It is the 100th year of the world’s largest and now, also the most watched
film industry, and The South Asianist aims to bring a special issue on
the 101st anniversary day of the release of the first Indian film *Raja
Harishchandra* on May 4th, 2013.
This is going to be a landmark issue and a collector’s edition for both
academic and Indian cinema and culture enthusiasts with ‘guest invitation’
articles by veteran film critics from various Indian language cinemas,
star/director interviews, photo essays, reviews of iconic films and article
contributions from young researchers and senior academics working on Indian
cinema.
Topics Ø If your work revolves around the study of Indian cinema auteurs, new
perspectives appreciating the narrative diversity of India’s many regional
language cinemas, a discussion on the influences shaping their signature
attributes and its own influence on other world cinemas, cultures and
audiences, then do send us a submission!
Ø Interview ideas are also welcome if potential interviewees can be urged
to bring out illuminating perspectives and discuss rise, fall and/or
highlight moments in the century old journey of Indian cinema.
Ø Contributions are not only limited to Bollywood (India’s national cinema
in Hindi), but also can be on all other Indian language cinemas like
Bengali, Marathi, Urdu, Bhojpuri, the south Indian language cinemas (Tamil,
Telegu, Malayalam, Kannada), etc.
Ø There also will be a special section on challenges and opportunities
facing the sub-continent’s other national cinemas of Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Reviews on their most influential movies and
filmmaker appraisal interiews are welcome.
Ø Photo essays on Indian cinema memorabilia, theatre stories, vignettes of
on-location shooting moments of Indian films in India/abroad, and the
nature and experience of audience interaction with Indian cinema across the
globe can be explored.
If films define your academic passion, here comes a fabulous opportunity to make your ideas and researched opinions a part of any posterity discourse on Indian and world cinema.
How to Submit
Please submit pieces by registering as an author at the South Asianist
journal homepage http://journals.ed.ac.uk/southasianist which
will allow you to upload your submission.
Conventional text submissions focusing on Indian cinema related issues in
the domain of film studies, humanities and social sciences are welcome.
Tentative Word Limits Ø Interviews – 4000 words Ø Reviews – 2000 words Ø Articles/Features – 5000-15000 words Ø Photo Essays – 6-10 Pictures with (maximum) 250 word text for each.
Submission Deadlines Ø Abstract Submission Deadline: December 15th 2012 Ø Article (Final) Submission Deadline: January 15th 2012
Warm regards,
Piyush Roy (Editor – The South Asianist Indian Cinema Centenary Special Issue),
Michael Heneise and Heid Jerstad (Editors – The South Asianist)
…and the entire South Asianist team.
There have been films on disabled protagonists, and then comes Barfi! There have been films exploring romantic triangles, and then loves Barfi! There have been films on inspirational life messages, and then teaches Barfi!
Into all these tested formulas and oft repeated storylines that a film can still bring some never before seen narrative surprises and spins laden with fresh moments and meanings, is a testimony of the artistic worth of Barfi!. Most movies tug at the heart, some stimulate the mind, but only a rare few are able to touch the soul. Barfi! is Bollywood’s answer to Hollywood’s Forrest Gump and European ‘holocaust’ hope classic, Life is Beautiful.
Set in 1970s Darjeeling, the film revolves around the love and life adventures of a happy-go-lucky, charming Nepali boy, Barfi (Ranbir Kapoor), who also happens to be deaf and dumb. Barfi falls in love with a ‘normal’ girl Shruti (Ileana D’cruz), who influenced by her mother’s lessons on practicality opts in hurry to regret at ease her decision to marry for security over love. Her mother (Rupa Ganguly) in a beautifully written scene, when asked by her daughter reveals and reasons, “Yes, I didn’t marry the man I loved, but who says you can’t fall in love again…” By the time the fault lines of Shruti’s decision turn her marriage into a routine of duty featuring two ‘silent’ spouses, the girl who had thought and loved, loses her love forever to the one who had just loved, without thinking!
Barfi’s dad and only support system meanwhile succumbs to an ailment. A doubly heart-broken Barfi finds trust, love and being wanted again in the undemanding company of Jhilmil (Priyanka Chopra), the autistic daughter of his father’s ex-boss whom he had kidnapped to raise money for his father’s treatment.
Together, this imperfect pair completes and constructs a world of their own that crumbles temporarily with the sudden return of Shruti, to only get cemented thereafter, for life.
Nurturing this unusual love triangle are a bunch of engaging support characters (Barfi’s childhood friend, Shruti’s ‘practical, yet very humane’ mother and Saurabh Shukla in a fabulous cameo of a potbellied, much harried policeman) that capture and celebrate small town life in all its beauties and oddities, adventures and heartbreaks with two kidnappings thrown in for ample drama as the picture moves on… A Medley of Felt Acts
After the emotionally overwhelming Rockstar, Ranbir Kapoor in an emotionally uplifting Barfi! is soul curry at its spicy best. Charlie Chaplin did it always, Raj Kapoor’s onscreen ‘anadis’ (Awara, Shree 420 and Anari) wowed next; now Ranbir has recreated that magic as Barfi. While his comic antics are a feast for the eyes, his silent trysts with angst are inspiring fodder for bruised souls. This one act is reason enough to enshrine his name in the haloed portals of cinema’s greatest actors.
Priyanka Chopra in another challenging part after Fashion and Saat Khoon Maaf makes a strong pitch for the title of the bravest actress of her generation. She lends to her interpretation the lingering impact of a beautiful afterthought that comes from an actor’s internalization of the essence of a character. Be it in her jealous hurt at being denied an extra pani-puri (a spicy snack) by Barfi lavishing the same on Shruti or in her halting possessive attempt at hiding Barfi when faced by Shruti again after their reunion – one just can’t decide who deserves more wows – the actress or the writer!
But it is the debuting in Bollywood, Ileana D’Cruz, who gets the film’s most layered and constantly evolving character, whose believable person transitions ease the film’s frequent time and location travels. Her convention defying life-long care for Barfi sans intrusion makes her Hindi cinema’s most humane and memorable ‘other woman’ since Anuradha Patel’s Ijaazat and Saratchandra’s Chandramukhi. Her life is a testimony to the truism – never let go of moments that make you truly happy or shortchange your present contentment for unexpected future gains – you may get love again, but you don’t get touched again and again by a life changing angel!
The Mark of Anurag Basu – Love, Death & Some Life Melodies
Anurag Basu’s auteurship manifests itself in his signature take on three of the consistently recurring elements of his narratives – the nature of his characters experience of love, their interactions with death and his use of songs to celebrate the soul of his movies through a lyrical articulation of their unspoken undercurrents and emotional high notes. From his debut film, Saaya (Shadow, 2003), where a grieving husband and a doctor stretches the depths of rationality wading through dreams and the dead to decode his wife’s unspoken last message to his last creative peaking Life in a… Metro (2007), and now his most accomplished film, Barfi! – ‘love’ for his protagonists is always an uplifting life experience, while death is welcomed as a certain deliverance to never be afraid of. These perspectives to his stories can be seen to varying degrees in his films in-between, like Murder (2004), Gangster (2006) and the much critiqued yet no less visually stunning and melodious Kites (2010).
Like Gulzar’s Koshish (ATrial, 1972) and Sai Paranjpye’s Sparsh (The Touch, 1980), neither the deaf-and-dumb protagonist nor his near and dear ones are apologetic about his physical lacunae. It exists, just as an introduction, credit for which goes to the narrative’s focusing on its resultant tough circumstances if any, as tongue-in-cheek vis-à-vis the tragic.
Basu constructs a near flawless screenplay that seamlessly oscillates between different time zones of a story told in double flashback. Darjeeling’s continuing date with history, the still running – steam engine driven train – is made an integral part of this continuity and how. Just two cuts of a roadside poster, one featuring Murphy radio, the other Avon cycle, and the passage of a decade is registered! Subtlety of screenplay and the revealing cinematography of Ravi Varman are the other technical strengths of Barfi!’s delightful mise-en-scene, though its greatest narrative prop remain its fabulously complimenting music and lyrics.
The three recurring balladeers playing in melodious leisure at Barfi’s every major life moment, not only remind us of the recurring rock singer trio of Life in a… Metro, but also of the lost tradition of live musicians providing mood music in ‘silent movie’ screenings in an era gone by, whose essence and innocence Barfi! does seem to recreate and rejoice in.
Songs, these days are often fit into a film as habit, not necessity. In Barfi! they take the narrative forward both as commentary and a voice to unspoken thoughts – …Nazar ki syahi se likhenge, tujhe hazar chitthiyaan! (…with the ink of sight will pen you a 1000 letters) – that are obfuscated by the handicaps of its protagonists to embellish these moments with the wow of a magical reveal.
‘Na lafz kharch karna tum, na lafz kharch hum karenge,
Nazar ke kankadon se, khamoshiyon ki khidkiyan yun todenge…’
(You don’t spend a word, nor will I waste one,
Through the pebbles of sight, we will shatter the walls of silence…)
A Contemporary Classic
When a film is able to evoke the desired emotions at its heightened drama points (tears during tragedy, anger during violence), you know it’s a genuine cinematic effort… But when it unleashes a joyous tear fest at its most beautiful and uplifting moments you should know that you are facing a cinematic monument! Radiating positivity, humility and gratitude, Barfi! makes you want to be good, reminds you to say ‘thank you’ to the selfless relationships of your life, but most importantly teaches you to live in the present and be happy with the existing gifts of life.
Take a bow Anurag Basu with each of your actors and technicians to the last man standing! In its 100th year, Indian cinema couldn’t have had a better tribute celebrating and showcasing its best traditions of storytelling, emoting and impacting life through movies. Barfi! (also the name of a popular Indian sweet) is movie watching at its delicious best at par with the most redeeming world cinema.
A cinematic masterpiece and modern day classic, Barfi! is celluloid equivalent of Paulo Coelho’s Alchemist that should adorn our movie collections as an inspirational reference on life for life!
The South Asianist Blog 
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