Outtakes: Jean Renoir/ SRIKANTH SRINIVASAN

WHO is he?

French film director, actor, scenarist and producer who directed over 30 feature films from the mid-twenties to 1970. Renoir worked in the silent era as well as the sound and colour eras and made fictional films, documentaries and television films. He won the International Award at the Venice Film Festival in 1951 for The River, which he made in India. He was the son of the celebrated Impressionist painter Pierre Auguste Renoir.

WHAT are his films about?

Themes

Renoir is most famous for his humanism, but it is a form of humanism that is not achieved by direct romanticisation of his protagonists. The characters in his films are often cruel, capable of violence, cowardice and ignominy, and yet, this nastiness is precisely what puts their finer hours in nobler light. As is the convention with French Poetic Realism, the characters from Renoir’s pre-war films hail from the fringes of society. The bourgeoisie, on the other hand, is gently ridiculed for its double standards. His later, light-hearted films, however, centre primarily on art and artists and explore the intersection of theatre and life.

Style

Renoir has regularly been compared to Orson Welles for his use of deep focus and cavernous spaces. Like in the American director’s pictures, significant action takes place on all planes of the image. Movement — either through the actors who are being filmed or the camera — is paramount and tracking and pan shots are commonplace. Equally characteristic are downbeat endings and the use of voiceover. Shots of natural elements and everyday life are strongly redolent of Impressionist paintings as is the vibrant use of colour in his post-war work.

WHY is he of interest?

Renoir has had a deep influence on filmmakers worldwide, including Francois Truffaut, Akira Kurosawa and Satyajit Ray, the last of whom wrote highly about the Frenchman in many of his essays. Renoir also made films in America and India, marrying the spirit of these countries with his French sensibility and continuously deepening the film tradition.

WHERE to discover him?

The Grand Illusion (1937) is the work that is instantly associated with the brand of humanism Renoir is now remembered by. Set during the Great War in the German prisoner camps, the film is doubly poignant: first for its emphasis on the human component of the war and the inherent nobility of man and also because the soon-to-come Second World War would obliterate the very possibility of such an emphasis.

Courtesy- http://www.thehindu.com

Outtakes: Michelangelo Antonioni/ SRIKANTH SRINIVASAN

WHO is he?

Italian screenwriter and director who made close to 15 feature and 20 short films between the late 1940s and the early 2000s. Antonioni travelled wide and made films in numerous countries, both in fictional and documentary modes. His 1961 film La Notte won the Golden Bear in Berlin Film Festival, while Red Desert(1964) fetched him the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

WHAT are his films about?

Themes

One of the central themes in Antonioni’s body of work is the alienated nature of modern urban existence, in which the moral evolution of man hasn’t caught up with scientific revolution. As a result, characters in these films go through personal and social rituals without any emotional connect. Meaningful communication between people becomes increasingly difficult and this frustrated desire manifests itself as an erotic malaise, wherein fleeting sexual encounters are expected to fill up the void left by the flushing out of genuine intimacy.

Style

There is an austere, digressional quality to the elliptical narratives of Antonioni’s films, which give the idea they could be anyone’s story and not necessarily some unique protagonist’s. The objects and buildings in these films are as important as the characters, if not more, and are filmed in ways that defamiliarise them for us. Restricted, geometric compositions that sever actors’ bodies from the frames, a non-emotive acting style, painterly use of colour, shifting narrative perspectives and high-pitched, anti-realist sound design are some prominent features of Antonioni’s cinema.

WHY is he of interest?

Lionised as one of the supreme exponents of the medium, Antonioni remains one of the few filmmakers whose works could demonstrate to a budding cinephile the full power of the art of cinema. Both the formal aspect of his movies, forming a bridge between non-narrative experimental cinema and mainstream neo-realist pictures, combined with their still-pertinent themes played a great part in forging the tradition of the European Art Cinema.

WHERE to discover him?

Shot in England with a snazzy score, Blow-Up (1966) revolves around a young, white photographer who believes he has accidentally captured a murder scene in one of his photographs. Antonioni’s metaphysical thriller allures us slowly into the story of a Modern Man who, disconnected from his existence, tries to narrativise and impart a meaning to it. The result is a film that is a comment on both spectatorship in cinema and life in modern times.

Courtesy- http://www.thehindu.com

Outtakes: D. W. Griffith/ SRIKANTH SRINIVASAN

WHO is he?

Iconic American filmmaker, screenwriter and editor who directed over 500 short and feature length silent films during the first three decades of the 20th century. Close to 450 of these were made during a staggeringly productive 5-year period between 1908 and 1913. Griffith faded to obscurity and his career came to an abrupt halt after the arrival of talking pictures.

WHAT are his films about?

Themes

Griffith’s “novelistic” movies could be seen as some of the earliest examples of the kind of genre cinema that Hollywood mastered during its golden age: gangster movies, melodrama, Westerns and war pictures. Some of these films are also very ideologically charged, be it leftist screed against the avarice of capitalism or reactionary glorification of the Ku Klux Klan and the suppression of slave revolts. The others are paeans to universal values such as undying love and the brotherhood of men.

Style

Though a controversial figure in terms of his ideology, Griffith is now unanimously hailed for his revolutionary technical discoveries. His films harness the full power of crosscutting in which two sequences interrelated in time or in spirit are intercut in such a way that they enhance each other’s power. Also noteworthy are the shots with moving camera such as the makeshift dolly shots or crane shots that he invented, close-ups to better describe objects and irises to emphasise key portions of the frame.

WHY is he of interest?

Widely considered the father of narrative cinema and the greatest pioneer of the American film industry, Griffith is responsible for many of the tenets of cinematic storytelling that we have internalised today. His editing innovations, opposite in function to Soviet montage theories, laid the foundations of a film grammar that have come to be taken for granted. It would not be a hyperbole, in fact, to say that every narrative film made today owes something to Griffith.

WHERE to discover him?

Often relegated to the sidelines by the long epics he directed, the 15-minute Marxist classic A Corner in Wheat (1909) might perhaps be the most powerful film Griffith ever made. Centring on a wheat tycoon’s manipulation of the market and the social malady it triggers, the film employs crosscutting to an exhilarating end, contrasting the excesses of the upper class with the struggles of the poor.

Courtesy- http://www.thehindu.com

आपका मूल लक्षण

दूसरे की किसी बात को लेकर सोचें मत। और तुम यही सोचते रहते हो। निन्यानबे प्रतिशत बातें जो तुम सोचते हो उनका लेना-देना दूसरों से रहता है। छोड़ दें, उन्हें इसी वक्त छोड़ दें!

'तुम्हारा जीवन बहुत छोटा है, और जीवन हाथों से फिसला जा रहा है। हर घड़ी तुम कम हो रहे हो, हर दिन तुम कम हो रहे हो, और हर दिन तुम कम जीवित होते जाते हो! हर जन्म-दिन तुम्हारा मरण-दिन है; तुम्हारे हाथों से एक वर्ष और फिसल गया। कुछ और प्रज्ञावान बनो।

'जिस बात का लेना-देना दूसरों से है, उसके बारे में मत सोचें। पहले अपनी मुख्य दुर्बलता के विपरीत अभ्यास करें।

'गुरजिएफ अपने अनुयायियों से कहा करता था-- 'पहली बात, सबसे पहली बात, ढूंढें कि तुम्हारी मूल दुर्बलता क्या है, तुम्हारा मुख्य अकर्म, तुम्हारे अवचेतन की केंद्रीय संकीर्णता क्या है। 'हर व्यक्ति अलग है। कोई व्यक्ति काम से ग्रसित है। भारत जैसे देश में, जहां काम को सदियों दबाया जाता रहा है, यह लगभग वहां एक मनोग्रस्ति बन गया है; हर व्यक्ति काम से ग्रसित है। कोई क्रोध से ग्रसित है, और कोई लोभ से ग्रसित है। तुम्हें देखना होगा कि तुम्हारी मूल मनोग्रस्ति क्या है।

'अत: सबसे पहले अपनी मूल मनोग्रस्ति को जानें जिसके ऊपर तुम्हारे पूरे अहंकार का भवन खड़ा है। और फिर निरंतर सचेत रहें क्योंकि यह केवल तभी रह सकती है अगर तुम अचेत हो। बोध की अग्नि में जल कर यह स्वयं ही भस्म हो जाती है।

'और स्मरण रहे, सदा स्मरण रहे कि तुम्हें इसके विपरीत को पोषित नहीं करना है। नहीं तो होता यह है कि व्यक्ति को यह बोध होने लगता है कि 'मैं क्रोध में ग्रसित हो जाता हूं तो मुझे करुणा को पोषित करना चाहिए।' 'मैं काम मे आविष्ट हो जाता हूं, मुझे क्या करना चाहिए? मुझे ब्रह्मचर्य का अभ्यास करना चाहिए।'

'लोग एक अति से दूसरी अति पर जाने लगते हैं। यह अतिक्रमण का ढंग नहीं है। यह वही पेंडुलम है, बाएं से दाएं जाता हुआ और दाएं से बाएं। ठीक इसी तरह तुम्हारा जीवन सदियों से चल रहा है; यह वही पेंड़ुलम है।

'पेंडुलम मध्य में रोकना होगा। और यही बोध का करिश्मा है। बस यह बोध रखें, 'यही मेरी मुख्य खाई है, यही वह स्थान है जहां मैं बार-बार टकराता हूं, यही मेरी बेहोशी की जड़ है।'

'दूसरी अति को पोषित न करें, बस, अपनी पूरी चेतना वहीं उड़ेल दें। अपने समस्त बोध की होलिका बनाएं, और बेहोशी उसमें जल कर भस्म हो जाएगी। और तब पेंडुलम बीच में रुक जाएगा।

'और पेंडुलम के रुकने से समय रुक जाता है। तुम समयातीत, सनातन व शाश्वत में प्रवेश कर जाते हो।'

मूल आलेख यहाँ देखें ...ओशो: द बुक ऑफ़ विज़डम, # 9

The inner life of light

TRIBUTE V.K. Murthy, the man who bestowed upon Indian cinema the greatest images, was a quiet celebrity. With great faith in his artistry, he gave visuals an inner depth G.S. Bhaskar

The Dadasaheb Phalke award is the highest honour of the country in the field of Motion Picture arts and is named after the cinematographer who pioneered the Indian film industry. After more than four decades of its inception, the award was conferred upon the genius of an artist who principally used light and shadow in his compositions to deliver a blissful experience. In 2008, the honour was bestowed upon Kannada’s own V. K. Murthy for his meritorious contribution to the art form. He became the first cinematographer and in that sense, the first technician to be honoured so. Most deservingly, it had been accorded to the labour of love that a cinematographer indulges in with the help of his fellow-workers and signalled the coming of age of Indian cinematography. V.K’s concern for his fellow-workers, be it a light-man or a carpenter, had also found an expression there-in. The prestigious award made a profound statement that was long overdue. It recognised the contribution of the cinematographer - the Master Key of the process, to the evolution of the art-form of cinema.

Apart from being a personal triumph for VK, it was also that much more about the recognition being accorded to the fraternity, the commune of cinematographers as a whole. It was an acknowledgement of the immense sacrifices that each one had made, of the contribution of the entire fraternity not only in India, but worldwide to the evolution of the art-form of cinema. Murthy had emerged as an icon that represented the cinematographers world-wide. What Gandhiji became to every Indian, Murthy had become to all the cinematographers. Sunny Joseph, Secretary of The Indian Society of Cinematographers aptly worded this joyous occasion. He termed it as a unified PAN-INDIAN voice of the fraternity .

Secondly, it symbolised the fulfilment of a vision – that of Dewan Sir M. Visvesvaraiah whose visionary approach created the first film institute of the country, Sri Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic in Bangalore. The greatest honour in the field of cinema presented to V. K. Murthy, an alumnus of the renowned institute which since has produced many illustrious cinematographers is a vindication of the faith that Sir M.V. had in his plan that pioneered the vocational training institute.

It was also a tribute to the generosity of Srinivasan, the childhood friend of Murthy . Since he didn’t even have a penny in his pocket, Murthy was about to abandon his seat at the institute and it was Srinivasan who shouldered the responsibility of paying for his technical education at SJP. It was a vindication of Srinivasan’s faith in the passion of the young lad who aspired to become a cinematographer.

The art of cinematography is all about articulating the subliminal. And none exemplified this better on the Indian screen than the stupendous combinations of Satyajit Ray-Subroto Mitra and Gurudutt-V.K. Murthy . While Subrotoda chose classical realism as his forte, Murthy, with his immaculate artistry chose enhanced realism and served the cause of sensitising the mainstream and heralded an era of visual aesthetics there-in. Whereas Subroto chose a more research and study-oriented approach, Murthy was intuitive and let the moment articulate his genius. If Subroto invented indigenous soft-light box to structure realism of the inner court-yard in Charulata, Murthy had to invent clip-light and Murthy-Ka-Ghoda to realise the unforgettable close-up imagery in Gurudutt’s films. The impact of these two masters has been so great that the entire gamut of motion picture photography in contemporary Indian cinema has its origin in either of the styles that these two masters pioneered. Thereby, these two were recognised as institutions in their own life-time. If Subroto has been the Sven Nykvist, Haskell Wexler & Conrad Hall of Indian cinema, Murthy is Arthur Miller, Leon Shamroy & Jack Cardiff rolled into one. A vibrant art form of the day, Indian cinematography is a confluence of the individual styles of two legendary cinematographers. Murthy’s skill in articulating the close-up image with his ingenuity took the Indian motion picture photography tantalisingly close to classical Hollywood. His artistic genius founded the equivalents of Hedy Lamarr, Greta Garbo and Vivien Leigh in the angelic close-ups he created of Madhubala, Waheeda Rehman and Meena Kumari .

Much as in the highest form of poetry where the word transcends itself, the light in the images of Murthy transcends physicality and articulates an inner world. Be it the visual composition of the frame in Jaal , the very first movie of Gurudutt-V. K. Murthy duo or the sub-text he wrote with light in creating the image of the poet crucified on the cross of popularity in Pyasa , it was the realisation of the inner self and the successful articulation of the subliminal that raised Murthy’s work to the level of the highest art form.

A master of the classical monochrome, he also pioneered the wide-screen for Indian cinema. His penchant for lighting found an altogether new expression, a classical one at that in Kagaz Ke Phool , India’s first wide-screen motion picture. His articulation of the heavenly beam of light where-in, longing souls unite even as their mortal frames watch the unison, rendered the song picturisation of ‘waqt ne kiya…’, an immortal sequence of Indian cinema. When colour invaded the territory ruled by the visual artist of the monochrome, Murthy was not the one to lose heart. He went on as if nothing had changed and much to the dismay of the manufacturers of colour film, flouted the norms of colour photography of the time and emerged victorious. He proved that any advancement of technology is only an additional tool in the hands of a true artist to help him articulate himself with more panache. The title song of Chaudavin Ka Chand picturised in colour, bears ample testimony to the consummate artistry he displayed and the unshakeable faith he had in the understanding of the photographic emulsion behaviour.

When the small-screen beckoned him, he didn’t even bat an eye-lid. With his one-time lieutenant, Govind Nihalani wielding the megaphone as the director for the classic Tamas , he captured the images of horror from the pages of Indian history in telling detail. The sequence of mothers marching to the well of death with babies in their arms is an image that stands on par with the greatest of images of a holocaust recreated on the screen world-wide. And working along with the genius of Shyam Benegal, Murthy wrote the Indian history visually, through Bharat Ek Khoj . It is all the more significant that the art of Murthy was not aimed at the intellect closeted in ivory towers but was a joyous sharing of his expression and articulation with the common man. He ushered in an era of visual aesthetics in the mainstream cinema of the country, which he served gloriously over the years. This is a solemn moment. Murthy has departed the physical world. On behalf of the entire fraternity of cinematographers across the country and all the students of cinema worldwide, I salute and celebrate the genius of the master- cinematographer, V.K. Murthy.

(The author is a national-award winning cinematographer.)

Courtesy- http://www.thehindu.com

फिल्म “द ग्रेट डिक्टेटर” में चार्ली चैपलिन का भाषण

(चार्ली चैपलिन ने “द ग्रेट डिक्टेटर” फिल्म के इस भाषण में विश्व जन-गण की आकाँक्षाओं को अनुपम कलात्मकता के साथ अभिव्यक्त किया है और आज भी प्रासंगिक है. अनुवाद- पारिजात.)

माफ कीजिये, मैं सम्राट बनना नहीं चाहता, यह मेरा धंधा नहीं है. मैं किसी पर हुकूमत नहीं करना चाहता, किसी को हराना नहीं चाहता. मुमकिन हो तो हर किसी की मदद करना चाहूँगा. हम सब एक दूसरे की मदद करना चाहते हैं, इंसान की फितरत यही है. हम सब एक दूसरे के दुख की कीमत पर नहीं, बल्कि एक दूसरे के साथ मिल कर खुशी से रहना चाहते हैं. हम एक दूसरे से नफरत और घृणा नहीं करना चाहते. इस दुनिया में हर किसी के लिए गुंजाइश है और धरती इतनी अमीर है कि सब कि जरूरतें पूरी कर सकती है.

जिन्दगी जीने का सलीका आजाद और खूबसूरत हो सकता है. लेकिन हम रास्ते से भटक गये हैं.

लालच ने इन्सान की जमीर को जहरीला बना दिया है, दुनिया को नफ़रत की दीवारों में जकड़ दिया है; हमें मुसीबत और खून-खराबे की हालत में धकेल दिया है.

हमने रफ़्तार पैदा किया, लेकिन खुद को उसमें जकड़ लिया-

मशीनें बेशुमार पैदावार करती है, लेकिन हम कंगाल हैं.

हमारे ज्ञान ने हमें सनकी बना दिया है,

चालाकी ने कठोर और बेरहम.

हम बहुत ज्यादा सोचते और बहुत कम महसूस करते हैं-

मशीनों से ज्यादा हमें इंसानियत की जरूरत है;

चालाकी की बजाय हमें नेकी और भलमनसाहत की जरूरत है.

इन खूबियों के बिना जिन्दगी वहशी हो जायेगी और सब कुछ खत्म हो जाएगा.

हवाई जहाज और रेडियो ने हमें एक दूसरे के करीब ला दिया. इन खोजों की प्रकृति इंसानों से ज्यादा शराफत की माँग करती है, हम सब की एकजुटता के लिए दुनिया भर में भाईचारे की माँग करती है. इस वक्त भी मेरी आवाज दुनिया भर में लाखों लोगों तक पहुँच रही है, लाखों निराश-हताश मर्दों, औरतों और छोटे बच्चों तक,व्यवस्था के शिकार उन मासूम लोगों तक, जिन्हें सताया और कैद किया जाता है. जिन लोगों तक मेरी आवाज पहुँच रही है, मैं उनसे कहता हूँ कि “निराश न हों.”

जो बदहाली आज हमारे ऊपर थोपी गयी है वह लोभ-लालच का, उस आदमी के नफ़रत का नतीजा है जो इंसानी तरक्की के रास्ते से डरटा है- लोगों के मन से नफरत खत्म होगा, तानाशाहों की मौत होगी और जो सत्ता उन लोगों ने जनता से छीनी है, उसे वापस जनता को लौटा दिया जायेगा. और (आज) भले ही लोग मारे जा रहे हों, मुक्ति नहीं मरेगी.

सिपाहियो: अपने आप को धोखेबाजों के हाथों मत सौंपो. जो लोग तुमसे नफरत करते हैं और तुम्हें गुलाम बनाकर रखते हैं, जो खुद तुम्हारी ज़िंदगी के फैसले करते हैं, तुम्हें बताते हैं कि तुम्हें क्या करना है, क्या सोचना है और क्या महसूस करना है, जो तुमसे कवायद कराते हैं, तुम्हें खिलाते हैं, तुम्हारे साथ पालतू जानवरों और तोप के चारे जैसा तरह सलूक करते हैं.

अपने आप को इन बनावटी लोगों, मशीनी दिल और मशीनी दिमाग वाले इन मशीनी लोगों के हवाले मत करो. तुम मशीन नहीं हो. तुम पालतू जानवर नहीं हो. तुम इन्सान हो. तुम्हारे दिलों में इंसानियत के लिए प्यार है. तुम नफरत नहीं करते, नफरत सिर्फ वे लोग करते हैं जिनसे कोई प्यार नहीं करता, सिर्फ बेमुहब्बत और बेकार लोग. सिपाहियों: गुलामी के लिए नहीं आजादी के लिए लड़ो.

तुम ही असली अवाम हो, तुम्हारे पास ताकत है, ताकत मशीन बनाने की, ताकत खुशियाँ पैदा करने की, तुम्हारे पास जिन्दगी को आजाद और खूबसूरत बनाने की, इस जिन्दगी को एक अनोखा अभियान बना देने की ताकत है. तो आओ, लोकतंत्र के नाम पर इस ताकत का उपयोग करें, हम सब एक हो जाएं. एक नई दुनिया के लिए संघर्ष करें, एक खूबसूरत दुनिया, जहाँ इंसानों के लिए काम का अवसर हो, जो हमें बेहतर आनेवाला कल, लंबी उम्र और हिफाजत मुहय्या करे. धोखेबाज इन्हीं चीजों का वादा करके सत्ता पर काबिज हुए थे, लेकिन वे झूठे हैं. वे अपने वादे को पूरा नहीं करते और वे कभी करेंगे भी नहीं. तानाशाह खुद तो आजाद होते हैं, लेकिन बाकी लोगों को गुलाम बनाते हैं. आओ हम इन वादों को पूरा करवाने के लिए लड़ें. कौमियत की सीमाओं को तोड़ने के लिए, लालच को खत्म करने के लिए, नफरत और कट्टरता को जड़ से मिटने के लिए, दुनिया को आजाद कराने के लिए लड़ें. एक माकूल और मुकम्मिल दुनिया बनाने की लड़ाई लड़ें. एक ऐसी दुनिया जहाँ विज्ञान और तरक्की सबकी जिन्दगी में खुशहाली लाए.

सिपाहियो! आओ, लोकतंत्र के नाम पर हम सब एकजुट हो जायें!

Outtakes: Orson Welles/ SRIKANTH SRINIVASAN

WHO is he?

American filmmaker, theatre director, producer, actor, scenarist and radio artist who wrote and directed over 30 feature and short films and acted in about 100 between the early forties and the late eighties. Welles shuttled between Europe and the United States throughout his troubled career. He won the Oscar for Best Screenplay for Citizen Kane in 1941 and took the top acting prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1959 for Compulsion.

WHAT are his films about?

Themes

Welles’ films, through characters that are bound up with Welles’ own on-screen persona, take an ironic and self-deprecating look at male insecurity and the ensuing pettiness and foolishness. Perhaps more importantly, they deal with the tragedy of excessive power, of its tyranny and of its essential loneliness, which is ironical given Welles’ own tortured career. He also engaged with the works of Shakespeare throughout his life and realised a number of them on screen.

Style

In an era of studio cinema where directors were either inconspicuous craftsmen or played second-fiddle to actors and screenwriters, Welles’ strongly visual cinema would certainly have been an aberration. His films are characterised by a predominance of low-angle shots in which characters appear imposing, a complex, richly textured soundtrack in which actor voices overlap often without clarity, a non-linear narrative structure in which the truth about a single character is at stake, humorous voice-overs that frame the story and the use of vast interior spaces which seem to imprison the characters.

WHY is he of interest?

Almost each one of Welles’ Hollywood films was butchered by the studio because they deviated sharply from the studio’s idea of a good movie. Welles’ versions of these films have perhaps been irrecoverably lost, but even that which remains is testament to his mastery of the medium, his singular vision of what narrative cinema can be and his spirit of experimentation and discovery.

WHERE to discover him?

Perhaps the most explosive directorial debut in the history of film, Citizen Kane centres on the private life of newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane. Made when Welles was just 26, the film employs a groundbreaking narrative in which the personality of Kane is constructed through a series of testimonies. A veritable catalogue of modern film techniques, Citizen Kane not only stands the test of time, but continues to enthral even today.

Courtesy- http://www.thehindu.com