The first comprehensive study of the feature films of India’s most distinguished contemporary filmmaker. This work offers a compelling analysis of the director’s treatment of guilt, redemption and hope within their socio-historical contexts.
The first comprehensive study of the feature films of India’s most distinguished contemporary filmmaker. This work offers a compelling analysis of the director’s treatment of guilt, redemption and hope within their socio-historical contexts.
Adoor Gopalakrishnan, India’s most distinguished contemporary filmmaker, has made eleven award-winning films and over forty documentaries, most of which are set in his native state of Kerala, in southern India. A 1965 graduate of the Film and Television Institute of Pune, his first film, “Swayamvaram” (1972), heralded the New Wave in Kerala. The region’s displacement from a princely feudal state into twentieth-century modernity forms the backdrop to most of his complex narratives about identity, selfhood and otherness, in which innocence is often at stake and characters grapple with their consciences. The films deal with eviction and dislocation, with the precarious nature of space, and the search for home. They are also about power and its abuse within a destructive patriarchy and the abject conditions of servility it breeds. At the same time, these narratives are usually placed within the larger frameworks of guilt and redemption where hope of emancipation—moral, spiritual, and creative—is a real one. This first comprehensive study of Gopalakrishnan’s feature films offers a compelling analysis of these issues within their socio-historical contexts.
Details
Price: $40.00
Pages: 178
Publisher: Anthem Press
Imprint: Anthem Press
Series: Anthem Film and Culture
Publication Date: 1st May 2015
Trim Size: 6 x 9 in
Illustration Note: 20+ b/w images
ISBN: 9781783084104
Format: Paperback
BISACs: PERFORMING ARTS / Film & Video / History & Criticism PERFORMING ARTS / Film & Video / General PERFORMING ARTS / Film & Video / Direction & Production
Reviews
“All along this critical study, Suranjan has made interesting observations. […] Suranjan Ganguly’s marvellous book promises to incubate interest in the maverick filmmaker and his great films.” —“Outlook”
Author Bio
Suranjan Ganguly teaches European and Asian cinema at the University of Colorado, Boulder and has also written a book on filmmaker Satyajit Ray.
Table of Contents
Introduction; 1. Things Fall Apart: ‘Mukhamukham’ and the Failure of the Collective; 2. The Domain of Inertia: ‘Elippathayam’ and the Crisis of Masculinity; 3. Master and Slave: ‘Vidheyan’ and the Debasement of Power; 4. The Server and the Served: ‘Kodiyettam’ and the Politics of Consumption; 5. The Search for Home: ‘Swayamvaram’ and the Struggle with Conscience; 6. Woman in the Doorway: ‘Naalu Pennungal’ and ‘Oru Pennum Randaanum’; 7. Making the Imaginary Real: ‘Anantaram’, ‘Mathilukal’ and ‘Nizhalkkuthu’; 8. The Dream of Emancipation: ‘Kathapurushan’ and the Triumph of the Individual; Filmography; Notes; Bibliography; About the Author; Index
Adoor Gopalakrishnan, India’s most distinguished contemporary filmmaker, has made eleven award-winning films and over forty documentaries, most of which are set in his native state of Kerala, in southern India. A 1965 graduate of the Film and Television Institute of Pune, his first film, “Swayamvaram” (1972), heralded the New Wave in Kerala. The region’s displacement from a princely feudal state into twentieth-century modernity forms the backdrop to most of his complex narratives about identity, selfhood and otherness, in which innocence is often at stake and characters grapple with their consciences. The films deal with eviction and dislocation, with the precarious nature of space, and the search for home. They are also about power and its abuse within a destructive patriarchy and the abject conditions of servility it breeds. At the same time, these narratives are usually placed within the larger frameworks of guilt and redemption where hope of emancipation—moral, spiritual, and creative—is a real one. This first comprehensive study of Gopalakrishnan’s feature films offers a compelling analysis of these issues within their socio-historical contexts.
Price: $40.00
Pages: 178
Publisher: Anthem Press
Imprint: Anthem Press
Series: Anthem Film and Culture
Publication Date: 1st May 2015
Trim Size: 6 x 9 in
Illustrations Note: 20+ b/w images
ISBN: 9781783084104
Format: Paperback
BISACs: PERFORMING ARTS / Film & Video / History & Criticism PERFORMING ARTS / Film & Video / General PERFORMING ARTS / Film & Video / Direction & Production
“All along this critical study, Suranjan has made interesting observations. […] Suranjan Ganguly’s marvellous book promises to incubate interest in the maverick filmmaker and his great films.” —“Outlook”
Suranjan Ganguly teaches European and Asian cinema at the University of Colorado, Boulder and has also written a book on filmmaker Satyajit Ray.
Introduction; 1. Things Fall Apart: ‘Mukhamukham’ and the Failure of the Collective; 2. The Domain of Inertia: ‘Elippathayam’ and the Crisis of Masculinity; 3. Master and Slave: ‘Vidheyan’ and the Debasement of Power; 4. The Server and the Served: ‘Kodiyettam’ and the Politics of Consumption; 5. The Search for Home: ‘Swayamvaram’ and the Struggle with Conscience; 6. Woman in the Doorway: ‘Naalu Pennungal’ and ‘Oru Pennum Randaanum’; 7. Making the Imaginary Real: ‘Anantaram’, ‘Mathilukal’ and ‘Nizhalkkuthu’; 8. The Dream of Emancipation: ‘Kathapurushan’ and the Triumph of the Individual; Filmography; Notes; Bibliography; About the Author; Index
