Bengali Cinema: An Other Nation


Book Description

Sharmistha Gooptu is a founder and managing trustee of the South Asia Research Foundation (SARF), a not-for-profit research body based in India. SARF’s current project SAG (South Asian Gateway) is in partnership with Taylor and Francis, and involves the creation of what will be the largest South Asian digital database of historical materials. She is also the joint editor of the journal South Asian History and Culture (Routledge) and the Routledge South Asian History and Culture book series.




Bengali Cinema


Book Description

Covering the years spanning cinema’s emergence as a popular form in Bengal in the first half of the twentieth century, this book examines the main genres and trends produced by this cinema, and leads up to Bengali cinema’s last phase of transition in the 1980s. Arguing that Bengali cinema has been a key economic and social institution, the author highlights that the Bengali filmic imaginary existed over and above the imaginary of the Indian nation. This book argues that a definitive history of Bengali cinema presents an alternative understanding to the currently influential notion of the Hindi film as the ‘Indian’ or ‘national’ cinema. It suggests that the Bengali cinema presents a history which brings to the fore the deeply contested terrain of ‘national’ cinema, and shows the creation of the ‘alternative imaginary’ of the Bengali film. The author indicates that the case of the Bengali cinema demonstrates the emergence of a public domain that set up a definitive discourse of difference with respect to the ‘all-India’ Hindi film, popularly classified as Bollywood cinema, and which pre-empted its subsumption within the more pervasive culture of the Bombay Hindi cinema. As the first comprehensive historical work on Bengali cinema, this book makes a significant contribution to both Film and Cultural Studies and South Asian Studies in general.




Women and Resistance in Contemporary Bengali Cinema


Book Description

Historically, Indian cinema has positioned women at the intersection of tradition and a more evolving culture, portraying contradictory attitudes which affect women’s roles in public and private spheres. Examining the work of three directors from West Bengal, this book addresses the juxtaposition of tradition and culture regarding women in Bengali cinema. It argues the antithesis of women’s roles, particularly in terms of ideas of resistance, revolution, change, and autonomy, by suggesting they convey resistance to hegemonic structures, encouraging a re-envisioning of women’s positions within the familial-social matrix. Along with presenting a perception of culture as dynamic and evolving, the book discusses how some directors show that with this rupturing of the traditionally prohibitive, and a notion of unmaking and making in women, a traditional inclination is exposed to align women with ideas of absence, substitution, and disposability. The author goes on to show how selected auteurs in contemporary Bengali cinema break with certain traditional representations of women, gesturing towards a culture that is more liberating for women. Presenting the first full-length study of women’s changing roles over the last twenty years of Bengali cinema, this book will be a useful contribution for students and scholars of South Asian Culture, Film Studies and Gender Studies.




Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America


Book Description

Winner of the Theodore Saloutos Memorial Book Award Winner of the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award for History A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year A Saveur “Essential Food Books That Define New York City” Selection In the final years of the nineteenth century, small groups of Muslim peddlers arrived at Ellis Island every summer, bags heavy with embroidered silks from their home villages in Bengal. The American demand for “Oriental goods” took these migrants on a curious path, from New Jersey’s beach boardwalks into the heart of the segregated South. Two decades later, hundreds of Indian Muslim seamen began jumping ship in New York and Baltimore, escaping the engine rooms of British steamers to find less brutal work onshore. As factory owners sought their labor and anti-Asian immigration laws closed in around them, these men built clandestine networks that stretched from the northeastern waterfront across the industrial Midwest. The stories of these early working-class migrants vividly contrast with our typical understanding of immigration. Vivek Bald’s meticulous reconstruction reveals a lost history of South Asian sojourning and life-making in the United States. At a time when Asian immigrants were vilified and criminalized, Bengali Muslims quietly became part of some of America’s most iconic neighborhoods of color, from Tremé in New Orleans to Detroit’s Black Bottom, from West Baltimore to Harlem. Many started families with Creole, Puerto Rican, and African American women. As steel and auto workers in the Midwest, as traders in the South, and as halal hot dog vendors on 125th Street, these immigrants created lives as remarkable as they are unknown. Their stories of ingenuity and intermixture challenge assumptions about assimilation and reveal cross-racial affinities beneath the surface of early twentieth-century America.




Bangladesh Cinema and National Identity


Book Description

Throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, cinema has been adopted as a popular cultural institution in Bangladesh. At the same time, this has been the period for the articulation of modern nationhood and cultural identity of Bengali Muslims in Bangladesh. This book analyses the relationship between cinema and modernity in Bangladesh, providing a narrative of the uneven process that produced the idea of "Bangladesh cinema." This book investigates the roles of a non-Western "national" film industry in Asia in constructing nationhood and identity within colonial and postcolonial predicaments. Drawing on the idea of cinema as public sphere and the postcolonial notion of formation of the "Bangladesh" nation, interactions between cinema and middle-class Bengali Muslims in different social and political matrices are analyzed. The author explores how the conflict among different social groups turned Bangladesh cinema into a site of contesting identities. In particular, he illustrates the connections between film production and reception in Bangladesh and a variety of nationalist constructions of Bengali Muslim identity. Questioning and debunking the usual notions of "Bangladesh" and "cinema," this book positions the cinema of Bangladesh within a transnational frame. Starting with how to locate the "beginning" of the second Bengali language cinema in colonial Bengal, the author completes the investigation by identifying a global Bangladeshi cinema in the early twenty-first century. The first major academic study on this large and vibrant national cinema, this book demonstrates that Bangladesh cinema worked as different "public spheres" for different "publics" throughout the twentieth century and beyond. Filling a niche in Global Film and Media Studies and South Asian Studies, it will be of interest to scholars and students of these disciplines.




Know Your State West Bengal


Book Description

West Bengal is one of the eastern states in India. Bengal is known as Gauda or Vanga an ancient Sanskrit Literature also it’s a land of worshipping God. West Bengal is India’s 6 th largest state in terms of economic size further it has 12 growth Centers for medium and large scale industries. West Bengal is the 2 nd largest tea growing in India. General knowledge of West Bengal is essential for various competitive examinations and especially for the students who are appearing for West Bengal Public Service commission (WBPSC) and other state level examinations The current edition of ‘Know Your State – West Bengal’ gives the detailed study of History, Geography, Economy, Polity, Art & Culture, Center and State government welfare schemes and Current Affairs of West Bengal. A systematic Chapter wise study will mark improvement in the performance of the students, moreover Tables, boxes and figures gives better representation for memorizing the main points. MCQs have been provided at the end of each chapter that helps in understanding and preparing the subject at the exam point-of-view level. This book comes a quick, relevant and easy route for achieving in the examination. TABLE OF CONTENT West Bengal : Basic Information, Ancient History of West Bengal, Medieval History of West Bengal, Modern History and Popular Movements in West Bengal, Geographical Features and Climate of West Bengal, Climate and Soils of West Bengal, Drainage System of West Bengal, Natural Vegetation of West Bengal, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, Agriculture and Irrigation in West Bengal, Animal Husbandry in West Bengal, Industries of West Bengal, Minerals and Energy Resources in West Bengal, Transport System of West Bengal, Communication in West Bengal, Administrative Set-Up of West Bengal, West Bengal Judiciary, Local Self Government in West Bengal, District Profile of West Bengal, Tourism in West Bengal, Music and Dance of West Bengal, Bengali Cinema, Bengali Theatre, Language and Literature of West Bengal, Fairs and Festivals of West Bengal, Education and Health in West Bengal, Castes and Tribes of West Bengal, Sports of West Bengal, Awards and Honours of West Bengal, Great Personalities of West Bengal, Social and Welfare Schemes of West Bengal, Demographic Profile of West Bengal, Current Affairs




FILM MAKING


Book Description

Film making is the art of presenting the vision in the form of entertainment. This book intends to bridge the gap between Producers, Technicians. Philosophers and the Society. Contents • Film • History • Regional Cinema in India • Film Producer • Director • Screen/Script Writer • Assistant Director • Music Director & Composer • Casting Director • Film Production Coordinator • Actor • Art Director • Choreographer • Costume Designer • Makeup • Colourist • Cinematography • Editor • Sound Designer • Stunt Coordinator • Visual Effects • Budget • Glossary




100 Essential Indian Films


Book Description

Although the motion picture industry in India is one of the oldest and largest in the world—with literally thousands of productions released each year—films from that country have not been as well received as those from other countries. Known for their impressive musical numbers, melodramatic plots, and nationally beloved stars, Indian films have long been ignored by the West but are now at the forefront of cinema studies. With the prolific number of films available, it can be difficult to know what to watch. In 100 Essential Indian Films, Rohit K. Dasgupta and Sangeeta Datta identify and discuss significant works produced since the 1930s. Examining the output of different regional film industries throughout India, this volume offers a balance of box-office blockbusters, critical successes, and less-recognized cult classics. From early films by Satyajit Ray to contemporary classics such as Salaam Bombay and Lagaan, each entry includes comprehensive details about the film and situates the work in the context and history of the Indian canon.In addition to these notable productions, this book also examines key film directors and the work of major film stars in the industry. While many studies of Indian films focus on a single language’s contributions, this encyclopedia offers a comprehensive guide to productions from across the country in various languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Assamese, Punjabi, Marathi, and English. 100 Essential Indian Films is an engaging volume that will appeal to both cinema scholars and those looking for an introduction to a vital component of world cinema.




Philosophical Issues in Indian Cinema


Book Description

This book interrogates the vocabulary used in theorizing about Indian cinema to reach into the deeper cultural meanings of philosophies and traditions from which it derives its influences. It re-examines terms and concepts used in film criticism and contextualizes them within the aesthetics, poetics and politics of Indian cinema. The book looks at terms and concepts borrowed from the scholarship on American and world cinema and explores their use and relevance in describing the characteristics and evolution of cinema in India. It highlights how realism, romance and melodrama in the context of India appear in a culturally singular way and how the aggregation of constituent elements – like songs, action, comedy – in Indian film can be traced to classical theatre and other diverse religious and philosophical influences. These influences have characterized popular film and drama in India which present all aspects of life for a diverse nation. The author explores concepts like ‘fantasy’, ‘family’ and ‘patriotism’ by using various examples from films in India and outside, as well as practices in the other arts. He identifies the fundamental logic behind the choices made by film-makers in India and discusses concepts which allow for a fresh theorizing on Indian cinema’s characteristics. This book will be of great interest to students and researchers of film studies, media studies, cultural studies, literature, cultural history and South Asian studies. It will also be useful for general readers who are interested in learning more about Indian cinema, its forms, origins and influences.




Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen


Book Description

The two were like Radha-Krishna on the silver screen. Madhabi Mukherjee She is a lovely human being with a fine sense of humour. I believe she has the right to choose her friends. She is very hospitable too, and if, in spite of all this, she chooses to guard her privacy, I don t think there is anything wrong in that. Gulzar Suchitra Sen is a great artiste. For the first time, in her, I came across an ideal blend of beauty and brains in a single woman. She is extraordinary. Dilip Kumar The opportunity to work with him came much later. By that time, Uttam Kumar had already become something of a legend. Every other Bengali film had him in the lead, usually paired with Suchitra Sen. This was a romantic team which for durability and width of acceptance had few equals in world cinema. Uttam was certainly a star in the true Hollywood sense of the term. Satyajit Ray When I was in college, I remember, the Uttam-Suchitra pair was a hit already. While my friends admired Suchitra Sen and her capabilities as an actress, I was an Uttam Kumar admirer. Soumitra Chatterjee