I’m from India and i must say i’m really impressed with the knowledge of you guys about Indian cinema. It’s bit unfortunate that Indian movies are not popular as much as Japanese/French titles. I feel this is mainly due to the fact that no major studio has released Indian titles abroad and given the respect that they deserve. I keep hearing that Criterion is in talks to buy the copyrights for Satyajit Ray’s movies but there has been no news since. I eagerly await for that day !
Yes Punit, there are folks here who are avid followers of Satyajit Ray’s work, these people have examined and liked it more than I did, just goes to show the enthusiasm of international audience and the power of Ray’s cinema simple yet effective.
I will do my dancing zig when criterion comes up with Ray’s ensemble loaded with extras..
Mani Ratnam Box set: Probably the best suggestion thus far.
@SHYMAN136: after Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak I suppose…
stumbled upon Shyam Bengal’s best Bhumika,
He is another noteworthy Indian Auteur and so are his movies, Ankur, Kalyug, Junoon
Is it just me or would Bollywood be much better if they actually embraced the concept of genre more often?
I recall watching an Indian film by the name of Shadow Kill for a film class. The film has yet to see a Region 1 release. It was a very good film.
I avoid Bollywood movies (Indian film industry and bollywood are two different things) these days. I like the kind of cinema Indian directors like Satyajit Ray and Guru Dutt made, films like Apur Sansar and Kagaz Ke Phool… But Bollywood is changing now, with films like Jab We Met, Rock On and Dev D. Anurag Kashyap’s newly released Dev D is the best Hindi film to come out in the past few years. Bollywood is trash and this man Kashyap is a rebel — you can call him Kim Ki-Duk of Indian cinema.
I’ve only seen Ray’s work, I have about 8 or 9 of his films.
I don’t really like musicals, so I avoided Lagan.
Where can one find the rest of these films? I can’t seem to find many Indian movies on dvd, and I have a region free player. I don’t recall seeing them on yesasia, is there something equivelant from India, with dvds with english subtitles?
@Salik – Anurag Kashyap is a good sign to otherwise formula driven bollywood, his indifference to the norms and a mindset similar to the french New wave masters which screams “don’t tell me what to do!” is very welcome, we have seen similar sparks in Ramgopal Varma and Mani Ratnam, just goes to show all is not lost, while it is certainly a good start, Indian films are still far from being artistically heralded and aesthetically right.
@Jason: Amazon.com has most of the movies listed here for <$15 and all of them carry subtitles, i doubt you will find any extra/additional features though.
@Andy — “Indian films are still far from being artistically heralded and aesthetically right.”
I agree but I guess the time has come. And this time I don’t think it’s a false hope.
Even Kashyap feels Zoya Akhtar’s debut Luck by Chance is a another proof of this.
@ Jason:
It’s worth looking (US/Canada) at Facets Video’s catalog. It’s massive, divided by Continent/Country, and you can do further searching by director. They carry a lot of Indian DVDs, most of the Bollywood classics, along with (occasionally) the likes of Ray, Ghatak and Shyam Bengal. Most of what they have is in bare-bones inexpensive editions – whatever they can get their hands on – but it’s usually decent quality, cheap, no extras. They also carry a lot of region-free editions of things from around the world – lots of other Asian film I haven’t seen in any other catalogs.
@ Raysquirrel
Shadow Kill – I don’t recall the director – WAS available on a R1 DVD a few years back – it was a small indie DVD label that released a random assortment of contemporary Indian, N African, Latin American and a few Cambodian (!) films. I don’t know if it’s still in print, but do a search @ Facets or Amazon US.
I’m from India and i must say i’m really impressed with the knowledge of you guys about Indian cinema. It’s bit unfortunate that Indian movies are not popular as much as Japanese/French titles. I feel this is mainly due to the fact that no major studio has released Indian titles abroad and given the respect that they deserve.
@ Punit:
Total agreement. Seeing the Indian films I’ve seen has taken a lot of effort – I’m not even in a major city in the US, so research is demanded. Just in exploring Ray’s work, I personally consider him the equal of Kurosawa, Ozu or several of the neo-realists that I’m also an admirer of, and I think a lot of others would agree if they had the opportunity to actually see the films. It should be noted that Ray and Kurosawa were friendly and that Kurosawa (K pops up in Ray’s biography on a few instances), who didn’t often hand out compliments, held Ray’s work in very high regard; for his part Ray commented upon the liberating effect that Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi had upon him: the realization that a great film culture, and a set of theories to accompany it, arose in a non-western country, and was very well-developed when it was ‘discovered’ by the rest of the world; I’ve kept this in mind in relation to Indian (and especially Bengali) filmmakers. There has been some great film from India – for distribution-related reasons it just hasn’t gotten an equal amount of exposure and thus isn’t discussed nearly as often.
Few Fav:
1) Ghatak- Megha Dhaka Tara/ Subarnarekha/Ajantrik
2) Ray- Apu Trilogy
4) Adoor Gopalakrishnan- Ellipattayam(Rat-Trap)
5) Guru Dutt- Pyaasa/Shaeb Biwi Gulam
6) V Shantaram- Do Aanekh Baarh Haath
7) Mani Kaul- Duvidha, Uski Roti
9) Mirnal Sen- Interview, Calcutta 71
10) Shyam Benegal- Bhumkia, an absolute favorite, second, Suraj Ka Saatva Ghoodha
11) Andaz Apna Apna/ Kundan Shah- Jaane Bhi Do Aaryo
12) Prakash Jha- Gangajaal
13) Murali Nair- The Death Throne and A Dog’s Day
14) Girish Kasarvalli- Ghatashraddha, Thayei Shebba, Gulabi Talkies.
15) Buddhadeb Dasgupta- His movies I discovered recently, and its was a revelation. Uttara(won at Venice), Kaalpurrush, Lal Darja.
well, I’m sure they are more…will post in more..
Beside to celebrate the spirit of Indian cinema, along with a group of cinephile we’ve started a e-zine( monthly) cum website on Indian Cinema.
www.indianauteur.com
My faves- and so many more wonders to discover no doubt!:
Apu trilogy (Ray)
Pakeezah (Amrohi)
Cloud-Capped Star (Ghatak)
Mughal-e-Azam (Asif)
Charulata (Ray)
Subarnarekha (Ghatak)
Paper Flowers (Dutt)
Days and Nights in the Forest (Ray)
Biaju Bawra (Bhatt)
The Postmaster (Ray)
The Music Room (Ray)
Calcutta 71 (Sen)
Rat Trap (Gopalakrishnan)
Guide (Anand)
Umrao Jaan (Muzaffar Ali)
Pyaasa (Dutt)
Salaam Bombay (Nair)
it’s time the West took proper notice of India’s fine tradition. Perhaps Slumdog Millionaire’s Oscar may help just a little, if only as a superficial fashion?
Nice list Kenji, Calcutta 71 is your list is one movie that I never had a chance to watch.
Yes Slumdog’s success, even if the movie itself fails on various levels should do some good in pulling world audience towards gems of Indian cinema especially the works of Ray, Ghatak, Minal Sen, Shyam Benegal and Guru Dutt.
I wanted to see if Indian movies were discussed and did a search. I"m glad I did! Excellent list!
I saw someone mentioning Shadow Kill (Nizhalkuthu in malayalam). The director is Adoor Gopalakrishnan, a festival favourite.
If a Mani Ratnam box set comes out, that would be the day!
I also saw someone mentioning Mani’s name along with Anurag Kashyap. While Mani is probably the most important film maker of our nation, he is not of the same ilk. He is not a rebel, in my opinion. He is an intelligent man, who found an extremely intriguing way of telling stories within the prescribed commercial format for Indian movies. He redefined the use of songs in Indian films. Although I still see hopelessly placed songs in movies (a duet in a horror movie so that viewers vould go out, smoke and come back!), the trend is now changing to make better and more conscious use of songs.
Someone actually mentioned Kannathil Muthamittal! I’m impressed!
you are welcome here Ravikiran….
and yes Maniratnam gave us Rahman, need ask more… :)
I love Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding. Other than that movie, I’m pretty ignorant of Indian cinema.
The an interesting set of features on Ghatak in the most recent issue of Indian Auteur:
http://www.indianauteur.com/index.html
Just got the April Criterion Collection email . . . the “hint” indicates Monsoon Wedding is coming to Criterion in the fall.
I was disappointed with Monsoon Wedding, following on if not borrowing from Vinterberg’s Festen, and with some quite caricatured portrayals in the first half of the film i thought.
The Element Trilogy: Fire, Water, and Earth
Nayak
One great Indian film no one has mentioned is M S Sathyu’s ‘Garm Hava’ (Hot Winds) from 1973 starring the brilliant Balraj Sahni. A moving examination of an Indian Muslim family in Agra directly after the 1947 partition of India. This film, to my knowledge, is criminally unavailable anywhere (not even in India !) so go on Criterion get in touch with the great director M S Sathyu and give this film a long overdue release….
I also like some of the early Merchant Ivory films made in India : The Householder and Shakespearewallah both films had help and involvement of the late, great Mr Ray….
This subject needs a bump as it’s ridiculous that such a major country should get so little attention in the west, and that general stigmatising judgments based on some Bollywood kitsch are passed on a rich varied tradition. The range of top American films is not avoided in the expectation it’s all the most juvenile Hollywood trash.
I am not a fan of Bollywood fare. Most Bollywood films are, frankly, crap. There are some exceptions, obviously, ie : Mughal-e-Azam, Sholay, Mother India….
Bengali cinema has produced films as good as any produced anywhere else. Big fan of the work of Ray, Ghatak, Sen.
“Diaspora” cinema: Deepa mehta (Water, Fire, Eart, Heaven On Earth), Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay, Moonsoon Wedding, The Namesake)
Monsoon Wedding in Blu-Ray/DVD from CRITERION On October 13th
Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaah !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t tell you how much thankful i am Criterion for releasing this title. This is the one of the best movies to come out of India at a World Cinema level. It highlights Delhi and Punjabi culture with which i can relate my own identity.
Please do justice with this movie and make it the best possible transfer out there. Waiting eagerly for October 13th.
Thank You
Punit Singh
P.S. Kawa Kawa Kawa, aj mera jee karda…main ud jaa naal hawaawa. Rabba Rabba…meeh varsa…saadi kothi daane paa
Somewhat off topic, has anyone ordered from Facets before? Many of their selections list the availability as 0, but it allows you to add the item to your cart.
Also, they are charging 295.00 for an Ousmane Sembene DVD.
The only one I’ve seen is “Slumdog Millionaire”
Kidding, kidding!
I watched Umrao Jaan recently. Loved it! So much good song and dance – especially Rekha/Asha Bhosle(’s) Dil Cheez Kya Hai.
Irene
Good list Filmy Andy! And yes, there is a microcosm of us out here who can’t get enough of more commercial productions (so to speak) although I realize they might not be in keeping with the spirit of Criterion. Glad you mentioned Munnabhai, I had completely forgotten to list those. Thank you for including some of my suggestions!