TEXT

AND
OF CINEMA

SUBTEXT-

SUBSTANCE

Not these days so much, but

when we were University students in Allahabad in the late
seventies there was this zeal and enthusiasm to decipher,
analyse, anatomize a movie among friends and family
members. To some extent we were affected by the still
surviving intellectual culture of the famous city which had
produced large number of Academicians, Poets, politicians,
Lawyers, bureaucrats and was holding on to the competition
from Delhi and South. To some extent it was our Literature
influence and to some our good grooming (!! )at the SJC ( St
Josephs College ). Further, the Film Club under the genial
patronage of Dr Chattopadhya Sahab was a big contributor in
refining our cinema taste buds. We started with The Bicycle
Thieves in one of the lecture rooms of the science faculty ( J K
Institute ) and our cinema borders expanded toward new
horizon. Till then we had seen mostly highly acclaimed
commercial Hollywood films at the Palace Theatre or at Plaza or
at Niranjan. The advent of Shyam Benegal with Ankur and

some dose of Ray ( the famous Apu Trilogy )and Mrinal Sen
made us smug and sceptic of regular commercial cinema,
though till them we had had our fulsome exposure to Dev,
Dilip Raj Kapoor , Bimal Roy , Guru Dutt etc . The commercial
Hindi cinema with its idols and giants was deeply submerged in
our consciousness. But this neo realism Cinemas
commitment to society challenged our beliefs and for some
time we were dedicated soldiers of the new wave Art Film
Army.
As time moved the gap between the two reduced. The
commercial cinema was going great guns with the advent of
International studios and corporate houses. Technology made a
leap forward with reduction in print cost and the Box Office
norms were changed. Small budget Cinema too found an
audience, but under the shadows of the commercial films.
Multiplexes arrived and single theatre virtually vanished.
However the debate between meaningful Cinema and popular
Cinema continued with the new vocabulary .
Sometimes back I was watching a television show where an
imminent Hollywood Director was a guest on show . He was
being questioned by one of our imminent critic and after the
initial pleasantries the subject and quality of Indian films arose
and in a very subdued and quiet manner he stated that the
bulk of Indian Cinema does not have any sub text implying
that it was very superficial and not well researched and the film
makers just are concerned about the entertainment value and
do not worry on research etc. Basically he was being very
critical of our cinema though he was all praise for the standard
few filmmakers who mostly operate on festival circuits. At that
juncture I nodded my head in agreement. However, now after
about decade and half during which I have seen a wide range of
world cinema and revisited the both popular and Art cinema of
India I realize that we have been victims of Intellectual
racism. We could call it cultural imperialism also.

My view on the subject of sub-text or theme is that a film

cannot be made with the sub-text in mind; the sub- text
emerges from the text and is the result of the main creation. If
we make a film with a sub text in mind it would be very boring
and didactic. The commitment should be toward the story,
screenplay, the research, concentration on casting and not
bothering on the sub-text. The film is remembered from its text
and sub-text is a bonus, which at times surprises the maker
himself. The sub-text is a dynamic aspect and keeps evolving
and changing with time.
Till recently among the top films rated by international cinema
critics were Casablanca,Citizen Kane, Gold
Rush,Roshomon, Rome- Open City and others . All the above
films are seen by audience today not for their sub-text but for
their cinematic excellence. Do we remember Hitchcock or
Charlie Chaplin for their sub-text or for their images,
composition , execution, drama, narrative, action ? Things
which are apparent, loud and visible. Last year the cinema
goers were surprised to find a dramatic change in the normally
routine election when Hitchcocks Vertigo starring James
Steward was adjudged as the best all time film. Well! Vertigo
is a very nice crafted film and the entire film revolves around a
twist . I loved the film, but does it have any revolutionary subtext , which has come to attention now! No; it was only after
the viewership of Hitchcocks increased on DVD circuit
worldwide that people realized his genius. As said above that
the fuss over the sub-text is to do with class- distinction,
class- conflict , cultural- complex and sometimes intellectual
subjugation. It also emanates from critics and filmmakers who
believe that cinema viewing itself is an Art not fathomable by
the commoners! My personal experience is that good cinema,
serious cinema and so called Art cinema is understandable by
the common folk as well, they enjoy Ray as well as Manmohan
Desai, any good story narrated well finds an audience. The
myth that Art cinema needs a nurtured audience has been
broken by the rise of other world Cinema. Cinema of South

America, Cinema of Iran , Cinema of Soth Korea, China and

Japan.
And Yet; we cannot deny that Cinema has a sub-text which a
discerning audience understands and appreciates, needs no
classes or cultivation or instructions on appreciation . The
mass audience also appreciates. They know the sub-text of the
stories told to them by their grandmothers. They know the
theme of Ramayan and Mahabharat ! And our Cinema and
their stories are mere screenplays of the stories of our
Mythologies and folk- lore- Indian, Greek . Even Shakespeare
is now part of the western folk- lore.