Asian Cinema finds its place in the Sun

SudhirNandgaonkar


India celebrates the success of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas at Cannes or Aamir Khan’s Lagaan’s Oscar run or Meera Nair’s Monsoon Wedding’s celebrated romp in the US and UK, it will be pertinent to trace the history of Asian cinema and look at how these films reached a wider global audience. Today, Asian Cinema has been in the forefront of all that’s new, dynamic, and experimental in world cinema. But, it took over 60 years Asian Cinema to work its way into the global spotlight.

The story of its glorious march towards global acclaim began in the 1930s even as most of the Asian countries were still struggling to gain independence from colonial rulers. Most of the Asian countries spent the first five decades of 20th Century fighting independence struggles. Though cinema existed in these changing times, it was largely focused on national audiences. There were virtually no international film festivals, film institutes, film archives in Asia to enhance its appeal.

The only prominent film festival in the world prior to World War II was the Venice International Film Festival. It was here that Prabhat Film Company’s Sant Tukaram was first screened. In 1938, Japan’s Five Scouts won a special prize at this film festival, probably the first international recognition of Asian cinema. By 1946, other international film festivals began in Europe including Locarno in Switzerland, the Cannes International Film Festival in France, and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Czech Republic. Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar was screened at the first edition of the Cannes fest. But barring these few exceptions, Asian Cinema found no representation in European festivals.

Till 1950s, not a single international film festival existed in the whole of Asian subcontinent. Naturally, European festivals were the only showcase Asian filmmakers could approach. But, unlike Sushma Swaraj’s effort to showcase Bollywood at Cannes, there was no government support in this regard. Filmmakers had to spend huge money and face hardships to seek representation at European festivals. Though the Academy Awards began after 1930s, the award for the Best Foreign Language Film was initiated only in 1944.

In this hardly encouraging scenario, it was Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s classic Rashoman which first attracted global spotlight. The year was 1951 when Rashoman bagged the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival. The film also bagged the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the Academy Awards the same year bringing Asian Cinema into world focus. Yet when Rashoman was screened at the Berlin film festival in 1952, European critics hardly paid any attention to the film. The reason: the world was not yet ready to accept Asian Cinema as a force to reckon with.

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Following Rashoman’s success at Cannes in 1952, V Shantaram’s Marathi film Amar Bhoopali won an award for Best Sound Recording, making a point about Asian Cinema’s technical excellence. Kurosawa’s contemporary, Mizoguchi Kenji’s The Life of Oharu won a special prize at this edition of the festival. This was the time when Japanese cinema was winning critical acclaim at European festival. Mizoguchi continued his winning streak by winning a Silver Lion at Venice in 1953 for his Ugetsu Monogatan (The Tales of Pale and Silvery Moon after the Rain). While Gogo’s Where Chimneys are Seen won a top honour at Berlin, Kinugasa Teinosuke’s Gate of Hell bagged a Golden Leopard at Locarno the same year. In 1954, Kurosawa followed with a Silver Lion at Venice for Seven Samurai, and a top prize at Berlin for Ikiru. In 1954, Gate of Hell won the prestigious Palme dO’r, and completed the Japanese domination of the film festival circuit.

While Japan was winning acclaim globally, Indian cinema was not too far behind. In 1954, Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zameen won a special prize at Cannes film fest. Two years later, Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (1956) also forced the world critics to take note of Indian cinema. French film critics heartly welcomed Pather Panchali and saw glimpses of Italian Neo-Realism in it. In 1957, Pandit Ravi Shankar won the prize for Best Music Direction for Tapan Sinha’s Bengali film Kabuliwala based on a Rabindranath Tagore story.

In 1957, Raj Kapoor’s Jaagte Raho (Stay Alert) won the Grand Prix at the Karlovy Vary film festival. Starring the greatest showman of Indian cinema, the acclaimed film was directed by Bengali directors Shambhu and Amit Mitra. In the same year, Ray won his first big honour. His second film, Aparajito won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival.

In 1958, Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries won the Golden Bear at Berlin and V Shantaram’s Do Ankhen Baraah Haath won the special Silver Bear. This was perhaps the defining moment for Indian cinema. American director Frank Capra was the chairperson of the jury that year, and he praised Shantaram’s film.

Moreover, German film critic Wolfgang Schimming present at the festival wrote in an essay that year. “New contents and images seen only thrive and reach maturity in the distant young film nations. This is hardly the case in the classical film countries where contents have become state and the technical qualities slicker and slicker.” Schimming’s reference to “young film nations” was to none other than Asian Cinema.

It is pertinent to note that with the exception of Chinese film New Year Sacrifice, which won a special prize at Karlovy Vary in 1957. India and Japan were largely the Asian countries that helped attract the global spotlight on Asian Cinema.

During these successful years, Indian film critics also got representation at the international film festivals. Berlin led the way. Madam Kawakita of Japan and India’s LB Rao served as jury members at Berlin in 1956 and 1958 respectively. During the 50s, Satyajit Ray and Akira Kurosawa were recognized as master filmmakers, and their films were widely distributed in the West.

In 1960s, other Asian countries began winning international acclaim. India and Japan continued their glorious march though.

In 1961, Dac Jin King’s Korean film Nabo won the Silver Bear at Berlin film festival, winning the first major European award for Korean cinema. In the same year, Indonesian and Chinese films won the Best Actor awards at Moscow film festival. In 1963, Vietnamese film Mrs Tu Hai won a special prize at Moscow festival. In 1967, an Israeli film won the Best Actor award at Cannes. In 1964, Turkish cinema created ripples in the film circuit with Waterless Summer winning a Golden Bear at Berlin. Evidently during the 60s, Korea, Indonesia, China, Turkey, and Vietnam found representation at European festivals.

In 1965, The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) became a competitive festival, and it was Sri Lanka’s turn to bag an award. Lester James Peries’ Gumperliya won the Golden Peacock. Though Asian Cinema’s influence in world cinema was growing. India and Japan continued to hog the spotlight. In 1961, Ichikawa’s Fires on Plane won a Golden Leopard at Locarno, while Bushdo won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 1963. In 1964, Ray bagged a Silver Bear at Berlin for his Mahanagar (The Metropolis). He followed it with another Silver Bear for Charulata in 1966.

In 1961, Berlin festival honoured Kurosawa with a retrospective of his films. During the 60s, a number of Indian directors found representation in the main jury at Berlin including Sohrab Modi (1960), Satyajit Ray (1961), BR Chopra (1963), KA Abbas (1966), Shashadhar Mukherjee (1967). This was symbolic of the importance Berlin film festival gave to Indian cinema.

In the 70s, Asian Cinema continued its successful run, with Iran and Bangladesh making a mark in world cinema. Iranian films - Still Life and Ston Garder - won the Silver Bear at Berlin in 1974 and 1976 respectively. In 1971, Mongolian film The Year of Solar Eclipse bagged the Special Jury Prize at Moscow film festival.

Satyajit Ray continued to impress critics and audiences alike at Berlin by winning the Golden Bear in 1973 for Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder). Turkey’s Yalmaz Guney bagged the Golden Leopard at Locarno with his 1979 film The Herd. At Cannes, Nagisa Oshima had arrived onto the world stage by winning the Best Director award for Empire of Passion.

India’s achievements in the international film circuit were not limited to Ray’s awards. Bengali director Mrinal Sen too won top prizes in the 70s - Special Jury Prizes for his Chorus at Moscow in 1971, and The Outsider at Karlovy Vary in 1978. The Bronze Leopard at Locarno for Kannada film Samskara in 1972 indicated that India’s cinematic richness was not limited to Bengali language. Vietnam and Turkey were also winning honours for Asian Cinema during the 70s.

In the next two decades, China and Korea led the Asian Cinema movement with impressive wins at global film festival. In 1988, Chinese film Red Sarghum bagged the Golden Bear at Berlin.

In the 90s, it was Iranian cinema that astounded the world with its richness despite strict censorship laws in that country. Iran won a total of 464 international awards during the decade, proving its dominance in world cinema, while giving brilliant new directors to the world of cinema. Abbas Kiarostami, and Mohsen Makhamalbaf received great acclaim in the 90s. Kiarostami was honoured with Roberto Rossellini Award at the Cannes festival, while Makhamalbaf’s Once Upon A Times Cinema won the jury prize at Karlovy Vary.

Iranian cinema was at the peak of its success when Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry bagged the Golden Palm at Cannes in 1997. In 1998, Majid Majidi, and Jafar Panahi also won critical acclaim. Majidi’s Children of Heaven won the Best Film award at Singapore International Film festival, while Panahi’s The Murder won the Golden Tulip award at Istanbul film festival. In 2000, Panahi’s The Circle won the Golden Lion at Venice.

With the striking dominance of Iranian films, Asian cinema had turned a full circle, within 50 years. The scenario had altered completely from the days when European festivals barely took any note of Asian cinema. Asian Cinema had cemented its place in world cinema.

Political changes were also the key to the developments of Iranian cinema. In 1979, Islamic fundamentalist regime took over the government, and tightened the censorship laws. however, it continued to encourage cinema as a genre through state sponsorship. As a result, the filmmakers could make new and different films within the rigid censorship code. Undeterred the Iranian filmmakers used this tiny window of opportunity to enrich cinema with humanist films made with great sensitivity. Not only did directors like Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhamalbaf, Jafar Panahi, Daryuish Meherji, Majidi, Ali Reza created a powerful, new cinema but cementec Iranian cinema’s undisputed place in world cinema.