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'.
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