India's parallel cinema is still 'quite dusty'

mumbai: it's been a year of mixed fortunes for indian film lovers.while mainstream hindi cinema offered a few movies to rejoice over, including lagaan and dil chahta hai, 'offbeat mainstream' cinema including chandni bar and nri offerings such as monsoon wedding and bollywood calling appealed in different ways. non-mainstream cinema, which mumbaiites could primarily access in the indian panorama screenings during the international film festival of mumbai (iffm) last month, was a considerable let-down.lagaan, a huge hit whose box office takings are estimated at around rs 30 crore, was remarkable for pulling it off with its secular, inclusive brand of patriotism. significantly, gadar-ek prem katha, a provocatively communal, nationalist film, has earned nearly twice as much. asoka, which was more an honest exploration of karriena kapoor's belly button than the dramatic life of a historical figure, is barely making money. overseas, both lagaan and asoka have been garnering cross- over audiences. kabhi khushi kabhie gham, of course, has notched record collections at home (rs 1 crore in the opening week) and abroad. but what of non-mainstream indian cinema? the indian panorama is intended to showcase the best of indian cinema for the world, but it mostly continues to be suspended in amber, and scarcely on speaking terms with the box office. according to subhash lele, manager of plaza theatre, "the indian panorama, shown during the iffm, saw barely 15 per cent theatre occupancy." while panorama films like astitva, zubeidaa, bawandar, lagaan and bariwali were released theatrically in mumbai independent of the iffm, only a handful of the rest aroused public interest in the city. the better films included goutam ghose's dekha (which, incidentally, had box office success in west bengal), jayaraj's shantham, nabyendu chatterjee's mansur mian-r ghora, govind nihalani's deham, biju viswanath's deja vu (in english), and fareeda mehta's kali salwaar. of the non-panorama iffm films, knt sastry's tiladaanam, suma josson's saree and subrata sen's ek je aache kanya stirred some interest. a foreign film festival official at the iffm commented, "the indian panorama films are really quite dusty." indeed, indian non-mainstream cinema sorely lacks a youthful new vitality, and most of it is quite indistinguishable from the parallel cinema of the '70s. says christian jeune, director, film department of the cannes international film festival, who came to the iffm to do pre-selections for cannes, "indian panorama films have remained as they were 20 years ago. this is supposed to showcase the best of indian cinema, but it is heartbreaking that the theatre was empty. it shows the indians' perception of their own cinema. you would expect the new generation of filmmakers to do something different, but it remains very static, auteur filmmaking. it's the same social themes and middle class problems. there's little effort to try something different, say, by tackling a social issue as a comedy, or engaging with nris who return, shades of which you find in dev benegal's work." among those that jeune responded to were "mansur mian-r ghora, which was a very touching, classical film on a changing world, using a beautiful metaphor and literary touches. tiladaanam is a difficult film for the west, but it had some sequences with very good framing." according to jeune, rituparno ghosh, jayaraj and murali nair are among the younger directors who hold promise. "cannes is looking for films that are ideally premieres, which give you a sense of what the world is thinking about, a feel of where you live," he said. his views are largely echoed by luca marziali and selvaggia velo, artistic directors of river to river, a small florence indian film festival held in florence, italy, who were also at the iffm to choose indian films for their festival. their festival has already screened deja vu, split wide open and dharavi, as well as indian short films. "the panorama was disappointing," says marziali. "the manner of shooting hasn't changed since the '50s. mansur mian-r ghora was very nice, with strong moments and lyrical expression, but an incoherent end. i liked astitva. deham pretended to be a new kind of film, but wasn't. however, its characters, especially the wife (kitu gidwani), were good." selvaggia velo adds, "dekha had too many books in one film. tiladaanam was very well done, very humane and honest. deja vu was an expressionist film that was a good start. t.k. rajeev kumar's jalamarmaram was a charming, original story. and i liked the way saree was told. but mankolangal, made by a director who's just 24, is an extremely conservative film." "why are there no new stories, no new ways of shooting? nobody even tries," velo says. "in mumbai, i see a teeming city, with youngsters and cyber cafes everywhere, but i hardly see this reality in indian films.why are these young directors, who are so highly educated, travel widely, attend film festivals, so conservative that they miss their chance? nri films, which are more conscious of the international market, are better able to deal with issues."