Paper no -15 Mass Communication and Media studies (Assignment)

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Name: Nagla Drashsti P.

 Roll no: 8

 Paper no : 15 Mass Communication and Media studies

Class: M.A : Sem-4

Year: 2016-2018

Enrollment no : 2059108420170021

E-mail address: nagladrashti38@gmail.com

Submitted: Smt S.B Gardy

Department of English Maharaja

Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar

University,Bhavnagar.

Assignment topic: History of Indian Cinema, Comparison between Old Cinema and New Cinema.

• What is the History of Indian Cinema?

India has the world’s largest Film Industry where more than 700 feature films and 100 documentaries are produced each year. Over 1000 feature films are released in India every year. They include films in over 27 languages. This is the current stamina of INDIA in film industry. We are the perfect and potential competitor for the western Hollywood. Now, it’s really WORTH to know the history of INDIAN CINEMA.

• History of Indian Cinema

When we talk about cinema history in india, we must thank Lumiere brothers.The birth of Cinema in India can be attributed to the Lumiere brother`s. Only a few months after the  Lumiere brothers introduced the art of cinematography in Paris in 1895, cinema made its presence felt  in India.

The first movie was released in India around 103 years ago, i.e. on 7th July 1897 at Watson Hotel, Mumbai. This film was produced by Lumiere Bros., it had only 6 scenes! All it had was an arrival of a train, a sea bath, demolition of a building, workers leaving the mill and ladies and soldiers on wheels. It was a silent movie for 10 minutes.
The first Indian to produce a film was H.S. Bhatwdekar. All he had with him was a projector, but he  didn’t have a camera, so he got one from London and shot only 2 scenes of 3 minutes each, which were titled  Do Pahalwanon Ki Kushti and Bandar Ko Nachata Hua Madaari. It was released in December 1889,  more than a century ago!
The first short films in India were directed by Hiralal Sen, starting with The Flower of Persia  (1898). The first full-length motion picture in India was produced by Dadasaheb Phalke [Dadasaheb  Phalke is regarded as the Father of Indian Cinema.], a scholar on India’s languages and culture, who  bought together elements from Sanskrit epics to produce his Raja Harishchandra.

1. Dadasaheb  Phalke is regarded as the father of Indian Cinema

The first feature film over 1 hour was Raja Harischandra in 1913.And in the same movie the first ever  female  role depicted by a male artiste was played by Salunke the title role.

The first ‘talkie’ in was Jamai Sasthi in 1931.The second talkie film released in India was Shirin  Farhaad, on 30th May 1931. It was produced by Madan Theatres, Calcutta and directed by its owner Mr.  J.J. Madan. It had 18 songs. Indra Sabha which was released in 1932 had as much as 69 songs in it.  Can you believe it! It was produced by Madan Theatre, Calcutta and directed by J.J. Madan. The film  starred Master Nissar, Jahan Aara, Kazzam, Miss Silvasia and others.

The first ever color film made in India was Kissan Kanhaiya produced by Imperial Film Co. This film  was released in 1937. Moti B. Gidwani directed it, and its music was composed by Ram Gopal Pandey.  The film had 10 songs, which were released by Gramophone Records.

The longest kissing scene till date has been picturised for the film Karma (released in 1926), a  silent film. It was between Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani for about 4 minutes on the screen, almost 4  times lengthier than the kissing scene of Dayavaan (released in 1989) between Vinod Khanna and  Madhuri Dixit.

2. Golden Age of Indian cinema

The golden period in the history of Indian cinema is attributed to the 1950s. Guru Dutt, Mehboob  Khan, Raj Kapoor, Balraj Sahani, Nargis, Bimal Roy, Meena Kumari, Madhubala, Dilip Kumar graced the  screens. In south India esteemed actors like Rajkumar, Gemini Ganesan, NT Rama Rao and several other  actors and actresses entertained the audiences.

3. Largest Film Industry In India

The Telugu language film industry [ Tollywood ]  of Andhra Pradesh is currently the largest in India  in terms of number of movies produced in a year.The state of Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of  cinema halls in India.Currently, about 300 Telugu films are released every year with approximately 3  productions every week. Just like any other cinema industry, the Telugu film industry produces all  genres of cinema.Stars like Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh made the Telugu cinema  get more collections and they increased the world wide market of Telugu cinema. The next generation,  like Pawan Kalyan,Mahesh Babu, NTR Jr., Ravi Teja,Allari Naresh, Prabhas dominate the industry with  high standards and great openings of their films.

In Short,

• First Film Released on  7th July 1897
• First Talkie Movie –  Jamai Sasthi
• First ever color film – Kissan Kanhaiya
• First feature film  –  Raja Harischandra

4. Old Indian Cinema: 

 

Old Indian Cinema especially is going to discuss about the golden actresses from the golden era of Bollywood. Over the years those beauties have maintained their grace. They are the part of Bollywood era, and basically deserves to be a golden star. They have their fantastic, mind-blowing acting power, which should remember everyday every film fanatic, stars. The impact of western cultures teaches us necessary elements of cinema.  Indian writing likes to consider the clear beginning to the end. So in India, there are some possible features; that narrates the modeling beauty to those graceful actresses, who have sizzled and scorched on the silver screen for decades. Some memorable, evergreen and beautiful actresses are- Madhubala, Asha Parekh, Tanuja, Vyjyanti Mala, Sadhna, Zeenat Aman, Mumtaz, Saira Banu, Waheeda Rehman, Helen, Nargis, and some others. These are beautiful actresses have their several position in Indian Cinema.


Madhubala : The most gorgeous actress has made an incredible contribution to the Indian film industry. Madhubala is an epitome of beauty, who had an unbeatable charm. She became prominent personality with these films-Pardes, Mughal-E-Azam and some others.
Asha Parekh: Asha Parekh is a multi-faceted personality playing the role of actress, director, producer, and other responsibilities with ease. She started her movie career as a child artist with the film “Aasmaan” in 1952 and has acted till 1999. Her most memorable films have been “Dil Deke Dekho,” “Teesri Manzil,” “Love in Tokyo,” and “Do Badan,”.
Tanuja: Tanuja started her career with the movie “Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi,” in 1966 and then went on to star in movies like “Anubhav” and “Jewel Thief.”
Vyjyanti Mala: Vyjyanthi Mala is a renowned classical dancer and an actress who made her debut in South Indian movies. She was a much sought after actress in the 1950s and 1960s. She had achieved fame and accolades as a child performing classical dance for large number of audience. She has long retired from limelight and now leads a quiet life.
Sadhna: Sadhna became famous by her hairstyle. Sadhana aspired to be an actress since childhood, and she played in Raj Kapoor‘s Shree 420. Her memorable films are “Hum Dono,” “Love in Shimla,” “Waqt,” etc.
Zeenat Aman: Zeenat Aman is known for her bold roles in “Satyam Shivam Sundaram,” “Hare Rama Hare Krishna.”
Mumtaz: Mumtaz had been a junior actress in movies and after a few movies later, was absorbed into the mainstream cinema. This 67-year-old actress retired from movies 1977 though appeared in one or two films later on. Her famous films have been “Khilona,” “Apradh,”.
Saira Banu: Saira Banu debuted at the age of 16 and her memorable films have been Junglee, Padosan, Diwana, etc. She retired from films after marrying actor Dilip Kumar.
Waheeda Rehman: An extremely elegant and graceful actress, she wears her greys gracefully. This 76-year-old actress is best known for her movies “Guide” and “Kagaz Ke Phool.”
Helen: This dancing diva was known for her dancing prowess and has been active in movies since 1951. Some of her best films-  Awara (1951),  Shakti Samanta‘s film, Howrah Bridge etc.
Although we have some greater conceptions about Indian actresses, there are also some others, and forever whose contributions will never be paused in the Indian screen.

5. New Indian Cinema:

Cinema became increasingly popular in the early twentieth century throughout the world. Unlike theatre performances, cinema has historically been, and continues to be, affordable for the common man. Much like theatre, cinema allowed for films to narrate social struggles and depict daily life in the city for broad audiences. Following India’s independence, the new nation had many stories to tell, and the newfound voice to do it. Considered by many to be India’s own ‘Golden Age’ of cinema, the 1940’s to the 1960’s produced countless widely successful commercial films. For many, the cinema was the only form of affordable entertainment, and the industry responded to this need by producing films that catered to popular culture. During this time, a parallel, independent film movement also emerged, giving evidence to the cultural importance of this democratic medium to this new democratic nation.

India continues to be the largest producer of films in the world, with the Hindi-language film industry (also known as ‘HiFi’, Hindi Cinema or Bollywood) based in Mumbai being the primary producer. Many films engage the viewer with universal themes, entertaining songs, and fun dance numbers. More than twenty million people go to the cinema daily, and can be regarded as India’s “religion” with the large following and strong connection with Indian culture and identity.


In Chandigarh, the culture and identity of Indian architecture was supplanted with modernist structures; cinema halls had to conform to the precepts of the architectural master plan and regulated by frame control. Despite this, or perhaps because of, they have become iconic structures and have helped establish the identity and culture of Chandigarh,“Architects have found original expression working within the architectural controls, inspired, no doubt, by the built heritage around them”. Unlike other civic buildings, the cinema halls were each given a name to distinguish it as an iconic structure within the city and prominently sited in the heart of their sectors, displacing the religious structures as the central institution of the community.

 Reference:

1.)          http://www.worthview.com/history-indian-cinema/

2.)          https://oldindiancinema.wordpress.com/

3.)          http://chandigarhurbanlab.org/modern-indian-cinema-a-brief-history/

Paper no -14 The African Literature (Assignment)

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 Name: Nagla Drashsti P.

 Roll no: 8

 Paper no : 14 The African Literature

Class: M.A : Sem-4

Year: 2016-2018

Enrollment no : 2059108420170021

E-mail address: nagladrashti38@gmail.com

Submitted: Smt S.B Gardy

Department of English Maharaja

Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar

University,Bhavnagar.

Assignment topic: The Politics and Spaces  of Voice: Ngugi’s ‘A Grain of Wheat’ and Conrad’s ‘Heart of Dakness’.

·      Abstract:

 Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's classic A Grain of Wheat displays unmistakable debts to Conrad's Heart of Darkness, yet markers of this particular Conradian connection have been largely ignored by critics, who have mostly concentrated on the connections with Under Western Eyes. In this essay, I argue that this odd intertextual oversight can and should be rectified, with a view to refocusing discussion of A Grain of Wheat on the questions of literary form posed by Heart of Darkness. These formal questions, located at the nexus of voice, “addressivity,” and community, in turn, connect to crucial issues of the place of literary production in the postcolonial polity. In particular, they point to the significant change in Ngũgĩ's cultural politics and aesthetic practice in the mid-1970s, as he became increasingly involved in popular community theater. The reading offered in this article, by shifting the focus of intertextuality to the more complex connections with Heart of Darkness, loosens A Grain of Wheat's bond, somewhat, with metropolitan literature and foregrounds the novel's integration into Ngũgĩ's project of autochton (and popular cultural) postcolonial emancipation. Because of the central, indeed, archetypical place of A Grain of Wheat in the African literary tradition and even in received understandings of the process of independence in East Africa, this recalibration of readings of the novel takes on a broader significance than merely that of studies of postcolonial intertextuality.

• Difference between both novel:

In “The Politics and Spaces of Voice: Ngugi’s A Grain of Wheat and Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”, West-Pavlov argues that the classic comparison of A Grain of Wheat and Under Western Eyes is compared too often. The previous blog post explains this relationship in more detail, but West-Pavlov states that the comparison merely reduces both texts to their author’s political ideas. By comparing A Grain of Wheat with Heart of Darkness, written by Conrad, instead, we can look at narrative strategies that create a broader form of political community and agency. West-Pavlov states that his “article proposes alternatives to the well-nigh automatic association of A Grain of Wheat with Under Western Eyes and to the thematic interpretations this produces by turning to the apparent dead end of the novel’s allusions to Heart of Darkness.” The parallels in West-Pavlov’s comparison are more formal and look at the use of narration as the primary point of comparison. In both works, the agency of voice plays a prominent role in structuring Ngugi’s theme concerning independence and the struggles that precede it in a colonized country.


The narrator in Ngugi’s A Grain of Wheat follows the same structure as Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The narrator gradually transforms from omniscient to participatory, or in other words, third person to first person. Ngugi copies Conrad’s narrative structure because it shows the connection between past and present through narration (omniscient) and collective memory (participatory). West-Pavlov states that this type of narration is important because it shows knowledge and non-knowledge, it can be both objective and subjective. The narration is more persuasive and allows readers to agree with his central themes.


Ngugi uses these narrative techniques to highlight his two main themes: darkness and isolation. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad writes “the air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condensed into a mournful gloom” and in A Grain of Wheat, Ngugi mimics this statement by writing “a gloom hung over the morning session… contrary to what might be expected on Uhuru day.” This comparison highlights the darkness theme. Again Ngugi draws upon Conradian elements when Conrad writes “we live, as we dream – alone” (HD) while Ngugi writes “every man in the world is alone, and fights alone, to live” (AGW) to highlight the isolation theme. West-Pavlov argues that these two themes remove any possibility of emancipatory narrative when talking about a colony gaining its independence; thus, damping any optimism in the colonized community.
Looking back to The Tempest or the small amount of A Grain of Wheat that we have already read, where do you see the themes of isolation and darkness in a colonized country? Does darkness overtake merely the colonized? Or is darkness a universal attribute in the process of colonization and the process of emancipation? In addition, do you agree Ngugi’s theme of isolation? Do people in colonies truly feel isolated, or are they merely lost while trying to assimilate to the culture of the colonizer?

• Theme of isolation and darkness in Grain of Wheat:

The theme of isolation and darkness in a colonized country comes up in A Grain Of Wheat when reminiscing on the detention camps.
“’Why do you tell me all this? I don’t like to remember.’
‘Do you ever forget?’
‘I try to. The government says we should bury the past’” (Thiong’o 66).
Everything associated with detention camps is dark. The image of burying something implies both isolation and darkness. The ground creates a definitive line between what is above it and under it and what is under it clearly is dark because it receives no light. Mugo states that the government wants them to bury what happened and lead it behind, so essentially he is trying to forget and bury an event that isolated him from normal life and cast a dark, often fatal cloud over the people of the country. Darkness is a universal attribute of colonization as a whole because colonization creates chaos among the people and often evokes violence out of both parties. To answer the last question, it is a combination of both. People in colonies feel isolated because their space is being encroached upon and taken away as more and more of the country becomes colonized. They do also feel isolated and almost trapped in limbo because they do not know how to the new culture and don’t particularly want to because that means abandoning their ways.

 Work cited: 

1. ) West-Pavlov, Russell. “The Politics and Spaces of Voice: Ngũgĩ's A Grain of Wheat and Conrad's Heart of Darkness.” Research in African Literatures, vol. 44, no. 3, 2013, pp. 160–175. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/reseafrilite.44.3.160  

 

 2.)   https://resistanceandpowerofthewill102w.wordpress.com/2014/09/23/the-politics-and-spaces-of-voice-ngugis-a-grain-of-wheat-and-conrads-heart-of-darkness/