From the British period to more than 60 years of Independence, Indian cinema has come a long way. The first Indian film to be released in India, 'Shree Pundalik' a silent Marathi film by Dadasaheb Torne ceased to be called first Indian film because it had a British photographer named Johnson. Also, the film was processed in London It was only in 1913 when Dadasaheb Phalke directed and produced his screenplay, 'Raja Harishchandra' and gave India its first ever full length motion picture. However, the golden era of Indian cinema was witnessed only after 1940s till the late 1960s.
Satyajit Ray, one of the most precious gems of Indian cinema paved way for aesthetic genius through his famous Apu trilogy, namely, Pather Pancheli, Aprajito and Apur Sansar. Showcased at many international film festivals the film won many accolades for capturing the plight and trauma of a lower middle class Bengali family. At the time of Ray there were other prominent Bengali filmmakers such as Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, and Bimal Roy but Ray remained dominant towards his counterparts when it came to craftsmanship both nationally and globally.
Today one can witness the glimpse of aesthetic art in the films made by Anurag Kashyap, Sudhir Mishra, Mira Nair, Madhur Bhandarkar, Vishal Bharadwaj and Imtiaz Ali to name a handful lot and few other new age directors. Among the veterans Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani and Ketan Mehta have made a remarkable attempt to follow the footsteps of Satyajit Ray. A filmmaker par excellence, Ray is the only Indian to be awarded a life-time achievement Oscar till date.
In spite of all the media hype of re-inventing the golden era the fact remains that we stand no where as compared to world cinema. The constant debate between commercial and non-commercial cinema is nothing but a waste of time. Any cinema that is appreciated and well received is commercial and vice-versa. The other argument concerning the Oscars being biased makes no sense.
The sad part is the focus of cinema has drifted from quality and is confined to awards and 100-200 crore clubs . When it comes to films based on social issues or realism the creative freedom is cut short by the cruel hands of censors, political parties and NGOs. At the end of the day one has to face the fate of Vishwaroopam.
The constant debacle of culture and tradition in Indian cinema is a blessing to the pseudo intellectual egos and our pathetic lust for embracing American culture. Irrespective of claiming to have perfectionist actors, modern filmmakers and bold subjects nobody has the guts to showcase our culture on the celluloid. Raj Kapoor, the bravest visionary of independent filmmaking never compromised when it came to relevance of culture and tradition. The man who re-defined sexuality as an integral part of feminism had the highest regard for customs and rituals and was never ashamed of it. Unlike his films the Holy fest at R.K. Studios is unique in itself. K. L. Sehgal was another filmmaker who always remained attached to his roots. He experimented the idea of live-in-relationship in his classic 'Street Singer'. The same was inculcated in Vijay Anand's 'Guide'.
On the other hand big banners like Rajshree productions, one of the most self-proclaimed family oriented production house has messed up with Indian cultural heritage through their own narrow minded hollow interpretation of the narrative. The shy girl next door female protagonist who is supposed to be chaster than chastity has no qualms being wooed by her love interest publicly and is bold enough to meet him at 2 p.m. in the night. The hot topic now a days is new age cinema. With rave previews, reviews and publicity stunts such films manage to become blockbusters or get a decent break-even. Critical acclamation comparing with Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, James Cameron and many big Hollywood names play a crucial role in establishing brand perception for an average script. The harsh reality is the constant exploitation of viewership through explicit content based on shallow themes and overrated performances. Most of the new breed of filmmakers are just cheating the audience by publicizing their films on the basis of word of mouth through their excellent marketing skills that is an inborn gift to today's YOLO generation. There was a time when the promotions and perception for a movie was restricted to painted posters and the airing of songs on All India Radio before showcasing on 70 mm. In those days when there wasn't any digital marketing or an advertising agency working for film producers the films used to run for 100 days or even 2-3 years in the theater. It was the content that led to silver and golden jubilees even though we were lagging behind Hollywood in terms of technological and monetary aspects. In the present age, the art and craft have been brutally murdered due to the fact that we have uninformed and care-free cine goers for whom literature only means Chetan Bhagat. Unless, the filmmakers become more responsible and the audience becomes more responsible when it comes to entertainment the survival of Indian cinema in future is going to be a hard nut to crack.
