Earlier Reviews

Scholarly take on films - Amita Malik

The Art of Cinema: An Insider's Journey Through 50 Years of Film History

I HAVE been reading B.D. Garga ever since I can remember. One of my most respected colleagues, as writers on the cinema our paths sometimes crossed but not often enough as we led a nomadic existence.

Garga both wrote on the cinema and made films off and on. He spent long periods in London, Paris, travelled to Moscow and in the process increased his first-hand knowledge of international cinema. He was also one of the first in India to cover it as a journalist as well. I am therefore not surprised that he has brought out a comprehensive book and even less surprised that the book is titled The Art of Cinema. In the days of instant TV, where coverage of cinema is mostly confined to Mumbai cinema and, more often, stars and their professional and personal lives, the balance often tilts towards their personal lives.

Garga devotes his first chapter to "The Men Behind the Scenes", focussing on the workings of the directors, the camera man, the sound recordists and the editor. This gives a clue to the rest of the book, which is more of an encyclopaedia and a reference book for students of the cinema.

He then plunges into the "Greats of Indian Cinema", "the Indian Classics" and then to lengthy analyses of Swedish cinema, Pudovkin, Eisenstein and the Soviet cinema. In fact, he goes on to discuss topics like literature in film, soundtrack of Indian films, sex in Indian films, politics, Satyajit Ray, short films and much more.

But I find the book a little confusing and confused. Short chapters follow very long ones and there is no logical sequence to the subjects. Garga has put down what he feels as he thought about it but it makes things difficult for the reader.

The short film

As a writer on cinema, I found one chapter particularly satisfying, since very few books on Indian cinema devote worthwhile space to the short film. Garga not only describes its fluctuating fortune right down to the annual festival of short films held in Mumbai but also discusses the experimental and often rebellious short films by young Indians who run into problems with the establishment.

More importantly, he describes the golden age of Films Division when J.S. Bhownagary was sent from UNESCO in Paris to head the Films Division; when young filmmakers like Sukhdev, Pramod Pati, S.N.S. Shastry, K.S. Chari and others held sway. Names such as Harisadhan Dasgupta, Santi Chowdhury, M.F. Husain and others outside the Mumbai circuit are also given their due place in the history of documentary films.

The book is a refreshing change from the present books on Indian cinema, which tend to be hagiographic and concentrate on star value rather than focus in Indian cinema down the ages or its place in international cinema. The photographs, from the author's collection, are rare and fascinating.

One is also thankful for the comprehensive index because publishers are beginning to leave it out, thereby leaving readers in the lurch. I wish they had devoted as much thought to the sequence of chapters in the book, which would have made it easier for the readers.

A view from the box

B.D. Garga delves into the spell of celluloid in his book "The Art of Cinema"
THE GLORIOUS DAYS - A still from "Mother India" .

Well-known journalist Dileep Padgaonkar (few in Indian journalism are aware of his knowledge, concern and passion for world cinema), sums up B.D. Garga's insightful book "The Art of Cinema" (Penguin-Viking) by recalling the legendary Khwaja Ahmad Abbas's advice to a fellow writer and chronicler.

"K.A. Abbas had once urged Garga to be the Boswell of Indian film. Given his down-to-earth temperament and his consistent refusal to wear his learning on his sleeve, Garga entertained no such lofty ambition. Instead, in a sober and suave manner, he chose to tell us why some films click and some don't, why a technician or a director has, or does not have, the stuff needed to enchant the audience. Those who have come under the spell of cinema, especially Indian cinema in its moments of glory, will raise a toast to his pioneering accomplishments." No wonder the book is dedicated `to the memory of (the already forgotten) Khwaja Ahmad Abbas'.

The eminently readable book has been divided into four distinct sections. The first section has been devoted to the four important technicians, the `Men Behind the Scenes' who are responsible for transforming a narrative and its enactment into a wholesome motion picture - the director, the camera man, the sound recordist and the editor. One wishes he had included scriptwriters, lyricists and music directors, amongst others, as they are inseparable at least to the Indian film.

Legendary filmmakers

The second section, `The Greats of Indian Cinema' seeks to highlight the contribution of legendary film makers like Himanshu Rai, Debaki Bose, P.C. Barua, Sohrab Modi, Nitin Bose, V. Shantaram, Bimal Roy, K. Asif, Kamaal Amrohi, Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor. Few would disagree with Garga in his selection of masters of Hindi cinema, their contribution, individualistic styles and commitment to creativity on the cinema screens. He justifiably concludes the section, and chapter on Raj Kapoor with a telling observation. "In later years critics were to bemoan the lack of romantic lyricism and the intense emotional charge of his earlier work. Perhaps, justifiably. But there's no questioning his obsessive commitment to movie making. He lived, breathed and dreamed movies." In the section, `Indian Classics Revisited ' he seeks to dissect some films in a chronological order. "Devdas" (1935), "Sant Tukaram" (Marathi), "Achhut" and "Duniya Na Mane" (1937); "Pukaar" (1939), "Ramshastri" (1944); "Chandralekha", "Aurat" and "Mother India" (1957).

Censorship of cinema in India can never become redundant. And Garga tells us why. "Our cinema will remain mediocre, moralistic and platitudinous so long as it carries about its neck the deadweight of an unimaginative censorship.

It would be inconceivable to see a film where the ending is not happy, the villain is not punished, and honesty does not pay. All this with the `noble' intention of saving men from depravity and strengthening the moral fibre of the young."

One can only extend the argument, taking recourse to some recent recurrent incidents of the macabre kind.

Some rare black and white pictures make the book a collector's delight.