collective farming

                                           

 

                                                     Collective farming

As the Parliamentarians are busy with their coal business, the news of vidharba farmers committing suicide has gone unnoticed. Th e architect of liberalization may be guilty of many acts ,but the biggest curse of liberalization is the mass suicide of farmers.

There are many deprived communities in India, atrocities are committed against dalits, women, children and many others, there are solutions being sought, agitations being held with many NGOs in forefront but to me the problem of farmers suicide baffles for want of solution. Since the beginning of liberalization more than one lakh farmers have committed suicide. Is it not a national shame!

When we sit down to eat our meals we forget that it is that innocent farmer in some unknown part of our country who has provided us this? Th e retailers the industrialist make their booty by nicely packaging the food created with sweat and toil of that faceless farmer! He remains among the most insecure person , he does not have the city support which our industrial workers get. There are no unions for him , he has to fend for himself alone.

Things have not changed since the time of Premchand who depicted so deeply the pathos of farmers in 'GODAN' and many other short stories. But what is shocking is the rate of suicide! During the pre liberalization days the state of farmers was the same but they never committed suicide , now the lure of making fast money gets them in debt trap, specially when crops fail.

What then is the solution ? To me collective farming is one way out, I know that there is this tremendous attachment of farmers with their land and that must continue to be so , but the district administration must provide free seeds, fertilizer etc, the profit could be shared and in case of failure of crops the farmers do not have to pay to anyone, the profits may be less but the security will be there. Collective farming though was forced in USSR and the old soviet bloc but was successful in Israel Cuba, we can try it in limited way!

MORNING SHOW

                                                          MORNING SHOW

 

 

 

The 'morning show' of cinema at Allahabad fills me with many memories, good youthful memories when we boys from St Joseph's would flock to see the regular English cinema at reduced rates, at Palace cinema hall or Plaza Theater at civil lines, sometimes at Niranjan too , but mostly it was Palace or Plaza. It was a sort of get together of school friends. The one movie which I remember vividly was 'Beckett' starring Richard Burton and Peter O'toole, the performance of the two actors was discussed during the school. We went with much expectation to see 'Ice station Zebra', starring Rock Hudson but were disappointed by lack of action. Later Payal and Zhankar theaters too screened English movies, yes! 'Hawwai' starring Julia Andrews and Richard Harris and the famous Swedish actor who starred in most Bergman films, the film made an impact with its epic coverage and great acting by Julia Andrews and then there was this film of Richard Burton called 'Villain' I saw at Payal. There were westerns too 'El dorado' starring John Wayne and Robert Mitchum.

The first taste was with our Dad when he took us to Palace to see 'Count of mount of cristo' a film based on Alexander Dumas novel, then there was no looking back. We saw many hindi films too but the charm of English movie was unique; how can we forget the war movies-'Tobruk' starring Rock Hudson , 'Battle of Bulge' starring Robert Shaw.

These days too at Mumbai I go for morning shows sometimes, but that excitement is missing, it is just a routine feeling. The cost and gloss which has covered cinema going specially at multiplexes has robbed of its soul. It is so full of commerce and money making that that the wonderment of that youthful charm is lost

Or probably I am not in touch with changing times! What is there to expect from a generation which is overfed on cinema-DVD, TV, internet downloading, cinema for them is just a click away! But I remember the old times when we were young and so serious about cinema. It was never a costly affair, despite our economic constraint we managed a ticket of lower stalls. I seriously feel that cinema should be subsidized being a large medium of mass entertainment; but then how will the films earn 100 crore and more ! A disease afflicted cinema world these days. For me cinema is still a passion, have maintained to retain the childlike response to it. I still see cinema on Fridays and miss it when movies are not released, despite many theaters and shows , I still book tickets for hyped movies.

That tension, that expectation still grapples me which was there when I struggled to find a view to watch Dilip Kumar's 'Daag' during the Annual function of the Valmiki college near my house. Or still when as children we lined up to watch films on 16mm projector of my friend's father; films borrowed from 'chalchitra vibhag' Allahabad. The association continued in University as we looked forward to screening of film society where we were introduced to the masters and witnessed the innocence of 'The bicycle thieves', which prompted me to watch Ray and others. The journey continues for me as I still long for that elusive ' morning show'.

CINEMA OF DEMOCRACY

  

 CINEMA OF DEMOCRACY

    Culture and the various Art forms exist to provide us sustenance for survival ; essentially. It is a different matter that a large number of people engaged in Art and culture are primarily there for commercial interest. Cinema; is a unique art form which requires sufficient commerce for its conveyance to masses- cinema halls ,publicity, transportation to far and wide places and payment to cast and crew. However these days the digital and satellite form has reduced expenditure; but the complexity of making process has remained unchanged.

       Any art form is also a reservoir of our culture. Whatever is refined, subtle and pure is reflected in the art form we produce. Cinema is a popular cultural form and it has the widest acknowledgment and acceptance. It possesses not only a wide canvas of colour and images but wide spectrum encompassing varied Indian communities as well. It represents the largest collective culture of not only a country but the world itself. In comparison to the age of other Art form it is still the youngest, as it has hardly completed 100 years but in terms of its impact and power it is the strongest.

        However in the name of popular culture much pulp is being churned out in respect of quality. But there are a set of film makers in recent times who are doing quality work despite dealing with popular themes. These films are rooted to a certain culture and the stories they relate are that of a certain region. This new approach of planting the plot and story in a certain real geographical location not only adds realism but gives representation to that community which is otherwise neglected in terms of economics and opportunities. By relating their stories they get a chance of being registered in the multiple cinematic frames for centuries. Don’t we relate ‘Fiddler on the roof’ as a story of Russian Jews?

         In any democracy it is essential that all classes and cultures are offered fair opportunities , but that is far from realization in political and economic terms,therefore these filmmakers are giving them a voice otherwise left unattended by those responsible. Till very recently only certain cultures were representing the many; for instance the rural India spoke the awadhi-bhojpuri dialect of eastern UP on screen, however the film 'Paan Singh Tomar' depicts the typical dialect of Bhind-Muraina districts of Madhya Pradesh, after watching the movie many who belonged to that area derived extra joy when the characters in the movie spoke peculiar words such as 'mora' and 'mori'( boy and girl)for those not familiar with the words the subtitles help but the authenticity and realism which the unique sound gives is appreciated by all . Vishal Bharadwaj also broke new ground in 'Omkara' by giving voice to the typical western UP accent of Meerut and adjoining districts, 'Peepli live' was also set in rural MP and more recently 'Gangs of Wassepur' exhibited the nuances of Dhanbad area.

          

      When confident film makers venture to exploit new shades of culture the stories also appear refreshing and more importantly the dominance of one culture and class is reduced; also stereotypes are vanquished.

         

      This is what can be heralded as the 'Cinema of Democracy'.