Young Minds: MOVIES AND VETERANS

PARALLEL CINEMA

(JOURNEY OF INDIAN CINEMA FROM BIRTH TILL 1960S)

I would just like to add a disclaimer before I give my perspective about Indian Cinema.

Disclaimer:Whatever is written are the views of the author and they don't intend to hurt the feelings of anyone.If anyone feels offended,then we can't help it.

So,here I go.

Indian cinema is something that has entered its century year and is entertaining us till now even in 2015.A lot has changed since 1913 when Father Of Indian Cinema Dada Saheb Phalke made the first movie RAJA HARISHCHANDRA.

This change has been due to a lot of pathbreaking factors like;1)Advancement in technology which has improved the special effects,digital sound ,cinematogarphy,screenplay.Technology with its onset changed the face of Indian music.2)New instruments like electric guitars,better studios with sound absorbing ability were introduced.Technology has improved in such a way that now a person enjoys the music even without trying to understand what lyrics are conveying.But keeping these things aside,technology has really helped in the progress of cinema.

Now,I'll come back to the topic which has generated a deep interest in me and that is

CLASSIFICATION OF INDIAN CINEMA

When I talk about classification,the movies which were made in the early years of Indian cinema were similar as far as story is concerned.I'm talking about the movies made in 1930s and 40s.
Most of these movies were either based on mythology and or on the life of a peasant troubled by the society or the cruel landlord.The setting of these movies were mostly rural and topics which were mostly dealt in these movies were poverty,clashing clans against the union of two love birds,peasant misery tales and above all mythology.

The movies which were made in 1950s and 1960s were some what better as now stories were more diverse and now we could easily see two kind of cinemas-1)Parallel & 2)Commercial cinema.
Parallel cinema focused more on harsh reality and bitter truth about the events taking place in the society.Earliest attempts on Parallel cinema was done by renowned filmmaker V.Shantaram in his movie DUNIYA NA MANE which focuses on the harsh treatment a women faces by the hands of our society.The period of 1950s to 1960s is considered a golden period of the Parallel cinema ,this was the period in when the acclaimed filmmakers like Satyajeet Ray,Ritwik Ghatak,Bimal Roy,Chetan Anand,Guru Dutt and Tapan Sinha first entered the film scene.During this period,Satyajeet Ray made a series of 3 films which later came to be known by the name APU TRIOLOGY (Pather Panchali,Aparajito and Apursansar).These movies dealt with a life of boy Apu.The first of this triology Pather Panchali depicts the life of Apu in a respectable high class yet poor family.His father has a tough time in supporting the family and the movie ends with family moving to sacred city of Benares after the death of his sister.Aparajito is the 2nd movie which forms the core of this triology.In this one,Apu's father dies after a big struggle with the never ending poverty and he along with his mother moves back to a village in Bengal where Apu starts his formal studies.Inspite of not being in the best of financial health,he emerges as a bright student and at the end of this movie his mother dies.In Apursansar,he's made to marry a girl who has refused his to be mentally unstable bridegroom.His love life blossoms but then tragedy strucks gold when his wife dies during child labour.He abandons his child due to frustrations and his ill fate,but soon realises his mistake and comes back after realising his responsibilities towards his child.This trilogy fetched Satyajit Ray a lot of awards at Venice film festival.

THE PROFILIC FILM MAKER

Tapan Sinha also made highly acclaimed APNAJAN,a Bengali movie which was later adapted by Gulzar in Hindi as Mere Apne.

THE PERSON WHO GAVE GULZAR A STORY TO START HIS DIRECTORIAL DEBUT

Ritwik Ghatak scripted MADHUMATI and made a big contribution in Bengali Cinema.

Rajiv Masand doesn't stand a chance against Ritwik Ghatak as he was the best Indian movie critic.

Guru Dutt was one of the most celebrated filmmakers of Hindi cinema.
He directed classics like BAAZI,PYAASA and SAAHIB BIWI AUR GHULAM and produced great films chief among which are CID and CHAUDHAVI KA CHAND.

HE DIED YOUNG BUT HIS CONTRIBUTION WAS TOO GREAT WHICH MAKES HIM COUNTRY'S MOST LOVED FILM MAKER

The person who was perfect in whatever he did,whether it was acting or direction.

HOW COULD ANY1 FORGET THIS CLASSIC

Bimal Roy made classics like DO BHIGA ZAMEEN,PARINEETA,BAIJU BAWRA,SUJATA,PARAKH AND BANDINI.His MADHUMATI won 9 filmfare awards which was a record for 37 years until it was broken by DDLJ in 1995.