In the framework of a relatively small selection of only seven films, there are works by great directors, from the classic Satyajit Ray with two films to the director and producer Yash Chopra who with his late brother B. R. Chopra became the producer/director icon of Bollywood




After Slumdog Millionaire won many Oscars and three Indians who had worked on it film won three of them (A. R. Rahman - original score, Gulzar - original song and Rasool Pookkutti - sound), a great deal of controversy arose about the film in India. There were discussions about whether it was a good or bad film, whether it harms India’s reputation and exploits elements of the social conditions of contemporary India or whether it in fact promotes and helps the film industry and tourism. Similar controversies have been present for half a century now, since the time the first Indian director who was recognized worldwide Satyajit Ray represented India in Cannes in 1956 with his film Pather Panchali.

Ray won the Best Human Document award in Cannes and his later films from the Apu trilogy were shown in Venice, Cannes and other film festivals and won about ten film awards. At the same time at home a popular Indian actress and member of the Indian Parliament insisted on a discussion as to whether such films harm the reputation of India and required a ban from participation at international film festivals for films that portray India as a poor, semiliterate and backward country. While some fought for artistic freedom and openness, many people believed that Ray and similar directors abused their home country and promoted only one side of India while ignoring its rapid urbanization, education of the masses and general social progress. In the meantime, Ray received an Oscar for life-time achievement (1992) and the British film magazine Sight and Sound included him in its list of the top hundred best directors of all time. Since then more and more daring and talented film authors have been trying to find the new formula that would ease the split between the rigidly differentiated mainstream, like commercial formulas / masala films and art-house, author/regional, in India often called serious films. One of them is Rituparno Ghosh, originally, just like Ray, from Bengal, the only Indian state in which Communists have uninterruptedly been in power from the time of its liberation to the present day.

Early in his career, Ghosh became famous for his sophisticated, low-key art house films in Bengali language and today he is a representative of the current that skillfully juggles between popular and author films. He sometimes works in Bombay and shoots films in Hindu and other time is his hometown of Calcutta. For example, his film Chokher Bali (2003), starring Aishwarya Rai, in spite of her weak and stiff acting skills at the time, managed to achieve relatively good commercial results. Nevertheless, it is still an interesting film based on a story from the Nobel Prize winning writer Tagore’ life. This film was popular among the masses thanks to the beautiful actress Rai. While it was unsuccessful by Indian commercial standards, if we look at the average success of any independent art film worldwide, the film did quiet all right; it was seen by thousands of people, it returned the invested money and Rituparno Ghosh started his lasting collaboration with the acting icons of Bollywood, which is not easy at all. In 2004, Ghosh directed the film Raincoat, shown in this program. Aishwarya Rai stars in it again, but this time she is accompanied by one of the leading male stars of Bollywood, Ajay Devgan and the film is in Hindu in order to be more suitable for a wider audience. Even though it has the typical narrative about Him and Her and an obstacle in the way of their happiness this film, thanks to the Rituparno Ghosh’s sophisticated film style managed to participate in European film festivals (Karlovy Vary), win awards in India, Europe and America.

Such a turn, which enables the author of art films to work with a big budget and famous stars, and yet not to end up producing a typical formula film, is a result of big changes in India itself. From 1991, when economic reforms occurred, India became a serious partner in the world economy. Construction of multiplex film theatres screening up to ten films simultaneously, caused the change of politics within the Indian film industry, as well as distributors and producers of the urban India. As a result, the profile of the audience as well as Indian film itself changed. But let us remember what a typical Indian film is and why the Indian film scene is the only one in the world not endangered by Hollywood. Namely, even today in India ninety percent of films in film theatres are domestic. The reasons are many: sixty percent of India’s population lives in rural areas and survives from agriculture; they do not attend school and are barely literate. The only accessible entertainment for them is film; India has more than twenty official languages as well as 1 500 languages and dialects spoken by smaller ethnic groups. Film is the language that everyone understands, especially language used in the popular so-called masala/formula film. It is structured according to the proven recipe that has been working for the last fifty years; its main characteristics are: the narrative consists of a romance story about Him and Her and an obstacle for their love. How that obstacle is solved makes the plot of the film. Such melodramatic narrative structure can be used in the context of a social or political drama, depending on the current situation in the country. Therefore we have the reaction of Bollywood to the tensions between the Hindu and Muslims in the film Pinjar, a political Gone with the wind (Zameo ih vjetar) type of melodrama set in the framework of ethnic and religious conflict.

Several exquisite films were made about the problem of Cashmere, commentaries on terrorism in the world, relations towards the Diaspora - so-called NRI (Non Residential Indians) films or with the topic of prosperity brought on by education. The next obligatory dramaturgical element are the sequences of songs and dance that in a good film make sense, whether they are used for solving a mystery within the narrative plot, explain the psychology of the hero, reveal the audience what He/She wants but does not dare to say openly or anticipate what will happen. This tried out formula says that there should be six dance/song sequences or otherwise the film is doomed to fail. There were experiments made with more or less but both producers and directors have determined that six is the optimal number. Furthermore, important elements of the formula/masala films are the message and a happy ending. Even if the hero dies (gets killed or sacrificed himself, either way he had to go), justice has prevailed and some form of social balance has been achieved and it is regarded as a happy ending. And the message, which has to be repeated several times, is clearly evident to everybody, viewers of all social backgrounds, from the illiterate older to the very young ones who cannot follow all the dialogue and meanings of the film.

Films in this program were selected by the Indian Embassy in Zagreb, enabling the 35mm film copies arrive to Zagreb. In the framework of a relatively small selection of only seven films, there are works by great directors, from the classic Satyajit Ray with two films to the director and producer Yash Chopra who is today already quite old, with his late brother B. R. Chopra became the producer/director icon of Bollywood. (Rada Šešić)