Parallel Voices

This chapter assesses Shyam Benegal's seminal Ankur (The Seedling, 1972). The emergence of state-sponsored film-making in the late 1960s with Mrinal Sen's Bhuvan Shome (1969) laid the foundations for a new cinematic discourse, giving way to the next phase in the development of Indian art cinema, dubbed by many as ‘parallel cinema’. The work of film-maker Shyam Benegal forms a major part of the parallel cinema movement, and the rural trilogy of films characterising his early work not only sympathised with the oppressed underclass but also established an influential political precedent for many of the young film-makers emerging from the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India. The chapter looks at the origins and context of New Indian cinema, as well as the definitions of parallel cinema and its importance to the development of art cinema. It also considers Shyam Benegal's authorial status, key ideological strands, and the film's role in helping to politicise cinema in India.

Revolutionaries

This chapter reflects on the revolutionary politics of Sudhir Mishra's Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (A Thousand Dreams Like These, 2003). Dismissed by audiences on its release, it has grown to become one of the best-reviewed Indian films of its time. Set against the backdrop of the radical Naxalite movement in 1970s India, Mishra's evocative film is a rare example of contemporary political cinema influenced by the work of Shyam Benegal and Mrinal Sen. The chapter discusses a range of areas, including the origins and evolution of political cinema, with a particular focus on Bengali director Mrinal Sen. It also considers the positioning of the film within broader Naxalite cinema; an analysis of director Sudhir Mishra's career; and key ideologies contested amongst the central characters.

The Trauma of Partition

This chapter shifts the focus to Indian art cinema with the Marxist work of Bengali director and iconoclast Ritwik Ghatak. The impressive Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud Capped Star, 1960) is his best-known film. Dealing directly with the trauma of partition and its effects on a Bengali family, Ghatak's cinema is bold, uncompromising, and occupies a unique position in Indian cinema. Although his work is still somewhat overshadowed by that of Satyajit Ray, another masterful Bengali film-maker, and though many of his films are still sadly unavailable on DVD in the UK, Megha Dhaka Tara is now recognised as one of the key works of Indian art cinema. The chapter discusses numerous aspects, including Ghatak's position as a film-maker; the wider historical context such as the partition of Bengal; the relationship between melodrama and feminist concerns; the film's categorisation as an example of 1960s counter cinema; and the thematic importance of the family to the film's narrative.

Mumbai Noir

This chapter studies how, over the last ten years, Indian cinema has seen an explosion in urban-based crime films. A haunting and gripping study of the Mumbai underworld, Satya (1998) was the catalyst for the Mumbai noir film genre. Satya has influenced many recent films in terms of both style and tone, including most pertinently Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire (2008). A cult film abroad, Satya was an unexpected commercial success at the box office. The chapter approaches Satya from a range of perspectives, including the rise of Ram Gopal Varma as a genre provocateur and producer; the production contexts, genre, and the relationship with the American gangster film; the gangster as tragic hero; and finally, the significance the film holds as heralding a new vanguard of talented writers, directors, and actors.

Erotic Spectacle

This chapter focuses on the courtesan film in Indian cinema. The courtesan film has been popular with audiences for a long time but today it is rare to see a mainstream Indian film choosing to use the figure of the courtesan to address the concerns of women in society. An extension of the Muslim Social, the courtesan film reached its creative epoch in the 1970s, exhausting genre possibilities with the erotic spectacle Pakeezah (Pure of Heart, 1972). A complicated production, film-maker Kamal Amrohi took fourteen years to complete Pakeezah. Unfortunately for Indian cinema's tragedy queen, Meena Kumari, who starred in the film, alcoholism cut short her life, and she never got to see what many consider to be her most accomplished work. The chapter analyses Pakeezah from a range of critical perspectives, including the conventions, origins, and history of the courtesan film; the production history and struggle to finish the film; representations of the courtesan related to sexuality and eroticism; an analysis of the song and dance sequences and their relationship to ideology; and the demise of the courtesan film in the contemporary era.

Neo-realist Aesthetics

This chapter examines the neo-realist masterpiece Do Bigha Zamin (Two Acres of Land, 1953) directed by Bengali film-maker Bimal Roy. Prior to the emergence of a distinctive art cinema led by Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, the aesthetics and ideologies of neo-realism as a distinctive cinematic approach were reflected sporadically in the socialist agenda of films such as Do Bigha Zamin. While Ghatak was busy filming his first film, Nagarik (The Citizen, 1952), and Ray was still struggling with the first part of The Apu Trilogy, it was Bimal Roy, a film-maker now considered part of populist cinema, who made the earliest attempt to integrate neo-realist aesthetics into the framework of a mainstream project. The chapter considers the state of Indian cinema before the emergence of neo-realism; the influence of the IPTA (Indian People's Theatre Association); Bimal Roy as a film-maker; and the wider context including the Bengal famine of 1943–44. It also looks at Balraj Sahni's status as one of Indian cinema's first method actors; the links to Italian neo-realist classics such as Bicycle Thieves (1948); and, finally, the various Marxist ideologies that underpin such a despairing narrative.

Feminist Concerns

This chapter surveys the career and legacy of Indian cinema's greatest film-maker, Satyajit Ray. If Raj Kapoor can be credited with popularising Indian cinema around the globe, then Satyajit Ray can certainly lay claim to bringing a measure of artistic credibility and sincerity to Indian cinema. Choosing a favourite Ray film was a tricky proposition given the consistency he maintained as a film-maker over four decades. He may have built his reputation on the Apu trilogy, winning major awards at film festivals, but his lifelong fascination with Bengali novelist Rabindranath Tagore provided the source material for some of his finest and most complex works. Charulata (The Lonely Wife, 1964) forms the focus for the chapter, which covers the Bengal renaissance, Satyajit Ray's status as an auteur, gender representations in the films of Ray, camera and narrative style, the relationships between the three central characters, political undercurrents, and the film's portrayal of married life in the Bengali middle class.

The Elements Trilogy

This chapter reviews Deepa Mehta's elements trilogy: Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water (2005). Both Fire and Earth are discussed in some detail while the focus of the chapter remains with the final film Water, which can be considered as Mehta's greatest achievement to date. Water is arguably also one of the most controversial films to have been made by an Indian film-maker since it addresses the religiously sensitive issue of Hindu widows. Due to the bulk of financing originating from Canada, Water is labelled as a Canadian film, thus complicating Mehta's position as an Indian film-maker. Residing in Canada, Mehta is part of the Indian diaspora. The chapter approaches the trilogy from an ideological perspective, exploring the politics of sexuality in Fire and the politics of nationalism in Earth. It looks at Water in terms of its controversial production history, its depiction of Hindu widows, and the interaction of ideology and politics.

Poetic Fatalism

This chapter evaluates Guru Dutt's Kaagaz Ke Phool (Paper Flowers, 1959). A hymn to the golden age of the studio system, actor/director Guru Dutt's greatest achievement was dismissed on its initial release. One of the first Indian films to be shot in cinemascope, the melancholic story of an alcoholic film-maker (Guru Dutt) and the actress he discovers (Waheeda Rehman) makes for a poetic critique of the film-making process. The chapter focuses on the director's status as one of Indian cinema's pre-eminent auteurs, thematic dimensions, and ground-breaking technical aspects. It also looks at the role of lyricist Kaifi Azmi, gender representations, and the unmistakable brand of poetic fatalism that has come to define much of Dutt's cinema.

Popular Narratives

This chapter discusses the cinema of Raj Kapoor. Raj Kapoor's key role in helping to popularise Indian cinema proves to be a worthy starting point in tracing the origins and development of popular narratives and genres. The Kapoor dynasty was paramount in the evolution of mainstream Indian cinema. Indeed, the international success of Awaara (The Vagabond) in 1951 marked the beginning of a decade that would produce some of Indian cinema's most memorable films. The chapter considers a range of areas, comprising of Raj Kapoor's status as an auteur, ideological representations, visual styles ranging from noir to expressionism, the use of song and dance as a narrative tool, and the film's relationship with the wider context of post-partition India under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru.