A Night at the Movies

Film in South Asia

The Indian cinema is an institution. It’s stars are the modern gods of society. They are seen in television and billboard advertisements for any number of products from undershirts, to mobile phones, to skin lightening creams! Many politicians started out as famous actors and later used film as their means to ascend into the arena of influencing public policy. Incidentally, I suppose the same is true in America. I mean, even if they knew nothing about the issues, could a Tom Cruise or a Bruce Springsteen lose an election against what’s available? Besides, our politicians are all actors anyways! Some have come from the big screen, others from the pro-wrestling ring. In California, our governor’s training was as a cyborg with a few memorable one liners.

So in that way, things are not that much different here in India but the role of the cinema is much more the pulse of culture. Popular music is first heard in the movies, walls are plastered with movie posters, and for the common man, there isn’t a cheaper way to dream-on-demand. South Asia is the movie capital of the world. Fifteen thousand films are made each year. I didn’t say made well made but they are produced. They all use the same three formulaic ingredients: romance, violence, and music. Together, these films are known as masala movies and they are pure melodramatic escapism for the masses.

While I can’t say I am a huge fan of these films, on occasion, I do like to see what the all the buzz is about. Once I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to be asked to play a small role in an Indian movie. After being dogged for several days by the production manager, I acquiesced with the promise of free food and cold drinks. Later I found out he wanted me to be in an elaborate fight scene. While most Indians would have dropped their pants for this opportunity, I side stepped it and asked for a smaller part. Later I was to find out that one of the major stars in Malayalam movies was one of the actors on set – I had no idea.

What’s interesting to me now is what shape the film industry will take as televisions and satellite reception play a greater role in society. How will the movies change? In photography, digital has taken center stage and made film almost extinct. How will they be made, shown, and what about the rich tradition that cinema has provided society?

I hope to learn more about the answers to these questions and maybe have a little fun along the way. Bollywood, named after Bombay, now known as Mumbai (I don’t think they’ll be changing the name to Mollywood any time soon) used to produce most of the films from the Indian subcontinent. Now, Chennai, in the south, can make this claim. There are Tollywood films because they are in the Telegu language. In Bangladesh, where I am now, the films are from – take a wild guess – Dollywood because they are from the country’s capital Dhaka.

I started making some notes with a couple of visits to the cinema hall in a small town in north-central Bangladesh. Of course, it wasn’t long before I was up in the projectionist’s booth. The images are from the Padma Cinema in Kushtia. The projectionists are Abdul Raja, Aporta, and Hamapara. They used an old Radio Cinema Service projector. Some of the scenes are from outside the cinema where snack vendors offered chai, fresh steamed peanuts and other nuts which were put into cone-shaped pieces of recycled newspaper. One time, my “plate” was made from a page of some student’s math homework! Some of the numbers were recognizable, others were in Bengali.

These images are from those evenings. Enjoy!

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Images and Text © 2006 Raku Loren
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