WHAT DOESN’T
Too little non-hindi cinema represented. Not enough on cultural impact; costumes; the role of women; evolving stories.
Too many generic still images and too much static text.
No LGBT representation.
Far too much equipment — rows of cameras, walls of lenses and microphones. SRK films at the Berlinale are always screened in either the massive Friedrichstadt Palast or the Kino International, both in former East Berlin, because these are the only theatres large enough to hold his massive fan following.
In fact, German filmmaker Uli Gaulke once told me, after watching My Name is Khan at the Berlinale, “This film is an important handshake between India and the West.” He saw it as a vital film, fighting global Islamophobia through a popular medium like Bollywood, fronted by a big Bollywood star.
We’re now in a bit of a full-circle moment. From art-house cinema to the glitz of mainstream, this year’s selection includes Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy, that is based on the real-life story of street rappers Divine and Naezy from Dharavi, and stars some of Bollywood’s biggest young in text, but make them feel for that history. The National Museum of Cinema, Turin, Italy or Cinematheque in Paris don’t just offer details but an experience that people from across the world travel for.”
Inexplicably, there’s an entire floor dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, a man wellknown to have been entirely disinterested in cinema. Much of this floor is taken up by memorabilia around films with a link to Gandhi. In one corner sits a statue of the leader, watching on a loop the only film he ever did watch — Vijay Bhatt’s epic-based Ram Rajya (1943).
Despite a room in Gulshan Mahal dedicated to films representative of major political and social movements, there is no mention of the LGBT movement.
“We had hoped that, after the historic judgment last year striking down Article 377, representation of the movement in cinema would find a place,” says activist and filmmaker Sridhar Rangayan, who also spearheads the annual Kashish queer film festival in Mumbai.
He plans to suggest a list of films that could be added. “No museum is or should be stagnant and we hope that’s true in this case too, that things will be added over time,” he says.
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There are certainly plusses — including a collection of beautiful and rare film posters, and the stunning restoration of Gulshan Mahal itself.
The setting up of the museum was spearheaded by the National Council of Science Museums. It is now run by the Films Division of India, which is in the process of recruiting a full-time curator. “An advertisement is out,” says Prashant Pathrabe, director general of the Films Division.
“Being a government organisation, the committee had involved the National Council of Science Museums as they had the experience of designing a museum.”
Pathrabe says the Films Division welcomes suggestions on how to add value to the museum.
“It is a great positive step that we have a museum for cinema after more than 100 years of making films,” Benegal adds. “Any museum is only a work in progress. With the huge size of our cinema industry, we will definitely also need more museums in different cities.”
AS INDIA HAS CHANGED, SO HAS ITS IMAGE, AND ITS MOVIES, AT BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL
names (Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt); it will premiere at Friedrichstadt Palast.
Ritesh Batra’s Photograph, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sanya Malhotra, the story of a photographer who takes a photograph of a girl and then persuades her to pretend to be his fiancée to satisfy his grandmother who is pressurising him to marry.
Rima Das’s Bulbul Can Sing, a comingof-age story set in Assam, where innocent teenagers on a walk in the woods are harassed, leading to bittersweet consequences. Although expectations are high after her Village Rockstars, which is India’s Oscar entry, she says simply, “I just want to enjoy the festival.”
In Berlinale Shorts is Prantik Basu’s Rang Mahal, a 27-minute short film in Santhali. “It is based on one of the myths of creation among the Santhal tribals,” Basu
says. “They believe two swans laid an egg under a tree, and humans came from that egg. Although I’m dealing with the grand subject of creation, I’d say I aspire to grandeur through minimalism.”
Here’s to a continuing strong presence of Indian and South Asian films at Berlin, and yes, a film in competition before long.
(Meenakshi Shedde is a film critic, curator and South Asia Consultant to the
Berlin Film Festival)