Kumar Shahani is one of the most significant filmmakers working in India today. He has developed an epic idiom that engages with contemporary issues. Shahani’s films explore cultural memories embedded in classical Indian art forms, texts and objects. His visual explorations of Indian music and dance, the classical Indian epic and contemporary literature mark his practice as unique in the history of Indian cinema. Shahani also engages with European cinematic traditions. His first feature, Mirror of Illusion (Maya Darpan) 1972, is regarded as India’s first formalist film. His oeuvre is considered alongside renowned directors — Pier Paolo Pasolini, Andrei Tarkovsky, Stanley Kubrick, Jacques Rivette and others — whose work is similarly entwined with the visual arts.
Fire in the Belly (1973) / Ages 15+
The Wave (Tarang) (1984) / Ages 15+
The Khayal Saga (Khayal Gatha) (1988) / Ages 15+
Kasba (1990) / Ages 15+
Immanence (Bhavantarana) (1991) / Ages 15+
Persistence of Vision (1996) / All ages
Four Chapters (Char Adhyay) (1997) / Ages 15+
The Bamboo Flute (Birah Bharyo Ghar Aangan Kone) (2000) / Ages 15+
2.00pm Wednesday 6 December (with Persistence of Vision), introduced by Kumar Shahani / Cinema A
2.00pm Wednesday 13 December (with Persistence of Vision) / Cinema A
16MM, B. & W., 18 MINS, INDIA, ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: KUMAR SHAHANI / PRODUCER: FILMS DIVISION, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: NATIONAL FILM ARCHIVE, INDIA
Fire in the Belly is Kumar Shahani’s damning critique of the man-made Maharashtra famine of 1971.
7.00pm Tuesday 5 December, introduced by Kumar Shahani / Cinema A
2.00pm Friday 15 December / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 171 MINUTES, HINDI (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: KUMAR SHAHANI / PRODUCER: RAVI MALIK / STORY AND SCRIPT: ROSHAN SHAHANI / CINEMATOGRAPHY: KK MAHAJAN / EDITOR: ASHOK TIYAGI / ART DIRECTION: CS BHATTI, BANSI CHANDRAGUPTA / SOUND: HITENDRA GHOSH, R KAUSHIK, NARINDER SINGH / MUSIC:VANRAJ BHATIA / CAST: AMOL PALEKAR, SMITA PATIL, SHREERAM LAGOO, GIRISH KARNAD / PRODUCTION COMPANY: NATIONAL FILM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: NATIONAL FILM ARCHIVE, INDIA
Tarang explores themes of conflict and betrayal when different worlds collide as a result of India’s industrialisation. Rahul, the son-in-law and heir of an old industrialist, conceals his personal ambitions under a cloak of liberalism, while encouraging indigenous production. He clashes with Hansa, the industrialist’s loyal daughter, and Dinesh, his cousin by marriage who is openly unscrupulous. The arrival of Janaki – a trade unionist’s widow, and victim of industrialist ambition – drives the film towards its denouement. Tarang fully realises Shahani’s epic cinematic form in which ancient myths unfold within a realist mode. Janaki metamorphoses into the Earth Mother Urvashi, a celestial embodiment of personal freedom. Her last words are a hymn from the Rig Veda.
2.00pm Saturday 3 February / Cinema A
3.15pm Wednesday 21 February / Cinema B
35MM, COLOUR, 103 MINS, INDIA, HINDI AND URDU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: KUMAR SHAHANI / PRODUCERS: MAYDHYA PRADESH FILM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION / DIALOGUE: ASHMAKI ACHARYA, KAMA SWAROOP / CINEMATOGRAPHY: KK MAHAJAN / EDITOR: PARESH KAMDAR / ART DIRECTION: ANOOP SINGH / SOUND: VIKRAM JOGLEKAR, AM PADMANABHAN / MUSIC RESEARCH AND CO-ORDINATION: ROSHAN SHAHANI / CAST: MANGAL DHILLON, RAJAT KAPOOR, MITA VASISHT / PRODUCTION CO: BOMBAY CINEMATOGRAPH / PRINT SOURCE: QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY COLLECTION / RIGHTS: KUMAR SHAHANI
The Khayal Saga weaves together the many legends and stories surrounding the vocal tradition of the khayal, a major element of Indian classical music. The history of the khayal is also a story of music’s relationship to classical Indian dance. Shahani’s treatment presents the khayal in all its richness through metaphors in images and sounds. The film is recognised internationally as one of the most important documents of this tradition. It won the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Prize at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 1990.
Screening weekly from 9 December 2.30pm Saturdays / Cinema B
35MM, COLOUR, 115 MINS, INDIA, HINDI, URDU, AND PANJABI (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: KUMAR SHAHANI / PRODUCERS: NATIONAL FILM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, INDIA / EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: RAVI MALIK / STORY: ANTON CHEKHOV / ADAPTATION: BHISHAM SAHNI / DIALOGUE: GULZAR / SCRIPT: FARIDA MEHTA, KUMAR SHAHANI / CINEMATOGRAPHY: KK MAHAJAN / EDITOR: PARESH KAMDAR / ART DIRECTION: NITISH ROY, NITIN DESAI / SOUND: VIKRAM JOGLEKAR / MUSIC: VANRAJ BHATIA / CAST: MITA VASISHT, NAVJOT HANSRA, KK RAINA, MANOHAR SINGH, SHATRUGHAN SINHA / PRODUCTION CO: DOORDARSHAN, NATIONAL FILM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION / PRINT SOURCE: QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY COLLECTION / RIGHTS: NATIONAL FILM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
In Kasba, Shahani adapts the Chekhov short story In the Hollow (1900) to an Indian context, and uses visual codes drawn from the tradition of miniature painting from Kangra. The film uses this traditional art form as a framing device to explore themes of India’s industrialisation and the emancipation of women. Protagonist Tejo is constructed as a Nayika, the iconic female figure in the tradition of Kangra miniatures (a local avatar of Radha). In Kasba, however, there is no Krishna (Nayaka — the male counterpart) to meet the Nayika’s passion; the object of her passion is displaced and she is instead enamoured of money and independence. Kasba won the Indian Filmfare Critics award for best feature film in 1991.
2.00pm Sunday 4 February / Cinema A
3.30pm Wednesday 14 & 28 February / Cinema B
35MM, COLOUR, 65 MINS, INDIA, ORIYA AND SANSKRIT (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: KUMAR SHAHANI / PRODUCER: ROSHAN SHAHANI / SCRIPT: FAREEDA MEHTA, KUMAR SHAHANI / CINEMATOGRAPHY: ALOK UPADHYAY / EDITOR: PARESH KAMDAR / SOUND: NAMITA NAYAK / MUSIC: BHUBANESHWAR MISHRA, HARI PRASAD CHAURASIA / CAST: KELUCHARAN MOHAPATRA, SANJUKTA PANIGRIHI, RAJAT KAPOOR, RAMCHANDRA PARIHAR / PRODUCTION CO: BOMBAY CINEMATOGRAPH / PRINT SOURCE: QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY COLLECTION / RIGHTS: MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, INDIA
The odissi classical Indian dance style, originating in Orissa, dates back to the second century BC and is characterised by graceful, acrobatic poses that mirror sacred Hindu temple sculptures. Immanence explores the life of legendary odissi dancer and guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (1926–2004). Mohaptra’s innumerable dance compositions are performed across the globe; Shahani’s film is a tribute to his legacy.
2.00pm Wednesday 6 December (with Fire in the Belly), introduced by Kumar Shahani / Cinema A
2.00pm Wednesday 13 December (with Fire in the Belly) / Cinema A
BETAMAX, COLOUR, 30MINS, INDIA, ENGLISH AND HINDI (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: RAQS MEDIA COLLECTIVE (SHUDDHABRATA SENGUPTA, MONICA NARULA, AND JEEBESH BAGCHI) / CINEMATOGRAPHY: C K MURALIDHARAN / EDITOR: MONICA BHASIN / SOUND: JEEBESH BAGCHI / MUSIC: SUSMIT SEN / PRODUCTION COMPANY: RAQS MEDIA COLLECTIVE, DOORDASHAN / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: RAQS MEDIA COLLECTIVE / SCREENING FORMAT: BETACAM SP
Persistence of Vision is a short documentary about filmmaker Kumar Shahani produced by New Dehli-based contemporary artists RAQs Media Collective. It was part of a thirteen-part series made for Indian national television called ‘Growing Up’ which explored the childhood and adolescence of prominent Indian artists, writers, scientists and intellectuals.
2.00pm Friday 8 December, introduced by Kumar Shahani / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 110MINS, HINDI (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: KUMAR SHAHANI / PRODUCER: NATIONAL FILM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION / SCRIPT CONSULTANT: RIMLI BHATTACHARYA / CINEMATOGRAPHY: KK MAHAJAN / EDITOR: SUJATA NARULA / ART DIRECTION: NITISH ROY / SOUND: NARINDER SINGH, NAMITA NAYAK, AM PADMANABHAN / MUSIC: VANRAJ BHATIA / CAST: NANDINI GHOSAL, SUMANTO CHATTOPADYA, KAUSHIK GOPAL, SHIBHU, SRUTI YUSUFI, RAMCHANDRA PARIHAR / PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR: RIMLI BHATTACHARYA/ PRODUCTION COMPANY: NATIONAL FILM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: NATIONAL FILM ARCHIVE, INDIA
Adapted from a novella by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 – 1941), Char Adhyaya captures the ideals of the Bengali Renaissance of the 1940s. A group of young intellectuals and revolutionaries, led by the brilliant young Indranath, is fighting for independence from the colonial system. Ela, the group’s emancipated muse and teacher is troubled by her romantic love for the poet Attindra who – like her – doubts the cruelty of revolutionary acts sanctioned by Indranath’s ideals. Shahani again draws on Indian visual arts, music and dance, to explore relationships between literature and politics, love and revolution, during this important period of cultural synthesis and change in modern India.
Screening weekly 11.30am Thursdays / Cinema
35MM, COLOUR, 84 MINS, INDIA, HINDI AND TAMIL (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: KUMAR SHAHANI / EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND MUSIC RESEARCH: ROSHAN SHAHANI / CINEMATOGRAPHY: KK MAHAJAN, SUBROTO MAULLICK / EDITOR: LALITHA KRISHNA / SOUND: AM PADMANABHAN / MUSICIANS: PANDIT HARIPRASAD CHAURASIA, PANDIT JAL BALAPORIA,RUPAK KULKARNI / ARCHIVAL MUSIC: ANNAPURNA DEVI, (ON SURBAHAR), T VISWANATHAN , DR N RAMANI, T.R.MAHALINGAM (FLAUTISTS) / CAST: ANANDI RAMACHANDRAN, SIDHARTH SRINIVASAN, ABID ALI, ABHA DUBEY, PANDIRAM / PRODUCTION CO: BOMBAY CINEMATOGRAPH / PRINT SOURCE: QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY COLLECTION / RIGHTS: MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, INDIA
The Bamboo Flute is Kumar Shahani’s cinematic tribute to the flute and its importance to Indian civilisation. Shahani depicts the flute — from its bamboo form (the bansuri) to the classical metal instrument (the veena) — as a primordial interpreter of natural sounds. It has been used throughout the history of the subcontinent to stimulate thought and heighten perception, and is written into Krishna’s experience of waking into an auditory world. The Bamboo Flute transforms auditory experience into a non-linear narrative, using synaesthetic images and motifs. The film’s visual sequencing is informed by the structure of classical bansuri music.
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Street address
Stanley Place
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Australia
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PO Box 3686
South Brisbane
Queensland 4101
Australia
Telephone
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Saturday and Sunday 9.00am - 5.00pm
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