[Reader-list] 2nd posting - madhuja mukherjee

[madhuja mukherjee]

2nd POSTING : Madhuja Mukherjee. 



LOOKING AT THE GLASSES DARKLY: REVISITING CALCUTTA FILM STUDIOS.



In the last two months, I have been scanning the ‘dark glasses’ and trying to make images of the shadows. And, what comes forth is, if the project was to ‘retrieve Glass Negatives of the Studio Era of Bengali Cinema’ and map the histories of cinematic practices of that era, from the first phase of scanning emerge - Publicity Material of diverse films – largely Hindi and that of late 1940s and early 1950s. Probing the material and seeking to understand the kind of films that were shown in Bengal, one may suggest that these scanned material re-posit my argument that Bengali audiences despite their claim to ‘Bhadralok’ cinema were immensely familiar with what may be loosely referred to as ‘Bollywood B –Movies’ or what B.N. Sircar of New Theatres Ltd., described as "Bhadur-di-khel". 

To substantiate this thesis one may use New Theatres Ltd., as a case in point and mention the article by Sharmistha Gooptu published in EPW, June 2003, where she discusses how New Theatres Ltd., projected the Bengali Bhadralok cultural ethos, or may quote Rani Burra saying - "New Theatres was known for its ‘elitist’ style, its aestheticism, its ‘cultured’ self-consciousness." (Pp-55, Looking Back- 1896-1960, The Directorate of Film Festivals, New Delhi, 1981). Similarly, Dilip Sircar (son of B.N. Sircar) in a personal interview insisted, "there was myth 
 when a Bengali child was born – he or she would hear three names – Rabindranath, Mohun Bagan and New Theatres
." 

Evidently, what emanates from these quotes is that New Theatres Ltd., produced in a rather self –conscious way, a particular kind of cinema and cast itself as the cultural icon of the Bengali Bhadralok as they made a distinction between ‘culture’ and ‘popular’ and attempted to make films that were predominantly literary adaptations. Nevertheless, the filmography itself, as well as reviews, news, letters to the editors and publicity material indicate that a highly heterogeneous body of films were being produced that demand relocation in the wider context of cultural politics and politics of culture. For instance, just as New Theatres Ltd., publicised it self as the "Cathedral of Culture" (Advertisement for ‘Zindagi’, P.C. Barua, 1940) , and frequently quoted from Goethe and Voltaire in their advertisements; contrarily, the synopsis of ‘Dakoo Mansoor’ ,Nitin Bose, 1934, (" Paribanu, 
in fact passing through the forest road with a retinue of attendants. Monsoor, the monarch of the
 jungle fell on the procession like a tiger. Ensued a perplexity, disconcerted hurly burly disorder amidst the attendants. Monsoor ran away with the girl in the dark, deep and dense forest
") – manifest aspirations for another cinema for another audience. 

Though, this is outside purview of this project it would be exciting to explore how a kind of cinema has been privileged over the other by the house, critics and historians. Bengal thus, as a matter of fact, did produce and ‘consume’- ‘mythologies’, ‘comedies’, or run-of-the-mill ‘social pictures’ of the ‘Bollywood B-Movies’ variety. For instance, the scanned publicity material ( which are chiefly pages from publicity brochure) of ‘Shin Shinaki Boobla Boo’( 1952) - a film which was based on orientalist fantasy, and was banned by the censors for its ‘low moral tone’- chooses shots from the film that may be categorized as moments of violence, physical intimacy , (family) reunion within institutionalised spaces, the face of the star (actress) ,spectacle (that include dances, architectural wonders, shots lit in high-key etc. ), et al. The tone for the publicity material of films like ‘Anjam’ (1952), ‘Shair’ (1949), ‘Mastana’ (1954), ‘Kafila’ (1952), ‘Resham’ (1952) ‘Awara Shahzadi’
 (1956) etc., are to some extent similar. 

Though, it may be correctly reasoned that such films (produced in Mumbai) were mostly released in central Kolkata theatres and were targeted at ‘non-Bengali’ audiences, nonetheless, such overwhelming volume of films and related material was not all together outside the experience of the Bengali Bhadralok. In a personally conducted interview, a Bengali Bhadralok in his late sixties said, though he had not seen ‘Shin Shinaki Boobla Boo’, he remembered few lines of the film
 "Shin Shina ki Boobla Boo
 upar main, niche tu 
", likewise, many remember seeing ‘Daag’ (1952). 

Therefore, this to propose that, negotiations with cinema within city spaces may not be adequately understood simply through our understanding of the Bengali Bhadralok ethos. The definition of cinema is manifold and an understanding of the ‘culture-industry’ interface becomes necessary here. However, since the project is not so much about theorising cultural practices and issues of spectatorship, I wish to stick to the work of retrieving ‘glass negatives’. In the next posting I wish to study- even if in a limited way- the designs/logos of the names of the films, the use of fonts, the over all lay out of figures vis-à-vis the background etc., and also question the culture of using glass for photography. 

For now, a copy of about 300 images would be available with SARAI (archive) along with this posting. 



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