these movies focus too much on the social criticism. Early examples of Indian cinema's social realist movement include Dharti Ke Lal (1946), a film about the Bengal famine of 1943 directed and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas,[6] and Neecha Nagar (1946), a film directed by Chetan Anand and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas that won the Grand Prize at the first Cannes Film Festival. ALSO READ | Boman Irani On Commercial Cinema. The Bengali film director Ritwik Ghatak was a professor at the institute and a well-known director. There was a talk of building small theatres for such film, but there was no serious attempt made to realise this alternative mode of exhibition. Some of the major characteristics of parallel cinema are as follows: (a) fixation on social critique – i.e. In Shyam Benegal …New Wave Indian cinema, or parallel cinema. Parallel cinema, or New Indian cinema, was a film movement in Indian cinema that originated in the state of West Bengal in the 1950s as an alternative to the mainstream commercial Indian cinema. He has helped introduce parallel cinema to mainstream audiences, with his films earning both commercial success and critical acclaim, in India and overseas.[33]. 73 in the 2002 Sight & Sound greatest directors poll. Along with prominent contemporary Bengali filmmakers Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen, his cinema is primarily remembered for its meticulous depiction of social reality. Later, it also gained prominence in Bangladesh. Ritwik Ghatak was a Noted Bengali filmmaker and script writer. [1] Acclaimed as a realistic breakthrough, its shot of a howling dog near a hut, has become a milestone in the march of Indian cinema." Featuring mainstream actors like Rajkumar, Kalpana and Harini, the film was both a critical and commercial success. It is known for its serious content, realism and naturalism, symbolic elements with a keen eye on the sociopolitical climate of the times, and for the rejection of inserted dance-and-song routines that are typical of mainstream Indian films. With an absence of an alternative exhibition system or an art house circuit as it is called in the west. We aim to change this and bring the UPSC way. [34] Bimal Roy's Do Bigha Zamin (1953) was also influenced by De Sica's Bicycle Thieves. It won’t be too wrong to call it a “rebellious” branch of our otherwise conforming cinema. [44] The "youthful coming-of-age dramas that have flooded art houses since the mid-fifties owe a tremendous debt to the Apu trilogy" (1955–1959). Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment. The most famous Indian "neo-realist" was the Bengali film director Satyajit Ray, followed by Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan and Girish Kasaravalli. Mani Kaul's first several films Uski Roti (1971), Ashadh Ka Ek Din (1972), Duvidha (1974), and were critically appreciated and held to high esteem in the international spotlight. 7 in its list of "Top 10 Directors" of all time,[58] while Dutt was ranked No. By the early 1990s, the rising costs involved in film production and the commercialisation of the films had a negative impact on the art films. Parallel cinema in India has donned various forms over the years. Today, the line between parallel cinema and mainstream cinema is blurring since various filmmakers are seen experimenting with their craft. During his career, Mrinal Sen's film have received awards from almost all major film festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Moscow, Karlovy Vary, Montreal, Chicago, and Cairo. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into independent filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir . Mandi (1983), by Shyam Benegal is one such movie, Cinema is a very powerful weapon that works both ways. A number of Satyajit Ray films appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Poll, including The Apu Trilogy (ranked No. The film won the International Prize at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival and paved the way for the Indian New Wave. It won’t be too wrong to call it a “rebellious” branch of our otherwise conforming cinema. This led to the emergence of a distinct genre known as Mumbai noir,[31] urban films reflecting social problems in the city of Mumbai. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, Mukherjee "carved a middle path between the extravagance of mainstream cinema and the stark realism of art cinema". During the 1950s and the 1960s, intellectual filmmakers and story writers became frustrated with musical films. Right from its inception, Indian cinema has had people who wanted to and did use the medium for more than entertainment. Parallel cinema is a major artistic movement in Indian cinema and it has the potential to be an independent question. He has shown Kolkata as a character, and as an inspiration. [11] The Apu Trilogy, Pyaasa and Mani Ratnam's Nayakan were also included in Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies list in 2005. [51], Another prominent filmmaker is Mrinal Sen, whose films have been well known for their Marxist views. K. Balachander, C.V. Sridhar, J. Mahendran, Balu Mahendra, Bharathiraja, Mani Ratnam, Kamal Haasan, Bala, Selvaraghavan, Mysskin, Vetrimaaran and Ram have done the same for Tamil cinema, During the domination of commercial cinema in Telugu, Pattabhirami Reddy, K. N. T. Sastry, B. Narsing Rao, and Akkineni Kutumba Rao pioneered Telugu Parallel cinema to international recognition.[30]. Ray created two popular fictional characters in Bengali children’s literature—. In 1982, he came out with Namkeen, a movie that uncovered oppression of women in rural India. While cinema influences people, people influence it right back. In many Mrinal Sen movies from Punaschato Mahaprithivi, Kolkata features prominently. [28] Shaji N. Karun's debut film Piravi (1989) won the Camera d'Or at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, while his second film Swaham (1994) was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. As a filmmaker his main concentration was on men and life and specially the day-to-day struggle of ordinary men. Alongside Ray's films, Ghatak's films have also appeared in several all-time greatest film polls. ", "The Movie Interview: Adoor Gopalakrishnan", "Urban Movies: The Diversity of Indian Cinema", "Secret Superstar: A moving slice of life", "Martin Scorsese hits DC, hangs with the Hachet", "THE 'WORLD' OF SATYAJIT RAY: LEGACY OF INDIA'S PREMIER FILM MAKER ON DISPLAY", "Satyajit Ray is this Spanish director's inspiration", "Film Reviews: Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no Haka)", "Close encounters with native E.T. The Parallel Cinema movement began to take shape from the late 1940s to the 1965, by pioneers such as Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Bimal Roy, Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Chetan Anand, Guru Dutt and V. Shantaram. However, due to the commercialisation of films in the early 1990s, parallel cinema saw a fall. But the footprints left by parallel cinema never seem to leave us. The mainstream exhibition system did not pick up these films because these films did not have the so-called 'entertainment value' that they were looking for. Ray was born in Calcutta into a Bengali Pandit family which was prominent in the field of arts and literature. ALSO READ | AICWA Cinema Association Writes To PM Modi, Demands Ban On Pakistani Artists. To counter this, they created a genre of films which depicted reality from an artful perspective. They used it to highlight prevalent issues and sometimes to throw open new issues for the public. They created a genre of films which depicted reality from an artful perspective. Aamir Khan, with his production studio, introduced his own brand of social cinema in the early 21st century, blurring the distinction between commercial masala films and realistic parallel cinema, combining the entertainment and production values of the former with the believable narratives and strong messages of the latter. [17] Renowned Filmmaker Basu Chatterjee also built his plots on middle-class lives and directed films like Piya Ka Ghar, Rajnigandha and Ek Ruka Hua Faisla. 41 in 1992)[54] and Days and Nights in the Forest (ranked No. Arnab Goswami avows 'I have never felt stronger' as he returns after 8 days in custody, Centre mulls legal action against Twitter over showing Leh part of J&K: Sources, ED busts Bineesh Kodiyeri's fake address companies; 'sends him to 14-day judicial custody', ‘You asked, how did I feel. Mrinal Sen was a noted Bengali filmmaker based in Kolkata. Other modern examples of art films produced in India which are classified as part of the parallel cinema genre include Rituparno Ghosh's Utsab (2000) and Dahan (1997), Mani Ratnam's Yuva (2004), Nagesh Kukunoor's 3 Deewarein (2003) and Dor (2006), Manish Jha's Matrubhoomi (2004), Sudhir Mishra's Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2005), Jahnu Barua's Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara (2005), Pan Nalin's Valley of Flowers (2006), Onir's My Brother… Nikhil (2005) and Bas Ek Pal (2006), Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday (2007), Vikramaditya Motwane's Udaan (2009), Kiran Rao's Dhobi Ghat (2010), Amit Dutta's Sonchidi (2011), and the latest sensation Anand Gandhi's Ship of Theseus (2013).