UNIT II

1) Different stages of Indian Cinema and its pluralistic features

 One of the most flourishing cinema industries found today is in India. But the
pioneers of the industry were actually foreigners.
 In 1896, the Lumiere brothers demonstrated the art of cinema when they screened
Cinematography consisting of six short films to an enthusiastic audience in Bombay.
 The success of these films led to the screening of films by James B. Stewart and Ted
Hughes.
 In 1897, Save Dada made two short films, but the fathers of Indian cinema were
Dada Saheb Phalke who in 1913 made the first feature length silent film and
Ardeshir Irani who in 1931 made India's first talking film.
 With the demise of the silent era and the advent of the talkies, the main source for
inspiration for films came from mythological texts. Films were produced in Hindi,
Tamil, Telugu and Bengali.
 Mythology flourished more in South India where its social conservative morals
equated film acting to prostitution.
 But by the 1930’s, word had spread around the world about the vibrant film industry
in India and foreigners with stars in their eyes landed upon Bombay shores. One of
these was Mary Evans, a young Australian girl who could do stunts. She could, with
no effort, lift a man and throw him across the room. She wore Zorro-like masks and
used a whip when necessary. She changed her name to Nadia and was affectionately
known by the audience as Fearless Nadia and that name stuck with her through the
ages. Even though she did not speak any of the native tongues, her career spanned
from the 1930’s to 1959. She had a huge cult following. The press and critics did not
appreciate her; however, the audiences could not get enough of her stunt theatrics.
 Following on Nadia’s heels in 1940, Florence Ezekiel, a teenager from Baghdad,
arrived in Bombay and was soon given the screen name of Nadira. She played the
love interest in a Dilip Kumar film who at the time was a leading heartthrob. She
moved on to playing bitchy parts and was forever type cast as a ‘vamp’ – the
temptress, the bad girl. She gradually slipped into mother roles. One of her last
appearances was in Ismail Merchant film Cotton Mary.
 There were also notable male actors who made a mark on the screen. One of them
was Bob Christo, who was another Australian. He came to India because he had seen
a picture of the actress Parveen Babi and ended up actually being in a film with her.
He specialized in villain and henchman roles.
 Another notable actor is Tom Alter who has played the foreigner who does not
speak the language, although he is fluent in Hindi and Urdu, even reciting poems in
Urdu on the stage. He was raised in Mussoorie, India.
 And then we must not forget Helen. A Franco-Burmese refuge who broke all norms,
she embodied sexuality and filled the roles that other actress with conservative
views shunned.
 She was widely sought after for her dance or ‘item numbers’ as they are called
today.
 However, she stayed within the code of decency wearing body stockings all the
times. She did venture out of this zone by doing a few serious roles.
  In the 1920’s Franz Austen, a German from Munich who could not utter one word of
Hindi, came to Bombay and directed 57 blockbuster films.
 His films were on the scale of those made by Cecil B. DeMille.
 He drew his inspiration from episodes of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, his early
silent films were richer than most that were made at the time.
 In 1947, When India gained its independence, mythological and historical stories
were being replaced by social reformist films focusing on the lives of the lower
classes, the dowry system and prostitution.
 This brought a new wave of filmmakers to the forefront such as Bimal Roy and
Satyajit Ray among others.
 In the 1960’s, inspired by social and cinematic changes in the US and Europe, India’s
new wave was founded, offering a greater sense of realism to the public and getting
recognition abroad, but the industry at large churned out ‘masala’ films with a mesh
of genres including action, comedy, melodrama punctuated with songs and dances
and relying on the songs and the stars to sell their films.
 Today there is a growing movement to make Indian cinema more real - a group of
young filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap, Anand Gandhi, and Gyan Correa, whose film
The Good Road is this year’s contender for the Oscars.
 There are now more large investments from corporate houses and a more
structured industry funding independent cinema and making it a viable and
profitable business.
 There has never been a more favourable time for Indian cinema than today. With a
vibrant creative community, new technology and investment interest, we are on the
verge of seeing Indian cinema transcend its national borders to project India’s socio-
political and economic influence around the world.

1.1. Pluralistic features

 India witnessed the first motion picture in the late 1910s and was introduced by late
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, also popularly known as Dada Saheb Phalke, through the film “Raja
Harishchandra”.
 He is also considered to be the “Father of Indian cinema”. Although it was a silent film, little
did he know that he was giving birth to an art form whose sound will echo around the world.
His initiative propelled the rise of many filmmakers in our country. Although it took nearly
two years after Raja Harishchandra for the first motion picture with sound to release i.e.
Alam Ara directed by Ardeshir Irani which was released on March 14, 1931, and the seed of
colour cinema was also sowed through ‘Kisan Kanya’ directed by Moti B Gidwani in 1937.
 Indian filmmakers call the era after the end of British Raj as “The Golden Era” from the 1940s
to the 1960s.
 This was the time when parallel cinema came into existence and Bengali filmmakers like
Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen and many more were the pioneers and major
contributors.
 It was the impact of Indian theatre and Bengali literature which gave rise to the parallel
cinema and its influence was encouraged in many parts of the country, as well. Especially, in
 the southern part of our country, filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli from Karnataka was one
amongst them to carry the torch and introduce it to the Kannada audience.
 On the other hand, films which had songs, dance, fight, and so-called heroism were equally
dominating the Indian film industry. These films were and are still also called as full-fledged
commercial films.
 They have always been prolific in imbibing the audience with its intriguing content, be it
with the typical family drama, a stereotypic love story or Shahrukh Khan’s “Palat” theory.
Time and again Indian cinema has left its mark on the global platform through actors like
Amitabh Bachchan with his acting skills or Aamir Khan for the movies he chooses.
 Talking of the process of film making, a lot has also transformed and Indian filmmakers have
been successful with the adaptation to this evolving craft. While filmmakers like Anurag
Kashyap articulated the Indian audience, he proved that a realistic film like ‘Gangs of
Wasseypur’ can be made with a commercial outline.
 On the other hand, South Indian director SS Rajamouli created a fictional world and took the
Indian audience to places which were less peddled, with his ‘Bahubali’. However, the Indian
diaspora has also been a major contributor to the Indian cinema to hoist its flag over the
global platform.
 Plainly speaking, Indian films have always been rich and will continue to be rich in terms of
the content, market collection and printing its impressions on a global audience.

2) Central Board of Film Certification

The CBFC is a body constituted under the Cinematograph Act, 1952.
Indeed, when it was created it was called the Board of Film Censors. Its
powers of certifying a film for public consumption was introduced by way
of an amendment in 1959.
The Cinematograph Act prescribes that all movies aimed at “public
exhibition" will be first examined by the CBFC. The Board can ask for parts
of the movie to be cut or removed before showcasing it in public in case it
is “against the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India the
security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order,
decency or morality, or involves defamation or contempt of court or is
likely to incite the commission of any offence".
 Censorship
The board has the right to:
i. Sanction the film for unrestricted public exhibition: Concerning any
material in the film, if the Board believes that it is necessary to caution
that the question of whether any child under the age of twelve years
should be considered by the parents or guardians of such child, the
Board may sanction the film for unrestricted public exhibition with an
endorsement to that effect.
ii. Sanction the film for public exhibition restricted to adults; or
iii. Sanction the film to be shown in public only to members of any
profession or class of people, taking into account the film's nature,
content, and theme; or
iv. direct the applicant to make such cuts or changes to the film as it
deems necessary before sanctioning the film for public exhibition under
any of the preceding clauses or
v. refuse to sanction the film for public exhibition.