Author: Sharmistha Gooptu
Publisher: Roli Books
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 296
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9788174368164
Description
This book is the first comprehensive historical work on Bengali Cinema. It covers the years spanning cinema’s emergence as a popular form in Bengali in the first half of the twentieth century, studies the main genres and trends produced by this cinema, and leads up to Bengali cinema’s last phase of transition in the 1980s. it is a work that posits an alternative understanding to the currently influential nation of ‘an Indian’ or ‘a national’ cinema
COMMENTS:
Bengali Cinema is the first Comprehensive book on the shifting political and social awareness through which cinematic imagination and film culture have evolved in Bengal. But it also supplies intriguing clues to the psychological and cultural strands that have defined the distinctiveness of the Indian filmic imagination, as a whole. It is work that will have a lasting impact.
--- Ashis Nandy, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi
Sharmistha Gooptu demonstrates the great virtues to be gained by exploring the history of cinema in its social, political and cultural contexts. She brings the Bengali cinema to life, reveals the important place which it occupied in local culture(s) and throws light on the complex relationship between regional and national identities in India. Her book is a fascinating read.
--- David Washbrook, Trinity College, University of Cambridge
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
The Early Years
1. The Idea of a 'Bengali' Cinema
2. Bengal and a 'National' Cinema: New Theatres Ltd
3. The Transition to a 'Regional' Cinema
4. Bengali Love-Stories: Uttam - Suchitra and the Golden Era of Bengali Cinema
5. Common Man's Comedy: the Bhanu Factor
6. Satyajit Ray and the Bengali Cinema
7. Changing Context, New Texts: Bengali Cinema and another Bengaliness
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Bibliography
Index