INDIAN CINEMA - 3 - ANSWERS

1. B. Manthan

“Manthan” is a 1976 Hindi film directed by Shyam Benegal and is written jointly by him and Vijay Tendulkar starring Smita Patil, Girish Karnad, Naseeruddin Shah, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Mohan Agashe, Anant Nag, Amrish Puri and Sadhu Meher. It is set amidst the backdrop of the White Revolution of India (Milk Cooperative Movement) pioneered by Verghese Kurien. It demonstrated the power of "collective might" as it was entirely crowdfunded by 500,000 farmers who donated Rs. 2 each. Manthan is the first crowdfunded Indian film.

“Manthan” won the 1977 National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and National Film Award for Best Screenplay for Vijay Tendulkar and was also India's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for 1976.

The title song ("Mero Gaam Katha Parey Jaa, Dhudh ki Nadiya Wahe Jaa"  - a Gujarati folk song) was sung by Preeti Sagar (Music composed by Vanraj Bhatia), for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer that year. The song was later used as the soundtrack for the television commercial for Amul.

2. C. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro

“Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro” is a 1983 Hindi comedy film directed by Kundan Shah and produced by NFDC. It is a dark satire on the rampant corruption in Indian politics, bureaucracy, news media and business and stars an ensemble cast including Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur, Satish Shah, Satish Kaushik, Bhakti Barve and Neena Gupta (a bunch of left leaning Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) graduates).

Kundan Shah was inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 English film “Blow-up” and adopted a popular plot in the film where “two photographers inadvertently capture the murder of a Bombay Municipal Commissioner with their cameras and later discover this when the images are enlarged”. In an obvious homage to Michelangelo Antonioni, the park in which the murder occurs is named "Antonioni Park" in the film.

(Ravi Baswani and Satish Kaushik in “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro”)

Kundan Shah won the 1984 Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director for “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro” while Ravi Baswani bagged the Filmfare Best Comedian Award. The names of the lead characters – Vinod Chopra (Naseeruddin Shah) and Sudhir Mishra (Ravi Baswani) – came from film directors Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Sudhir Mishra, who assisted Kundan Shah in the movie.

3. A. Haqeeqat

"Haqeeqat" is a 1964 Hindi war-film directed by Chetan Anand starring Dharmendra, Balraj Sahni, Priya Rajvansh (her debut film), Sanjay Khan and Vijay Anand. The movie was based on the 1962 Sino-Indian War and parts of the film were shot at in the inhospitable terrains of Ladakh, thus becoming the first Bollywood film to be shot there. It won the National Film Award for Second Best Feature Film in 1965.

Kaifi Azmi penned some of his best lyrics for this movie and Madan Mohan was in his elements as he composed the gems like - "Hoke Majbur Mujhe Usne Bhulaya Hoga", "Zara Si Aahat Hoti Hai" sung by Lata Mangeshkar and the masterpiece "Kar Chale Hum Fida Jaan-o-Tan Saathiyon" sung by Mohammed Rafi, a perennial favorite played on National Days.

In a befitting tribute to the gallant Indian soldiers in the Sino-Indian War of 1962, Kaifi Azam penned the following immortal lines: (Used in the song "Kar Chale Hum Fida" of the film)

“Saans Thamti Gayi; Nabz Jamti Gayi;

Phir Bhi Badhte Kadam Ko Naa Rukne Diya;

Kat Gaye Sar Humare To Kuchh Gham Nahin;

Sar Himalay Ka Humne Naa Jhukne Diya.”

4. C. Vidhu Vinod Chopra

“Murder at Monkey Hill” is 1976 Indian film written and directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The short film in Black-and-white was made by Vidhu Vinod Chopra as his final project while doing his diploma at FTII. Chopra, himself played the lead role with Anjali Paigankar while Dilip Dhawan.

The film won the National Film Award for Best Short Experimental Film and the Guru Dutt Memorial Award for Best Student Film.

5. B. Natir Puja

Natir Puja ("The dancing girl's worship", 1932) is the only film where Rabindranath Tagore is credited as director. This film is a recording of Tagore's 1927 dramatised version of his long poem, "Pujarini". This was an all-woman play he wrote on the request of his daughter-in-law, Pratima Devi, who wished to perform it on the poet’s 70th birthday.

(Tagore as Director with the cast & crew of ‘Natir Puja')

(A still from ‘Natir Puja')

Natir Puja’s dramatized version was first staged at Jorsanko Thakurbari in Kolkata in 1927. It was again staged at New Empire, Kolkata in celebration of the poet’s 70th birthday. An impressed BN Sircar, founder-proprietor of New Theatres, requested Tagore to direct a film version under the New Theatres banner. The New Theatres Studio played host to Tagore in 1931. He also played a role and assembled his acting cast from Shantiniketan. Nitin Bose was the cinematographer while Subodh Mitra edited it. They did not follow conventional rules, and the film was shot like a stage drama. The music of the film composed by Dinendranath Tagore, a grandson of the eldest brother of Rabindranath and also a noted Bengali musician and singer. The film was shot within four days.