Movie Murmur

Over the last few years some of us, in our honorary capacities, have off and on been involved in the selection, script and rough cut evaluation process at Films Division, India's prime organisation that makes documentary films. In this process we have been active witnesses to many a concept being turned into insipid movies. I mainly fear that this is primarily due to the fact that we have a default form of building up a documentary movie imbibed into our blood streams - the one that has a 'god's voice' of a narrator guiding us in a predetermined manner or off late the one that endlessly 'observers' and 'follows' the main characters at times to their death bed. Yet, a few of the documentaries commissioned by Films Division had stood out to me for their sheer brilliance of form, ie... the innovative way in which the content has been narrated. I would mention a few made in the last two-three years that were experiential in nature; and have also bro...

Girish Karnad Girish Karnad made his documentary film 'D R Bendre' (Da. Ra. Bendre) in the year 1972, fifty years after Robert Flaherty made one of the first long documentary narratives in USA called 'Nanook of the North'. Flaherty's silent film had, over an entire season, captured the life of Nanook and his family in the hostile terrain of the arctic. The film claimed to be anthropological in nature, shows us the 'reality' of the Eskimo community. But it is obvious that events shown in the film were staged, not by using professional actors but by deploying 'real' life characters and 'real' locations. Forty three years before Karnad made 'D R Bendre', Dziga Vertov filmed 'The Man with the Movie Camera' in the erstwhile Soviet Union, portraying a day in the life of a city. This silent film is a representative of what is called the 'Kino-Pravada' group of films made by Dziga Vertov and his associates. In Russ...

The Unbearable Being of Lightness A few days back I gave some finishing touches to my new work "The Unbearable Being of Lightness", a documentary on a suicide note, a few gazes and a shopping area. I was putting in the credit titles into it. The last title card always is 'A film by...'. Every time I type this title card I invariably hesitate, giving a pause. This time too, it was no exception. As I deleted the words 'film by' I stared into the blank title card wondering, as always, is this really a film? After all I had not used a 'thin flexible strip of plastic or other material coated with light-sensitive emulsion for exposure in a camera, used to produce photographs or motion pictures' to make this work. I had used a digital camera. I thought of using 'A video by...'. But somehow the images of fungus ridden U-matic magnetic tapes that we used to work on ages ago splashed into my mind. No one uses 'A video by...'....

Promo of Rice and Rasam ( ಅನ್ನ ಸಾರು ) Synopsis: ‘Rice and Rasam’ captures the daily struggles, routines, joys, conflicts, and the nomadic lives of an ensemble of professional artists of two units of a touring theater company as they struggle to remain relevant and survive amidst dwindling audiences; and in the face of rapidly changing economic, cultural and political contexts. Producer: Rajiv Mehrotra, PSBT Director: Ramchandra PN Duration of the film: 52 mins Also watch the  excerpt of Rice and Rasam (ಅನ್ನ ಸಾರು) At Kannada Blog -  Yenaark If you are looking to arrange a screening for your club / college / house / office please click HERE                                                       ...

(Downloadable; can be used anywhere) BV Karanth - Baba - A documentary film on the renowned theater personality Shri BV Karanth. Based on his autobiography 'Illiralaare, Allige Hogallaare' (I can't stay here, but I won't also go there...); complied by the Kannada writer Vaidehi . Produced by Films Division Duration: 93 Mins Camera: Sameer Mahajan Sound: Santosh Kumar Additional Camera: Pandurange Gowda Executive Producer, Editor & Director: Ramchadnra PN Stills from the film Working stills during the shooting of the film.  If you are looking to arrange a screening for your club / college / house / office please click HERE

Good friend Gurpal Singh has something called ' Docus At My Home '. He calls a few friends to his house, feeds them with buttermilk, sweets, herbal tea, normal tea, biscuits and at times with good food; and then shows them a documentary film. The bonus is a discussion with the filmmaker. I saw 'Jahaji Music' at his house, yesterday - a 112 minutes film directed by Surabhi Sharma. It was the second screening of the film at his house. The film deals with the identity of a generation of Indians whose ancestors had migrated to the Caribbean islands taking along with them their own local music. The identity of these migrants is aptly depicted by the musical journey that they have been taking over the years. The natural artistic collaborations that they have been having with the music of their adopted land, forms a large part of this journey. The sequences in the film progressively deal with the harmonious merger of two musical cultures. In a sense, this structure of the film...