[Reader-list] Re: abstract : madhuja mukherjee

[madhuja mukherjee]

LOOKING AT THE GLASSES DARKLY: IMAGE, TEXT AND PUBLICITY MATERIAL. 

A project that proposed to retrieve some hundreds of ‘lost’ Glass Negatives of the Studio Era (of Bengali Cinema) and map histories of cinematic practices through the reading of photographs and interrogating the use glass negatives in mid twentieth century has been able to ‘reclaim’ about 600 negatives and catalogue the material. 

THE PROJECT:  

The glass negatives that at the outset seemed like symbolic ‘dark holes’ in the memory of Calcutta studios were first scanned then through a reverse mode  – or rather by reverting a historical process as it were – were turned to ‘positives’ (digitally). The presumption that the dark shadows and the inscriptions on the negatives were of brochures and lobby cards did bear out to be accurate. What come into view now, is a bulk of publicity material of diverse films, which are largely in Hindi and that of late 1940s and 1950s.

These findings produce multiple techniques of reading cinema as an institution and the Bengali cinematic practices in relation to it. Our area of interest shifted from the research of production procedures and studying film texts to understanding the distribution modus operandi and the culture of film viewing – though the project is not exactly about theories of speactorship. 

The retrieved resources show that a variety of what may be loosely referred to as ‘Bollywood B –Movies’ (or what B.N. Sircar of New Theatres Ltd., described as “Bhadur-di-khel”) were regularly exhibited in the Bengali film circuit, and despite the claim to ‘Bhadralok’ cinema the audiences (of New Theatres Ltd. ‘type’) were familiar with multifarious cinematic forms, languages, aesthetics that constitute the conventional popular Indian cinema.

 To substantiate the point, one may analyse the choice of shots in the brochures that may be categorised as moments of violence, physical intimacy, (family) reunion within institutionalised spaces, the face of the star (actress), spectacles (that include dances, architectural wonders, shots lit in high-key etc.), et al. The material also illustrates the actual methods of positing the text along with the images. And, in a most intriguing way the entire corpus of this data (of ‘Bollywood-B Movies’ in Bengali cinema houses) project an ethos that has been rarely discussed earlier.   

In our effort to chalk out narratives of cinematic practices, the purpose was not only to examine the images but also to identify the technology and technique of glass negatives .The nagging question ‘why glass’ in as late as 1950s acted as a connecting thread.  It did seem to find few answers as we interviewed photographers, cinematographers, studio owners and ‘amateur’ photographers of the period, who suggest that the fine high contrast images produced by the emulsions on the glass did function well for publicity purposes and its one of prime reasons for choice of glass in even 1960s.   

In conclusion, the project hopes to comment on the cultural modes of the era and the ways in which cinema negotiated within city spaces (which may not be adequately appreciated simply through our notions of the Bengali Bhadralok way of life), and since the definition of cinema is manifold an exploration of the ‘culture-industry’ interface becomes necessary as such materials demonstrate varying aesthetic possibilities and continue to reframe the elite/popular divisions. STRUCTURE OF THE PRESENTATION:

The paper shall include a short overview of the history and technology of Glass Negatives, the culture and technique of the use of Glass Negatives (in Bengal particularly), interpretations of the publicity material and comments on such cinematic practices.  Finally, about 250 scanned images (adding to the list of about 300 catalogued images already submitted to SARAI earlier) shall be presented.    

(And , the final / 6th posting shall be send in a week's time ).       

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