. Many here might share S.Sukhdev's sentiments expressed in the book, especially his blows on popular hindi cinema at the time and it's prime endeavor to become a business entity as oppose to exposing the profundity the medium is capabale of. There was also a small blur in the book which stated that Satyajit Ray at the time considered Sukhdev to be the best documentary filmmaker in the country and especially his "India '67" had left a deep impact on him. This was all too fascinating to me, since he, along with Adoor Gopalakrishnan are now two very likely important Indian filmmakers I've just recently gained knowledge of and have yet to see a single piece of work from either.

Anywho, in this book on S.Sukhdev, a section contains a series of interviews which were done with the filmmaker during the mid 70s. Here I will cut and paste one Q&A session which left me with great admiration for his inner ideology.

On Social Commitment
Q: In what sense can the commitment of a film-maker reveal itself?

A: I cannot see any artist unmoved by the poverty in our country. Poverty in more ways than one: physical poverty, mental poverty and the poverty of the petty politician for lack of vision and of the political sychophants in simply sloganizing the message of the leaders of our land. The cinema has to be committed because we are bringing about the silent revolution in this country. (July 4, 1976)

Thank you for the info, any idea where i can snag a copy of that book ( what is its title ?) .

Some more additional info on "Indian Documentary "

The indian documentary - part I : Pre - Independence Era

The indian documentary - part II : Post - Independence Era

BTW i am eagerly awaiting the realease of Luois Malle's Phantom India on Criterion - Satyajit Ray was very critical of this one

Title: S.Sukhdev (Center cover)/Filmmaker(bottom of front cover) A documentary montage.
Author: Jug Mohan

I can't locate this book anywhere online, but I found it at my school library and have been reading it there continuously at every visit. I will check for the publisher name next time I'm there.

Thank you - It appears to be OOP for quite sometime , however there a few places that seem to sell it

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookD ... 252BMAKERS

http://www.abaa.org/dbp/detailindex.php ... ce=froogle

i am going to check my local library first , perhaps they will carry it also

dvdisoil,

I strongly recommend that you get your hands on "The Politics of India's Conventional Cinema: Imaging A Universe, subverting A Multiverse" by Fareed Kazmi. It's just excellent. This is my current favourite read at the moment, and I can't seem to get my hands off of it.

Cool i will check it out, will be a while before i do it - i am in india now and i looked around for Speaking Of Films and cant seem to find it .

BTW - i am currently reading The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky: A Visual Fugue - an excellent read and higly recommend it , esp. if you are fan of Tarkovsky

http://in.rediff.com/movies/2005/nov/10roopa.htm

The title I want to write Rajnijant's biography... is misleading , but dont let that deter you she ( Roopa Swaminathan) is an excellent writer, i read her roopa series of books on india cinema and they were very concice and neat .

Here is the full interview ( i got to get Star Dust, Vignettes from the fringes of the Film Industry <-- won the national award for best film-based literature )

Roopa Swaminathan, author of the National Award-winning book, Star Dust, Vignettes from the fringes of the Film Industry, calls herself a hardcore Mumbaiite who loves cinema and grew up watching Hindi films.

She is currently in the US, trying to mobilise funding for her second film. Her first, in English, was produced by the National Film Development Corporation and is yet to hit theatres. Excerpts from a conversation with Shobha Warrier...



So where did this interest in film come from?

As I grew up, I always knew I would make films. But, considering I think and write in English, I wanted to make films in English. I was in the US for a bit – in Los Angeles, trying to get a first hand feel for Hollywood. I came back to India to get my visa renewed, and met Mani Ratnam casually. He asked me to stay back and work with him. I did that for a year. I then applied for funding to NFDC, and got it approved. My first English feature film, Five By Four, has been to many festivals like Shanghai, AFM in Los Angeles, and Ashdod in Jerusalem, but still awaits a theatrical release.

In the meantime, I won a fiction-writing contest for Oxford Bookstore. Penguin got my name from the contest and commissioned me to write Star Dust. I have also penned three coffee table biographies for Rupa Publications, on MGR, Sivaji Ganeshan and Kamal Haasan. But my goal, in terms of biography, is to write one on Rajnikant. Not a coffee table book, but a full-length biography. He is truly my Thalaivar! (leader). If he ever decides to go for it, I hope he'd let me do it. I am intensely fascinated by his life story!


What is it about him that fascinates you?

I saw Thalapati and fell for the Rajnikant magnetism. It has stayed ever since. I just love his movies. They remind me of Manmohan Desai's films in Hindi. Desai was unapologetic about making films that threw logic to the winds and simply entertained. Rajni's films feel the same to me. It's difficult to explain that X-factor that makes his movies so special.

My friends from Mumbai cannot understand how someone like me who wants to make films in Hollywood and has grown up watching Hindi cinema can like Rajni so much. I suppose that is the magic of cinema! In terms of writing his biography, I think the journey he made from a bus conductor to becoming the most powerful man in Tamil Nadu is fascinating to me. I have always dreamt big -- not that I have achieved any of it, of course -- like winning an Oscar some day, working in the White House, etc. It's a huge reinforcement of what a human being can achieve when someone like Rajni made it this big from such a humble background. In that sense, it is highly inspiring. Another positive in his favour is he seems incredibly humble. I would love to get inside his head and find out what makes him tick!

Was it your idea, or that of the publisher, to stress the outsider/insider syndrome that exists in the film industry?

Penguin wanted me to suggest a few subjects on the film industry I could write about. This was one of them, and they jumped at it. For once, we were looking at the possibility of exploring a book that did not deal with the superstars, but was about regular people dreaming about making it big.

You have used the style of fiction, but the characters are so real and rooted to life. How difficult was it for you to make them look real?

Making them real was the easy part. It could be nothing but real because their stories are such that, even if I wanted to make them up, I couldn't. It was getting them to open up and be honest about their feelings and lives that was hard. Once they did that, I chose a style of writing that suited a book like this. I didn't want it to be boring non-fiction about the tragic lives of strugglers. I wanted the style to be fast and pacy, like a Grisham novel. I wanted that perfect combination of 'meaningful cinema' in a 'commercial format' -- real stories in a fiction-like format.

Extras, dancers, production assistants... they are never given any importance by the industry. Why did you decide to concentrate on their lives? To highlight the injustice meted out to them?

Honest to God, it wasn't any attempt on my part to highlight injustice. But after working in film units and making my own film, I realised that talking to stars was pretty boring. I was genuinely amazed at the passion and interest these so-called 'outsiders' showed, and when you contrast that to the take-it-for-granted attitude some stars have, I knew theirs was a story waiting to be told.

Star DustThough you tried to give colour to the colourless lives of outsiders, I felt a kind of pathos running through the book. Did you really feel bad for them?

You are on target with this question. And you are the first person to sense this pathos. Again, it wasn't intentional. I think there is a sense of pathos that runs through the entire film business. Why just my book? I've seen a certain amount of sadness in just about every film person I have met. Sadness caused by no success, and by too much success.

Stars are obsessed about earning more money and driving a car that's better than their rival's, and in this quest they are truly alone. They have no clue who their real friends are. It's actually a very sad and insecure world. And the same goes for those who are not successes, because they are constantly pushing themselves to get to where the stars are. So basically, there's a lot of sadness and I think the book reflects that.

Why did you decide to concentrate on the Tamil film industry?

For a couple of reasons. One, I genuinely found more interesting people in Tamil cinema. They are altogether smarter and more passionate than those from Hindi cinema. Tamil cinema is a lot about wanting money, fame etc, but it's also about making different kinds of cinema. Technicians are constantly pushing themselves to become bigger and better. Secondly, I wanted to highlight the fact that Bollywood is not representative of Indian cinema. There's more to Indian cinema than that.

You met hundreds of people to write the book. Did you develop friendships as a result?

Not really. I mean, a few fans of Ajith still hound me when I walk past them in Mambalam. I am in touch with many of the assistants profiled in the book. Film director Dharani and I became extremely close during the writing of the book, which was a bit of a surprise since the film industry is not a place where you can develop friendships.

In the book, there is a lady called Sulekha who believes she will be reborn as Rekha. In real life, did you find her interesting or, as she says, 'paagal' (mad)?

Sulekha was my moment of truth, my sense of true pride. I love her and am proud of her, and I am equally proud of myself for finding her! I think she is one of the most interesting human beings I've ever met. She is definitely paagal, but is also very smart and human. And as I told her, I too believe I'll be reincarnated. I just don't have her conviction in that I don't know what or who I will come back as. Always the smart mouth, she responded to that by saying, 'In that case, you are half paagal!'

One of the most interesting portrayals in your book was of Roja Patti (Veteran actress SM Lakshmi). When she stood there for money after the interview was over, were you shocked?

Yes, I was stunned. In fact, I am reasonably sure I had my mouth open when she stood there waiting for the money. I realised much later that giving money is a kind of cinemaic protocol and, if you are part of the inner world, you would just know. Then I didn't, now I do!

There are many actors who are outsiders but became extremely successful in the film industry. Why did you decide to have Vikram's story in the book? Was it because of his long struggle to finally be an insider?

Vikram was another dear friend I made during the book. I wrote about him for many selfish reasons. When the book was mooted (in 2003), Vikram was only just beginning to make it huge. I had spent all of the year before (2002) trying to tell people what an amazing actor he was, and everyone looked at me as if I were mad.

I am from Mumbai. I had never heard of Kenny (Vikram) until I saw a half hour of Sethu on Sun TV and was blown away. To me, he was a brand new actor, but, to those in Chennai, he was a 15-year struggler who finally had that one hit. While I was eager to find out about his next films, those around me couldn't let go of his past. So, when my book was approved by Penguin and I knew I would have a chapter profiling a mega success story, I could think of doing it on no one else.

Imagine my incredible surprise and good luck that he went on to become one of the biggest stars in Tamil cinema and win the National Award in 2003! That was the icing on the cake! And Penguin was finally convinced about my choice!

How did you take the news of winning the National Award?

I was, of course, thrilled and excited and all that. But not to be arrogant or anything, I felt I got exactly what I deserved. Especially given the background before the award. The book came out in December 2004, and the entire Hindi film industry ignored it. It was as if, if you don't write about Bollywood, they won't even acknowledge it. That if it wasn't written by some director's wife, the material is not worth looking at.

That bugged me so much. Also, my being a first time writer, the publisher could justifiably not spend much promoting the book. And given that my movie is stuck with NFDC without a release, I thought the book would go the same way. So getting the award was a reaffirmation of my faith in myself. I never had a problem believing I was good. It was getting others to believe that was a problem. The award made that happen.

I have to tell you about this incident too. Last year, Kenny won the National Award for Best Actor. So I called and wished him. The next call I made was to Dharani, telling him he has to win Best Director next year. Considering I won this year, only Dharani is left to make a complete National Awardee trio!

You are writing another film-based book for Penguin. Can you shed some light on the project?

My next book will trace the history of Tamil cinema from the 30s until now. But it's not an encyclopaedic look. I want to trace the different stages as seen through some legends of Tamil cinema: to look at the 50s and 60s through the meteoric rise of Sivaji and MGR; at the 70s by examining the contribution of K Balachander, and so on. I am really excited about it.

The film you made is yet to have a theatrical release.. Are you not frustrated about that?

Frustrated is too soft a word to describe what I feel about my movie. Of course, making a film for NFDC, one is mentally prepared for such a situation. It's just that when it happens, you are actually not nearly as prepared as you think. I am still incredibly happy that I got the opportunity to make it, and make it my way without interference.

The actual experience was amazing. I think what bothered me more was that I got so many offers to make my second film while making Five By Four. Unfortunately, none of the offers materialised because the first film never got a theatrical release. Apparently, the struggle doesn't end even after you make that first movie. It continues!

How different are Roopa the writer and Roopa the filmmaker? Which role do you enjoy more?

I think the role of being a filmmaker is, by definition, different from than that of a writer. As a writer, it's a very isolated, even a lonely world. Your computer is your best friend. But a filmmaker has to be a very social person. You have to interact with all kinds of people. From stars to spotboys, you have to cajole, order and take care of all of them. You have to be a leader and a manager. You need to be strong enough to get the work done, but cannot antagonise anyone. It's a tricky job.

I love being a writer and filmmaker. I really do. But I think that while I love the writing and really enjoy all the success I have had with it, I honestly yearn to be a filmmaker. I firmly believe I was born to make films. And having directed that first film, I've tasted blood and want more.

Another book i just finished reading



http://www.indiaclub.com/shop/SearchRes ... tock=16010


Censorship is a bad word. It raises visions of dirty old men, armed with scissors, waiting to snip at any film that comes their way with no apparent provocation. That the practice militates against the spirit of liberty and the right to freedom of expression is an issue that concerns every right-thinking individual in a progressive democracy. The opposing view to this is that no freedom can ever be absolute and must necessarily be accompanied by appropriate checks and controls. In the absence of a self-regulatory mechanism within the Indian film industry, a third view is also gaining currency: the Central Board of Film Certification or CBFC can at best play an advisory role and rather than censor, must rate films according to their suitability.

This book dwells into various aspects of the social discourse and raises some disturbing questions on issues like the government playing moral police, inconsistency in interpreting the censorship guidelines, liberties filmmakers take in glorifying sex and violence, role of the public at large, the feminist perspective on denigrating women on screen, politicization of the censorship process. It also offers some options by way of comparisons with the censorship norms prevailing in other leading filmmaking countries across the globe. Effectively, the book gets to the bottom of the censorship process and illustrates how it impacts both cinema and society in many different ways. With rare photographs from several controversial Bollywood films and details of scenes deleted by censors (which nobody would ever get to see), this is a timely eye-opener for anybody remotely curious, even amused (if not bewildered) by the unabashed celebrations of pornography in present-day Hindi cinema.

The book itself is not great , but its def a good starting point to look at censorship in india. My biggest complaint of the book was that it spent way too much time on "sex in indian cinema" than on politics and/or religious censorship.

I finally managed to snag myself a copy of "speaking of films" - hoping to catchup with it soon.

Nice website and loved those pics - my highlights