Author: B D Garga
Publisher: Penguin/Viking
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 258
ISBN/UPC (if available): 067005853X
Description
As a film-maker and film historian B D Garga has closely witnessed and participated in the growth of Indian cinema from the early 1940s. With more than fifty years' experience as a film journalist, and having served on various national and international film festival juries, he is probably India's foremost authority on the subject of cinema.
In this extraordinary collection of essays, Garga delves into the vast repertoire of his scholarship and experience to provide an insider's view of Indian and international cinema over the years. Even as he discusses the contribution of men behind the screen--the director, editor, cinematographer-he profiles some of the greatest masters of Indian cinema, like Himansu Rai and P C Barua, Bimal Roy and Raj Kapoor, while critically analysing some classic films from the golden era of cinema in India-Devdas (1935) and Sant Tukaram (1936) to Mother India (1957) and Mughal-e-Azam (1960).
Embellished with over forty exquisite and vintage photographs from the author's private collection, The Art of Cinema also contains fascinating essays that highlight the contribution of the soviet masters to international cinema; address important issues like film censorship, sex in Indian films and the relationship between film and politics; and provide a memorable account of the origins of cinema in India and the country's many cinematic milestones.
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
FOREWORD BY DILEEP PADGAONKAR
MEN BEHIND THE SCENES
The Director
The Cameraman
The Sound Recordist
The Editor
THE GREATS OF INDIAN CINEMA
Himansu Rai
Debaki Bose and P C Barua
Sohrab Modi
Nitin Bose
V Shantaram
Bimal Roy
K A Abbas
K Asif and Kamaal Amrohi
Guru Dutt
Raj Kapoor
INDIAN CLASSICS REVISITED
Devdas (1935): A Prince Revisited
Sant Tukaram (1936, Marathi)
Achhut Kanya (1936)
Vidyapati (1937)
Duniya Na Mane
(1937)
Pukar (1939)
Aurat (1940) and Mother India (1957)
Ramshastri (1944)
Chandralekha (1948)
Mughal-E-Azam (1960)
MONTAGE
Swedish Cinema-Mind Over Matter
Vsevolod Pudovkin-The Prophet of Cinema
Eisenstein-Genius as teacher
Ivan the Terrible, Part Two
Eisenstein and After-A View of Soviet Cinema
Literature to Film
The Romance of our Show Houses
Background to Indian Cinema
Soundtrack in the Indian Film
Our colour Films
Sex in Indian Cinema
The Mask of Tragedy
Politics and cinema
Thoughts on Censorship
On Satyajit Ray
Filming Ray
Short Film, Long Promise
Beyond Our Frontiers
Reaching out to film in India
Fragments of a life
INDEX