Cinema should have its own literature: Gulzar
SHIMLA : Celebrated writer, lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar, who was in the Queen of Hills to attend the three-day international literature festival, Unmesh, that kicked off on Thursday, said it was high time that Indian cinema produced its own literature.
“Cinema brings life to characters, stories, scripts and books. At times, cinema talks louder than literature and short stories. It makes characters real,” said Gulzar, during a discussion on cinema and literature, which was chaired by Sai Paranjape, an author, movie director and screenwriter.
Taking the example of the film Devdas, he said, “The film has been produced by three different producers Pramathesh Chandra Barua, Bimal Roy and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, but who is the author of Devdas? Whom do the characters and relationships belong to? These are all interpretations of the words penned down by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay,” he said.
“Nowadays, it is not necessary
a screenwriter interprets a novel. Now, the director has to become an author of what is being played on screen,” he said.
In his inaugural speech, minister of state for parliamentary affairs and culture Arjun Ram Meghwal said, “The role of literature in the independence movement is one of the finest examples of literary expressions in society.”
Prabodh Parekh, well-known Gujarati poet and fiction writer,
said that cinema was not literature.
“Cinema is neither literature nor a theatre. It is an independent way of seeing the world from different perceptions. Literature and theatres bring you home and cinema takes you out of it,” Parekh said.
Well-known Hindi writer and cinema scholar Yatindra Mishra said that scripts should be considered a part of literature. “Cinthat ema needs a strong backbone. When a diary and novel can be a part of literature then scripts should also be included.”
Literature and women empowerment
Women writers, poets and politicians came on the same dais to discuss literature and women empowerment.
The discussion was led by Tamil poet, lyricist and politician Thamizhachi Thangapandian, and the panellists were author Manju Jaidka, writer Paramita Satpathy and scholar and poet Sanjukta Dasgupta.
The panellists maintained that the power of the ordinary is the greatest power.
Even women who are not educated lead lives with self-respect and stand for their rights, which is empowering.
They contended that women have significantly contributed to critical literature and many literary movements such as the Dalit movement. “The works of female artistes usually talks about dominant political hierarchies and patriarchal hegemonies,” the panellists said.