Film | Café Dissensus

May 30

The Space of Amma Sentiment in Tamil Cinema

By R Rohit
Tamil mothers (Amma) in the films are idolised and projected to have a false sense of superiority, while being marginalised under the protection of a male figure ultimately. The Amma is seen as the backbone of the family, the one who is beloved for her sacrifice, the one who takes the mantle of raising children, ultimately becoming a part of the cycle. In hindsight, nothing of their contributions has been acknowledged, on screen or in life.

May 30

The Reluctant Mother: A Study of ‘Motherhood’ as a Tool of Patriarchy in Bollywood Films

By Rituparna Das
Bollywood has yet to grow up to accommodate women like Aruna and Kia who are very much a part of the contemporary society yet who, like their Bollywood counterparts, are silenced and negated in the mainstream discourse on Indian women.

Mar 6

Allegories of Primitive Accumulation: On ‘Lazzaro Felice’

By Virginia Lee and Suvij Sudershan
Lazzaro Felice presents an allegorical vision of this process through the fantastical depiction of its setting and characters.

May 6

2 Comments

Contents: Special commemorative issue: 100 years of Satyajit Ray – the indefinable genius (Issue 58)

May 6

Contributors

May 6

An introduction to the special commemorative issue on the centenary of Satyajit Ray (1921-2021)

By Roshni Sengupta
This special commemorative issue of Café Dissensus attempts to understand and revisit Ray’s immense range of work – from pathbreaking films to books to the astonishingly everyman crime-busting hero he managed to make immortal – Feluda. With the focus on his genre-defying cinematic productions, the issue also brings together writings on Ray as a multi-faceted and consummate artist.

May 6

1 Comment

Cinema, Ray and the Art of Adaptation

By Sharad Raj
This article chooses to remember the maestro by examining two of his brilliant cinematic adaptations, Charulata (1964) adapted from Rabindranath Tagore’s novella, Nashtonir (Broken Nest) and Mahanagar (1963) an adaptation of Abatarnika (The decay/climb down), a short story by Narendranath Mitra.

May 6

Aesthetic enclosure and insurgent critique in Ray’s fantasy fables

By Sayandeb Chowdhury
Ray uses the fantasy form – abounding in an instinctive play of innocence, high-spirited musicality, and underdog triumph – to mount two substantial critiques about the absurdity of needless war, and the evil ministrations of fanatical totalitarianism.

May 6

1 Comment

A Tale of Mind and Matter: Ray’s Search for Aestheticism within Modernity

By Sayan Chatterjee
It is unsurprising that the sensitive and creative litterateur Apu, who is a stranger to neither poverty nor death of loved ones, would find inspiration in the struggle of these writers against worldly sufferings and their eventual triumph through art.

May 6

Ray’s Artistry and Reflection of European Neorealism in Indian Cinema

By Shambhu Nath Banerjee
The year 1955 was a turning point in the history Indian cinema as well. The whole world bowed to the craftsmanship of a young Indian director for his outstanding portrayal of rural life in black and white on the big screen. The golden rise of Satyajit Ray during the period of 1955 to 1959 gained momentum with the making of three films in a row: Pather Panchali (The Song of the Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished, 1956), and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959).

May 6

The politics at the heart of Satyajit Ray’s filmmaking

By Joy Sengupta
Satyajit Ray – the name elicits a nostalgia for classical narrative and aesthetics, in cineastes, across India, a sense of parochial sentimental pride in the heart of a senior Bengali bhadralok, and a reverence all round, for pioneering the Indian cinematic footprint in the global art cinema space.

May 6

The Calcutta Trilogy: A Comparative Study of the Political Films of Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen

By Pratyusha Pramanik
During this socio-economic turmoil, when ‘Indira was India, and India was Indira’, Calcutta was under the rule of Congress, and Naxalism was still brewing in the dark corners of the city. It was around this time that Satyajit Ray – Pratidwandi (The Adversary), Seemabaddha (Company Limited), and Jana Aranya (The Middleman) and Mrinal Sen – Interview, Calcutta 71, and Padatik (The Guerrilla Fighter) – presented their Calcutta Trilogies, a set of six movies set in the backdrop of the various incidents which were surely a reflection of the socio-political conditions of not just Bengal but all of India.

May 6

The Subterraneous Discourse of Caste Politics in ‘Pather Panchali’

By Samrita Sinha
The one where little Apu and the adolescent Durga run through a field of white flax to catch a glimpse of the train, an entity of technological wonder and marvel in their rural context. This scene and its mnemonic implications for the audience are that it symbolised a metaphorical leap towards an eternal hope, so characteristic of childhood as depicted by Ray.