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Assignment paper: 15 Mass Midea and communication

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A Brief history of Indian Cinema       

    

                                Name: Mital Raval

                                        Roll No: 18

                                       M.A. SEM: 4

                             Batch Year: 2016 – 2018

                      Enrollment No: 2069108420170026

              Paper Name: Mass Media and Communication

                               Submitted to: Dr. Dilip Barad

                                      Smt. S. b. Gardi

                                  Department of English

                               M .k. Bhavnagar University

Assignment Title: A Brief Hisory of Indian Cinema

Introduction:

         The hisorty of indian cinema goes back the nineteenth century. On

July 7th 1896, the Lumiere Brothers showcased six films at the Watson Hotel in Mumbai and this marked the birth of Indian cinema. The six films screened that day  that were Entry of Cinematographe, The Sea Bath, Arrival of a Train, A Demolition,  Ladies and Soldiers on Wheels and Leaving the Factory.  

           But history was actually created when Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatavdekar popularly known as Save Dada, the still photographer, was so much influenced by the Lumiere Brothers’ production that he ordered a camera from England. His first film was shot at the Hanging Gardens in Mumbai, known as ‘The Wrestlers’. It was a simple recording of a wrestling match which was screened in 1899 and is considered as the first motion picture in the Indian Film Industry.

Begning of Bollywood:

 

                                     

          Father of Indian Cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke released the first ever full-length feature film ‘Raja Harishchandra’ in 1913. The silent film was a commercial success. Dadasaheb was not only the producer but was also the director, writer, cameraman, editor, make-up artist and art director. Raja Harischandra was the first-ever Indian film which was screened in London in 1914. Though Indian Cinema’s first mogul, Dadasaheb Phalke supervised and managed the production of twenty three films from 1913 to 1918, the initial growth of the Indian Film Industry was not as fast as that of Hollywood. Other silent movies started coming out from Calcutta studios: for example, ‘SATYAVAADI HARISCHANDRA (1917) and ‘KEECHAKAVADHAM’ (1919).

        Numerous new production companies emerged in the early 1920s. Films based on mythological and historical facts and episodes from Mahabharata and Ramayana dominated the 20s but Indian audiences also welcomed Hollywood movies, especially the action films.

 Beginning of the Talkies/Age of sound

         The first ever talkie ‘Alam Ara’ by Ardeshir Irani was screened in Bombay in March 14, 1931. It was the first sound film in India. The release of Alam Ara started a new era in the history of Indian Cinema. Phiroz Shah was the first music director of Alam Ara. The first song which was recorded for Alam Ara in 1931 was ‘De de khuda ke naam par’. It was sung by W.M. Khan.

         Thereafter, several production companies emerged leading to an increase in the release of the number of films. 328 films were made in 1931 as compared to 108 in 1927. During this time, huge movie halls were built and there was a significant growth in the number of audiences.

During the 1930s and 1940s many eminent film personalities such as Debaki Bose, Chetan Anand, S.S. Vasan, Nitin Bose and many others emerged on the scene.
  

Themes in Indian cinema

 

          Early Indian cinema in the 1920s was founded on specific genres, such as the mythological or the devotional film. The sum and substance of the mythological theme is the fight between good and evil, and the importance of sacrifice in the name of truth. The retelling of stories known through an oral tradition was an important element in the success of the mythological film: ‘The Ram Leela’ and ‘The Rass Leela’ are said to be of particular influence in Indian cinema. too. This trend was visible not only in the silent era. It continued in the talkie era. NALLATHANGAL in Tamil, BHAKTA PRAHLADA in Malayalam and other languages, KEECHAKAVADHAM in Tamil etc. are good examples of theme of myths.

Growth of Regional Films

Not only did the country witness the growth of Hindi Cinema, but the regional film industry also made its own mark. In India we see so many regional cinema that are as bellow.
  
 Marathi: 

          Indian cinema had its beginning in Maharashtra , but right from the start, films in Marathi stood no chance against those in Hindi which could draw larger crowds. Yet, Marathi films have continued to be made. Sant Tukaram, for instance, was perhaps the first Indian film to win high praise at home and abroad. This and other films produced by Prabhat Talkies have inspired Marathi cinema over the years .The first studios, however, were set up in Kolhapur – the Maharashtra Film Co. - by Baburao Painter who together with Anandrao , pioneered the silent film era in Western India.

       ‘Ayodhecha Raja’ was the first Marathi film which was directed by V. Shantaram in 1932. This film was made in double version. ‘Ayodhya ka Raja’ in Hindi and ‘Ayodhecha Raja’ in Marathi was the first ever Indian talkie produced by Prabhat Film Company in 1932.
 

 Gujarati : 

       The first Gujarati film was Narsinh Mehta. It was released on April 9, 1932. The mental age of Gujarati cinema has remained five years though it is celebrating its golden jubilee in 1982. There is no difference between the present films and the ones produced in 1932. Earlier films such as Narsinh Mehto , Sati Savitri , Ghar Jamai were no different in treatment and content than today’s film.

Bengal Cinema : 

       The Bengali cinema has been dominated for over three decades now by Satyajit Ray , Mrinal Sen , Tapan Sinha and Ritwik Ghatak. The first Bengali feature film ‘Nal Damyanti’ in 1917 was produced by J.F. Madan with Italian actors in the leading roles. It was photographed by Jyotish Sarkar. The first ever talkie film in Bengali was ‘Jamai Shashthi’, which was screened in 1931 and produced by Madan Theatres Ltd.

South Indian Film: 

        The year 1919 saw the screening of the first silent South Indian feature film named ‘Keechaka Vadham’. The movie was made by R. Nataraja Mudaliar of Madras (Chennai). Dadasaheb Phalke’s daughter Manadakini was the first female child star who acted as the child Krishna in Phalke’s ‘Kaliya Mardan’ in 1919. ‘Kalidass’ was the first Tamil talkie which was released in Madras on 31 October 1931 and directed by H.M. Reddy. Apart from Bengali and South Indian languages, regional films were also made in other languages such as Assamese, Oriya, Punjabi, Marathi, and many more.

 

Birth of a New Era

        The number of films being produced saw a brief decline during the World War II. Basically the birth of modern Indian Film industry took place around 1947. The period witnessed a remarkable and outstanding transformation of the film industry. Notable filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, and Bimal Roy made movies which focused on the survival and daily miseries of the lower class. The historical and mythological subjects took a back seat and the films with social messages began to dominate the industry. These films were based on themes such as prostitution, dowry, polygamy and other malpractices which were prevalent in our society.

In the 1960s new directors like Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, and others focused on the real problems of the common man. They directed some outstanding movies which enabled the Indian film industry to carve a niche in the International film scenario.

        The 1950s and 1960s are considered to be the golden age in the history of the Indian cinema and saw the rise of some memorable actors like Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Meena Kumari, Madhubala, Nargis, Nutan, Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman, among others.

       This article will be incomplete if the contribution of music in Indian cinema is not mentioned. Songs are an integral part of Indian movies. Presence of songs has given Indian films a distinctive look as compared to international films. The Indian film industry has produced many talented lyricists, music directors and artists.

Bollywood – The Pioneer of Masala Movies

 

 

       The 1970s saw the advent of Masala movies in Bollywood. The audiences were captivated and mesmerised by the aura of actors like Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, and many others.

The most prominent and successful director, Manmohan Desai was considered by several people as the father of Masala movies. According to Manmohan Desai, “I want people to forget their misery. I want to take them into a dream world where there is no poverty, where there are no beggars, where fate is kind and god is busy looking after its flock.”

          Sholay, the groundbreaking film directed by Ramesh Sippy, not only got international accolades but also made Amitabh Bachchan a ‘Superstar’.

Several women directors like Meera Nair, Aparna Sen and others showcased their talents in the 1980s. How can we forget the extraordinary and splendid performance of Rekha in the film Umrao Jaan in 1981?

The 1990s saw a whole new batch of actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla, Chiranjivi, and many more. This new genre of actors used new techniques to enhance their performances which further elevated and upgraded the Indian Film Industry. 2008 was a notable year for the Indian film industry as A.R. Rahman received two academy awards for best soundtrack for Slumdog Millionaire.

Indian cinema is no longer restricted to India and is now being well appreciated by international audiences. The contribution of the overseas market in Bollywood box office collections is quite remarkable. Around 30 film production companies were listed in National Stock Exchange of India in 2013. The multiplexes too have boomed in India due to tax incentives.

Indian cinema has become a part and parcel of our daily life whether it is a regional or a Bollywood movie. It has a major role to play in our society. Though entertainment is the key word of Indian cinema it has far more responsibility as it impacts the mind of the audiences.

Conclusion:

         To sum up, the Indian cinema has grown quite big during the past century, especially during the past six decades. This latter period saw the growth of the cinema into a mass medium. Despite thematic peculiarities and drawbacks, social conditioning and cultural inhibitions, it has proved its merit in technical perfection, artistic evalution and directorial innovations. Indian cinema, by and large, has remained on the path of clean popular entertainment. In the coming decades , it can give more attention to the social dimension of the medium , its use in mobilizing the masses through effective messages on serious issues such as social justice , environmental safety and a more rational and scientific approach to human problems .

Thank you...

Works Cited

Paul, Sanchita. History of Indian Cinema. n.d. 15 March 2018. <https://www.mapsofindia.com/my-india/history/history-of-indian-cinema>.

pillania, rajesh K. The Globalization of Indian. n.d. 15 March 2018. <http://www.fm-kp.si/zalozba/ISSN/1854-4231/3_115-123.pdf>.

Souza, Noel De. A Brief History of Indian Cinema. 02 January 2014. 15 March 2018. <https://www.goldenglobes.com/articles/brief-history-indian-cinema>.

Thapliyal, Anvita. The history of the Indian cinema. 21 September 2011. 15 March 2018. <http://thehistoryofindiancinema.blogspot.in/2011/09/birth-of-cinema-in-india-silent-era.html>.

Assignment paper no: 14 African Literature

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A Critical not of Anti-Colonial Struggle in Grain of Wheat

                                        Name: Mital Raval

                                        Roll No: 18

                                       M.A. SEM: 4

                             Batch Year: 2016 – 2018

                      Enrollment No: 2069108420170026

                    Email Id: ravalmital5292@gmail.com

                          Paper Name: The African Literature

                            Submitted to: Dr. Dilip Barad

                                      Smt. S. b. Gardi

                                 Department of English

                             M .k. Bhavnagar University

Assignment Topic: A Critical not on Anti-Colonial Struggle in Grain of Wheat.

Ngugi Wa Thiango:

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is a Kenyan writer, formerly working in English and now working in Gikuyu. His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal Mutiri. His famous work are,

·       Hermit (1996)

·       Weep not, child (1964)

·       The River between (1995)

·       A grain of wheat (1967)                 

                     

    He arises the concept such as negritude nation and nationalism. Fanon defined anti-colonial nationalism. He might recap following points in the novel. He asserts the rights of colonized peoples to make their own self-definition, rather than he defined by colonizers. He offers the means to identify alternative histories, cultural tradition and knowledge which conflict with the representations of colonial discourse. He presents the cultural inheritance of the colonized people in defense of colonial discourse, etc. his prime focus is on ordinary people, not their leaders. His narrative constitutes a vital attempt to give voice to the people’s collective identity and history.

A Grain of Wheat: Brief introduction

         A Grain of wheat is set during the four days leading up to Uhuru. Its central characters are the member of peasant society of Thabai Ridge, and through their memories Ngugi examines how the struggle for independence impacted on the ordinary lives. Much of the novel occurs in flashback and hears witness to the Mau Mau rebellion rule.

       Each character have their own chequred past of them, Kihika is remembered as one of the heroes of the anti-colonial movement and had fought as a freedom fighter in the hills. Another key is Mugo. He is celebrated for defending female villagers, Wamburu, from being beaten while digging a trench for the authorities. The novel focuses on a specific location common to all the character. Kihika attended a Church of Scotland school where he received a Christian education and became obsessed with the story of Moses and the children of Israel. Kihika’s knowledge of the Bible is used to resist the colonial teaching he is exposed to Kihika finds inspiration in the Biblical story of Moses which provides him with a way of rationalizing and mitigating Kenyan resistance Kihika preaches the importance of collective action that is rather than individual endeavor in his advocacy of anticolonial resistance.

       Throughout the novel there remains a tension between individual and collective action that is never fully resolved. A grain of wheat presents the village of Thabai as a community whose characters are obsessed with the discovery of a betrayer of the ‘Mau Mau’ revolution in the week before Kenyan independence. While uncovering the “Judas” betrayer other betrayals of the community are explored. ‘A Grain of Wheat’, with no central character, the communal consciousness is the village of Thabai itself.

            A Grain of wheat’ more focuses on the socio-political domains, depicting the long-standing struggle of the peasants against British rule. He allows the reader to delve more deeply into the complicated psychology of the main characters both as individual subjects and community members who are profoundly affected by colonialism in different ways.

The Representation of the Mau Mau Movement:

                                                                

       

         

     It was during a raid on the oathing ceremonies at Naivasha that the police party is first reported to have heard the term 'Mau Mau', a name with which they subsequently tried to damn the entire national freedom movement in Kenya, although as Kaggia says, 'we ourselves had no particular name for it in the early days'. The world 'Mau Mau' has no meaning in either Gikuyu or Swahili and there are interesting speculations about its origin. Some suggested that the expression was arrived at through transposition of the world 'Uma-Umal—out, out--in Gikuyu, which referred to the desire of the Africans that the Europeans leave Kenya. 

        Mau Mau rebellion has been known in Africa and worldwide as an anti-colonial movement, it has been recorded in the British memory and history as an atavistic and fanatic movement which resisted western modernity and civilization.

                         “What’s this thing called Mau Mau?”

          A grain of wheat can be called a traditional novel for Ngugi as its thematic focuses moves toward militant nationalism. Mau Mau has long been a controversial historical topic not only among the Europeans but the Kenyans themselves as they argue over whether or not it was a primitive and irrational movement lead by the religiously fanatic Gikuyu and how it should be remembered in national history. In a nationalist reading, a grain of Wheat can be said to be Ngugi’s project to speak for the Mau Mau movement as he tries to contest the history of the Mau Mau as written by the British. The contestation is significant in a sense that it aims at reconsolidating the collective identity of Kenyans in the post-independence era.

Anti-colonial resistance in ‘A Grain of wheat’:-

         “Decolonization never takes place unnoticed,
          for it influences individuals and modifiesthem                                  
           fundamentally.”      ---------- (Fanon)

      Although Hybridity theory is steadily gaining currency in the academic realms of literary and cultural studies, its critical opponents continue to assert the need to conceptualize identity in oppositional terms in context of anti-colonial resistance. Colonial structures are virtually impenetrable monoliths: they are able to withstand potentially disruptive influences from the margins, while forcefully inundating those margins with disempowering colonial ideologies which act to strengthen and perpetuate colonialism.

            In many ways Ngugi WA Thiango’s ‘A grain of wheat’ validates such as a critique of Hybridity, for it demonstrates that syncretic process between colonized and colonizers are, if not of entirely unidirectional, at least heavily weighted in favor of the British at the expense of the Gikuyu. Hybridity operate to expose the contradictory violence inherent in the idea of a benevolent colonialism, the potentially disruptive process in neutralized, if not by the inherent rigidity of the Manichean colonial mind-set, then most certainly by the force of its supporting governmental structures.

          Gikonyo and Mumbi figure prominently in Ngugi’s critique of western individualization: the only hope for the renewal of their relationship and of the larger Gikuyu community whom they symbolize lies in a rejection of western influence in favor of the retrieval of pre-colonial conceptions of identity. Thiango qualifies this point, however, by demonstrating, through the character and example of Mumbi, that certain aspects of tradition (i.e. its patriarchal emphasis) must be revalued if the effects of Uhuru are to be pervasive and meaningful within Gikuyu culture.

          In terms of Gikuyu British relations, the text reveals the need for oppositional conceptions of identity crystallized in violent resistance to colonial oppression. On the other hand, however, the text gestures toward a whole-hearted embracement of a hybridized conception of identity within Gikuyu society as the basis for the revitalization of a community brutalized by the violence of the colonial encounter. (Rasila)

          A grain of wheat is firmly grounded in western cultural and literary conventions. The novels very title carries an intertextual reference to Christian discourse; and although Ngugi subverts the teaching contained in the scriptural passage by associating the “gain” with the Gikuyu tradition of anti-colonial resistance, the intertextual echoes which remain in the title point not to a discrete Gikuyu cultural identity but rather to a Gikuyu-European cultural syncretism.

         Thiango’s employment of a realist mode of representation throughout the novel, while serving to emphasize the horror of British colonialism by creating what M. H. Abrams refers to as,

                “the illusion of actual and ordinary experience”,

demonstrates once again the extent of Thiango’s own westernization and concern with British cultural conventions. Although novel was written prior to the author’s personal “radicalization”, however, the move toward decolonization and cultural self-apprehension, though largely absent from the novels title, language, and representational mode, is clearly evident in its characterization and thematic concerns, supporting Thiango’s own assertion that the novel is about the “Kenyan people’s struggle to claim their own space.”

         In dealing with an historical context marked by such total incommensurability between colonial and native interpretive frameworks, it is not surprising that Thiango constructs a rigid oppositional binary between colonizers and colonized in the novel. The absence of common ground between the two cultural groupings is emphasized dramatically by the very terms employed in the openings pages of the novel to distinguish them: settlers and indigene are refined to hot as “while man black man”, but rather as the two entirely separate and discrete entities of "white man" and "black man."

       The novel ends with Uruhu. Kenyan independence is the end era, and beginning of a new one. No one knows what is coming, good or bad. Political corruption corruption certainly exists, and the wealthy seem to remain wealthy while the poor remain poor.Still, Uruhu means change, and change means hope. The celebration is a coming together of the people a time for unity in the quest to move forward.

       The rase is a central point of chapter 14. Each runner has his own experience, and running seems to free the runner’s minds to wander over their pasts, their goals and hopes. And their disappointments. The rase seems to be almost a replay of the past, at this moment of moving into the future. Gikonyo and karanja go back to a pivotal time in their lives, the day when Gikonyo and mumbi first express their love for each other. Karanja s disappointment and bitterness begins at this moment, when he realizes that Gikonyo and mumbi are off together. Gikonyo s bitterness and disappointment also begin at this moment, though it is a moment of joy for him. Gaining mumbi as a lover means that Gikonyo is risking his heart. By racing against each other. Both Gikonyo and karanja hope to recover heir pride and mumbi. Neither can win this race.

         Mugo, mean while, has struggled with his guilt. He also has looked toward the past at this moment of moving into the future. He finds that he cannot live with the guilt that he feels. He must confess and at the end he also died because of his betrayal. (Jumani)

 Thank you...

Works Cited

Jumani, Pooja. 'A Grain of Wheat' as an Anti- colonial struggle. 06 April 2013. 9 March 2018. <http://jumanipooja07201112.blogspot.in/2013/04/a-grain-of-wheat-as-anti-colonial_6.html>.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. 28 February 2018. 09 March 2018. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%C5%A9g%C4%A9_wa_Thiong%27o>.

Pydah, Dr. Meena. "The Language of Discord in The Novels of Ngugi Wa Thiong’o." Internatinal journal of english language, literature and humanity 4.5 (2014): 13. English. 09 March 2018. <http://ijellh.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/The-Language-of-Discord-in-The-Novels-of-Ngugi-Wa-Thiongo.pdf>.

Rasila. Critical note on the Anti-colonial Struggle as depicted in Ngugi WA Thiango’s “A Grain of Wheat”. 20 March 2015. 09 March 2018. <http://jambucharasila.blogspot.in/2015/03/critical-note-on-anti-colonial-struggle.html>.