::: INDIAN CINEMA NOW :::

SPATIAL-TEMPORAL

EXPLORATIONS AND

INDIAN CINEMA TODAY

Amrit Gangar

we are living in different times, so does

cinematography. There could be many reasons for

such a change of environment – both about making

and viewing films today. Multiplexes within

shopping malls have greatly impacted the behavior

and expectations of spectators. It is perhaps more

about consumer-product relationship and comfort

zones. And about feel good, perhaps!

An interesting thing happened very recently during

the Mumbai Film Festival (21 – 28 October 2010).

Occasion: Girish Kasarvalli presenting his latest film

Kanasemba Kudureyaneri

in Kannada

or

Riding the

Stallion of a Dream

in English (2010), in a multiplex.

While introducing the film, he told the film festival

audiences that his film was non-linear in its structure

and that they should not get confused. As I could

make out, his ‘appeal’ was based on his prior

experience in Karnataka when the audiences had

found the film not straight and simple enough to

comprehend. When he was speaking in a Mumbai

multiplex, intuitively I was thinking of Jean-Luc

Godard for his radical departures from the

conventional linear film narratives. And indeed, in a

few minutes later as the screening began, I saw him

right there – on the screen – in a quotation.

Kasaravalli had chosen to quote him through his

well known statement: “A story should have a

beginning, middle, and an end but not necessarily

in that order.” Godard had said it nearly half a century

ago.