Studio system, New wave Indian cinema and pioneer of Indian cinema

1. Presented by: Santhoshkumar.P, MFA.,
INDIAN CINEMA

2. Studio System
❖ Film production in pre-independence India was de
fi
ned by important studios
located across geographies, in cities like Bombay, Calcutta, Kolhapur, Pune,
Lahore and Madras.
❖ 1920s-1950s was marked by the active interconnection of studio personnel,
artists, and technologies across regional, linguistic or religious divisions
.
❖ Studios like New Theatres, Prabhat Film Company, Bombay Talkies, Imperial
Film Company, Huns Studios, Sagar Movietone, etc. not only produced
important and landmark
fi
lms, but were instrumental for artists like V
Shantaram, Devika Rani, Himanshu Rai, Durga Khote, Guru Dutt, etc. to
become in
fl
uential
fi
gures of the
fi
lm industry
.
❖ 1930s for the industrial re-alignment of Indian studios thus comparing them to
the Hollywood studio system.

3. P C BARUA
❖ Pramathesh Barua was born
on October 24, 1903 in
Gauripur, Assam, India.
❖ He was the son of royal
famil
y
❖ He went to Europe, where
he came to know about
fi
lms.
❖ went to Europe second time
and learned movie
production in London.

4. ❖ Then he purchased some lighting equipments in Paris and
returned to India. Back in Calcutta, he started Barua Pictures
Limited
.
❖ The
fi
rst major
fi
lm of the studio was Aparadhi (1931), that
starred Barua and was directed by Debaki Bose. was a critical
success and was the
fi
rst Calcutta Production to use arti
fi
cial
light
s
❖ Barua’s next
fi
lm was Bhagyalaxmi (1932). He played the role of a
villain
.
❖ In 1935, Pramathesh Barua directed and acted in Devdas, a
romantic
fi
lm based on Saratchandra Chatterjee’s novel Devdas.
The
fi
lm became phenomenally successful in the industry.

5. ❖ In 1936, Barua remade Devdas in Hindi with Kundan Lal
Saigal in lead role. The Hindi Devdas became successful
throughout India and placed Pramathesh Barua in the list of
top Indian
fi
lm directors
.
❖ Barua’s other
fi
lm ventures were Manzil (1936), Mukti (1937),
Adhikar (1938), Rajat Jayanti (1939), and Zindagi (1940). He
left the New Theatres
fi
lm studio in 1939 and started
freelancing. Later he created Shesh Uttar/Jawab in 1942
.
❖ One of the pioneers of Indian
fi
lm industry, P.C.Barua is best
known for his work ‘Devdas’
.
❖ P C Barua died on November 29, 1951 in Kolkata.

6. V.SHANTARAM
❖ Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre
was born on 18 November 1901
in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. He
developed a fascination for
music, acting and cinema at an
early age
.
❖ Before he began directing
fi
lms,
he acted in several silent
fi
lms
made under the Maharashtra
Film Company banner. Surekha
Haran, made in 1921, marked
his debut as an actor.

7. ❖ In 1929, Shantaram, along with three of his colleagues,
left the Maharashtra Film Company to start their own
production venture, Prabhat Film CompanyIn Bombay,
V. Shantaram set up ‘Prabhat Film Co.’
❖ He made
fi
lms under his studio at regular intervals
❖ Most of the
fi
lms were directed by Shantaram
Ayodhyacha Raja (1932), Sant Tukaram (1936) & Amar
Jyothi (1936)

8. ❖ Shantaram received the highest Indian
fi
lm honour, the
Dadasaheb Phalke Award, in 198
5
❖ Shantaram passed away on 30 October 1990 in Mumbai.
He was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan
in 1992
.
❖ The Mumbai International Film Festival has instituted
the V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award, given
annually to
fi
lmmakers who have made an outstanding
contribution to the world of cinema.

9. ❖ In 1935, Himansu Rai started ‘Bombay Talkies
’
❖ Imperial Film Co. another major studio in Bombay
❖ JBH Wadia established ‘Wadia Movie Tone’ The studio
credited the making of
fi
rst thriller shot on location
Toofan Mail, (1932), Jai Bharat (1936) & Hunterwali
(1935)

10. New Wave Indian Cinema
❖ The
fi
rst phase of Indian “New Wave” or Parallel Cinema, from
1960-80, is often celebrated as a turning point in the evolution of art
cinema in India. What often goes unnoticed, however, is the
signi
fi
cance of
fi
lm style, which was central to attempts to develop a
new
fi
lm aesthetic and syntax
.
❖ They focused on social and political issues, such as the position of
women, caste and poverty, communalism, the young and dissent.
While popular
fi
lms sometimes touched on these issues New Wave
fi
lms presented them with greater directness, complexity and subtlety
.
❖ They were less concerned with offering spectacle and glamour and
tended towards a social realist approach to their subject.

11. ❖ They tended to be preoccupied with visual style and
composition, and emphasised re
fl
exivity. They drew
attention to the construction of a
fi
lm, rather than
aiming at a seamless presentation of the story
.
❖ The stylistic preoccupations with realism, expressly
neorealism, had remained largely intact since the late
1940s and reached an apotheosis with Bimal Roy’s
Do Bigha Zamin in 1953 and Satyajit Ray’s Pather
Panchali in 1955. Even someone as iconoclastic as
Mrinal Sen was quick to adopt the realist aesthetic in his
early
fi
lms.

12. Satyajit Ray
❖ His
fi
lms contributed to Indian parallel cinema they were realistic and
often shows the suffering of human life and used tragic comedy which
succeeded in creating a connection between
fi
lm and audience
.
❖ This work often show the glimpses of his own past life
.
❖ He also used
fi
lm noir (introduced by German new wave) in his
movies. His editing techniques were simple often sharp cuts which
were very unnoticeable they usually didn’t affected the audience focus
from the main story. His movies had a perfect balance between art and
commercial
fi
lms
.
❖ Over the centuries many
fi
lmmakers got inspired by his simple yet
realistic work. After the success of Panther Panchali in 1955

13. Mrinal Sen
❖ Sen was in
fl
uenced by the techniques of French New Wave
directors. He developed a unique style
.
❖ His
fi
rst
fi
lm Raat Bhore in 1955 and subsequent Neel Akasher
Neechey (1959) did not create much ripple, made his mark as a
socially conscious
fi
lmmaker with 1960's Baishe Shravana
.
❖ The auteur had radicalised cinematography by his people-centric
narrative
.
❖ His
fi
lms Ek Din Achanak (1989), Mahaprithivi (1991) were not
stridently anti-establishment, but posed bigger questions on
societal values and system.

14. ❖ Oka Oori Katha (1977), the only Telugu
fi
lm he had made, had
brought to the fore the undercurrents of rural life. He gave Mithun
Chakraborty his break in Mrigayaa
.
❖ His trilogy - Interview, Calcutta 71 and Padatik - is considered to be
a masterpiece for depicting the social and political upheaval in the
Kolkata of the '70s
.
❖ Mrinal Sen also made feature
fi
lms in Oriya language.He also has
several documentaries to his credit
.
❖ Mrinal Sen was a member of the National Film Development
Corporation (NFDC) and was chairman of Film and Television
Institute of India (FTII).

15. Bimal Roy
❖ Bimal Roy started working as an assistant cameraman and cameraman on
documentaries in 1932-33
,
❖ Bimal Roy’s debut feature
fi
lm Udayer Pathe was made in Bengali in 1944.
The
fi
lm was subsequently released in Hindi as Humraahi . The original
Bengali title was taken from title of a Rabindranath Tagore’s poem.
❖ The collapse of New Theatres, the pressures of World War II upon
Calcutta, and the advent of Bombay cinema all heralded a new phase in
the life of Bimal Roy
.
❖ the women in his
fi
lms, the Italian neo-realist in
fl
uence, the gentle
humanism and progressive subtext of his movies and his impact on the
Indian new wave and parallel cinema.

16. ❖ Roy directed Maa (Hindi, 1952) for Bombay Talkies, but
one can view this as a prelude to his efforts, soon to bear
fruit, to leave an ineradicable mark on Indian cinema. Do
Bigha Zameen (“Two Acres of Land”, Hindi, 1953) was the
inaugural
fi
lm of Bimal Roy
.
❖ Do Bigha Zameen dealt with class and economic
oppression, and Bandini (1963) would take as its subject
caste oppression, Sujata (1959) can with some
simpli
fi
cation be viewed as concerned with women’s
oppression. The
fi
lm revolves around Sujata, an
untouchable girl adopted into an upper-caste family and
viewed almost like their daughter

17. Prithviraj Kapoor(1906-72)
❖ born November 3, 1906, Samundri,
India [now in Pakistan]
❖ Indian
fi
lm and stage actor who
founded both the renowned Kapoor
family of actors and the Prithvi
Theatre in Bombay
.
❖ He was best known for playing
Alexander the Great in Sohrab
Modi’s Sikandar (1941; “Alexander
the Great”) and the emperor Akbar
in K. Asif’s Mughal-e-azam (1960;
“The Greatest of the Mughals”)

18. ❖ Kapoor began his acting career in theaters in Lyallpur (now
Faisalabad) and Peshawar (both now in Pakistan)
.
❖ He joined the Imperial Films Company in Bombay in the late
1920s. Starring in India’s
fi
rst sound
fi
lm, Ardeshir Irani’s Alam
ara (1931; “The Light of the World”), he demonstrated his greatest
asset—a powerful, booming voice
.
❖ Throughout the 1930s Kapoor played lead roles in Hindi
fi
lms
produced by the New Theaters, a studio based in Calcutt
a
❖ The 1932
fi
lm Rajrani Meera, directed by Debaki Bose, was
Kapoor’s breakthrough project. He followed it up in 1934 with
the even more successful Seeta, a
fi
lm in which he played Rama,
opposite Durga Khote in the title role.

19. ❖ His most popular New Theaters
fi
lm was Vidyapati (1937),
Bose’s impressively mounted chronicle of the life of the court
poet of the kingdom of Mithila In the late 1930s Kapoor was
back in Bombay, where he starred in several successful
melodramas produced by Chandulal Shah’s Ranjit Studio
.
❖ Despite his involvement with Hindi cinema, Kapoor remained
committed to the theatre; he launched the Prithvi Theatre in
Bombay in 1944 to promote Hindi stage productions
.
❖ Kapoor was posthumously awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke
Award in 1972 for his contribution to Indian cinema. He was
also awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest
civilian honors, in 1969.

20. Raj Kapoor
❖ Born Ranbir Raj Prithviraj Kapoor on
December 14, 1924, he is also called as the
'Showman' of Indian Cinema for his
fl
amboyance. At the age of 11, he appeared in
fi
lms for the
fi
rst time
,
❖ in the 1935
fi
lm Inquilab. Raj Kapoor's big
break came with the lead role in Neel Kamal
(1947) opposite Madhubala in her
fi
rst role as
a leading lady
.
❖ In 1948, at the age of 24, he established his
own studio, RK Films and became the
youngest
fi
lm director of his time making his
directorial debut with Aag starring himself,
Nargis, Kamini Kaushal and Premnath.
Andaz was his
fi
rst major success as an actor.

21. ❖ His most favourite and ambitious
fi
lm Mera Naam Joker
took more than six years to complete. When released in
1970, it was a box of
fi
ce disaster
.
❖ He was the winner of nine Filmfare Awards, Padma
Bhushan in 1971 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1987
for his contributions towards Indian cinema
.
❖ His performance in Awaara was ranked as one of the top
ten greatest performances of all time by Time magazine.
Raj Kapoor suffered from asthma in his later years and
died of complications related to asthma in 1988 at the age
of 63.

22. Guru Dutt
❖ Guru Dutt, original name
Vasanth Kumar Shivsankar
Padukone, born July 9, 1925,
Bangalor
e
❖ Hindi motion-picture producer,
director, writer, and actor,
w h o s e m a s t e r y o f s u c h
elements as mood and lighting
in a group of melodramas made
him one of the best-known and
most-accomplished stylists of
Bollywood’s golden age.

23. ❖ He joined the Prabhat Studio, where he served
fi
rst as an actor and then
as a choreographer
.
❖ The
fi
rst feature
fi
lm he directed, Baazi (1951; “A Game of Chance”), was
produced under the banner of actor Dev Anand’s Navketan International
Films and featured Anand and Geeta Bali. The next year Dutt made
another successful
fi
lm, Jaal (1952; “The Net”), with the same stars
.
❖ He then set up his own production house to make Baaz (1953; “The
Hawk”). Although he worked in a variety of genres during his brief but
brilliant career, melodrama was the style that best showcased his talents
.
❖ Dutt’s renown revolves primarily around three dark and brooding
fi
lms:
Pyaasa (1957; “The Thirsty One”), with Dutt as director and actor; Kaagaz
ke phool (1959; “Paper Flowers”), again as director and actor; and Sahib bibi
aur ghulam (1962; “Master, Wife, and Servant”), primarily as actor.

24. ❖ Dutt also produced director Raj Khosla’s debut
fi
lm C.I.D.
(1956; abbreviation standing for “criminal investigation
division”), which launched the career of actress Waheeda
Rehman. She achieved a cult following through her
performances opposite Dutt in both Pyassa and Kaagaz
ke phool. As a director, Dutt is known for his imaginative
use of light and shade, his evocative imagery, and a
striking ability to weave multiple thematic layers into his
narratives. Those abilities, combined with a bewitching
treatment of the songs that typify Bollywood, made him
one of India’s most-accomplished
fi
lmmakers.

25. Dilip Kumar
❖ Dilip Kumar, the veteran Indian actor
was born as Muhammed Yusuf Khan.
Kumar changed his name as it was the
Hindu era in Indian Cinema back
then.
❖ Dilip Kumar made his Hindi
fi
lm
debut in 1944 with the movie Jwar
Bhata which was produced by
Bombay Talkies. Kumar's career
spaned over six decades where the
actor gave multiple hits such as
Madhumati, Devdas, Mughal-e-
Azam, Ganga Jamuna, Ram Aur
Shyam, Karma and others.

26. ❖ His portrayal of the doomed lover in
fi
lms like Andaz,
Baabul, Deedar, Jogan and others earned him a
nickname 'tragedy king'. The 1998
fi
lm 'Qila' was his
last appearance onscreen.
❖ Dilip Kumar was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1991
for his outstanding contribution to Indian Cinema. He
was also awarded Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994 and
Padma Vibhushan in 2015.