INDIAN CINEMA100:- Celebrating a Century: An Audio Visual Voyage

Films Division’s Specially Conceived & Curated Exhibition

This interactive and viewer-friendly comprehensive exhibition will set the visitor on a fascinating audio-visual journey through 30 large-sized panels with visual and moving picture narratives, in addition to interactive audio-song and informative touch-screen consoles. It will also familiarize the visitor with some vintage artefacts / cinema equipment including cameras, sound-recording and editing machines and lighting equipment. And there will be an actual Tent or Tambu Cinema for experiencing the early twentieth century way of viewing some rare films. The journey –

Indian Magic Lantern, Lumiere Brothers and the Indian Beginners

Indians already knew the ways of narrating stories through Pata-Chitra accompanied with commentaries and songs. And the Indian Magic Lantern (then called Shambarik Kharolika in Sanskrit) was made much before the Lumiere Brothers’ Cinematographe reached Mumbai on 7 July, 1896. The Lumiere Brothers’ moving pictures show at Mumbai’s Watson’s Hotel was a land-mark event that inspired many Indians such as HS Bhatwadekar, Anadi Nath Bose, Hiralal Sen, JF Madan, RV Naidu and S Vincent, who made the initial experiments in cinema.

Emergence of Dadasaheb Phalke and Other Pioneers

It was Dhundirag Govind Phalke who first made India’s first ‘swadeshi’ film called Raja Harishchandra released in Mumbai’s Coronation Cinematograph on 3 May 1913. India is celebrating its century. Raja Harishchandra is also heralded as a film that gave birth to the Indian film industry. Other pioneers who contributed substantially to the development of Indian cinema were Dwarkadas Sampat, Dhiren Ganguly, Nataraja Mudaliar, Chandulal Shah, and Fatima Begum, who was India’s (and probably world’s) first woman director. The exhibition provides some rare visual glimpses of early silent cinema.

International Collaborations and early talkies

Some of the earliest instances of India’s collaborations with British and European companies led to several land-mark films such as The Light of Asia, Shiraz, A Throw of Dice and Savitri. As filmmaking technologies were developing rapidly, momentous changes were taking places across the world and India was quick on capturing those historic moments. The first Indian sound film Alam Ara was made in 1931.

The Rise of Studio System, Singing Stars and the Introduction of Playback Singing

Some of the major studios including Prabhat, New Theatres, Minerva, Ranjit, Bombay Talkies, Wadia, Gemini, AVM, Vauhini, Pakshiraja and others were established. Many singing stars (stars who could sing) including KL Saigal, SD Subbulakshmi, Kanan Devi, Noorjehan and others emerged. It was New Theatres’ film Bhagyachakra / Dhoopchhaon that first introduced the art of playback in 1935.

 Cinema-Society Symbiosis and the Nationalist Spirit

Cinema took up the challenge of reforming social conditions in the pre- and post-Independent India. It also eloquently reflected the Gandhian influence and ethos in its narratives. Besides playing such healthy social role, it also heightened the nationalist spirit. A section of the exhibition highlights the relevant historic facts with texts and images.

India’s First International Film Festival and the Creative Resonances

Organised by the Films Division in 1952, the first international film festival exposed Indian filmmakers to global happenings in the realm of cinema, including the neo-realist films from Italy. Largely under its influence, filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray and Bimal Roy began to imbue Indian cinema with newer aesthetic experience and energy. Indian cinema was also filled with creative resonances by the works by Mehboob Khan, Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor, KA Abbas, Chetan Anand, Ritwik Ghatak, Tapan Sinha and many others. Indian films kept on earning laurels from film festivals abroad.

The Indian New Wave

Institutions such as the Film Institute of India (now Film & Television Institute of India), Film Finance Corporation (now the National Film Development Corporation), the National Film Archive of India were established by the Government of India, while the Indian New Wave emerged with alternative aesthetic idioms. With state support, many filmmakers across the country could make films that were recognized internationally.

Spectacle, Superstars and the Changing Looks of Indian Cinema

Many matinee idols across Indian cinemas, including Hindi, emerged and occupied the collective national memory. And along with that technological transformations (special effects, digital technologies, et al) went on giving a new look to Indian cinema at large. Indian cinema compared well with the world in terms of production finesse and perfection. These panels will familiarize the visitor with various developments in this realm.

The Regional Roots

The 10 panels in this section will highlight the growth of regional cinemas across India, particularly within major languages, viz. Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Odiya, Telugu and Tamil.

FD’s Picture Palace, the Tambu Cinema

Visitors will be able to enter this Tent and view some rare silent films. Before the pucca cinema houses were built, films were shown in such tents even in Mumbai and Calcutta. Specially curated daily shows to provide an experience of the bygone era. Thus this exhibition will provide the visitor with a holistically exciting experience through the century of Indian cinema.

Amrit Gangar, Curator – in consultation with Shri VS Kundu, DG, Films Division