INDIA Rajendra Joshi's blog

Mani Kaul’s musical masterpiece Dhrupad
traces the thousand year old living tradition of Raag Dhrupad.  
Nomad Puppetteer, a cinematographic report on the string puppets of Rajasthan,
Chitrakathi based on the marionettes and leather puppets of Goa and Arrival
dealing with product-commodity exchange will be screened. Mani Kaul, born in
Jodhpur in Rajasthan to a Kashmiri family, was ranked among the filmmakers
who contributed to new Indian cinema with their exemplary movies. His uncle
was well-known actor-director Mahesh Kaul. Mani Kaul began his career with Uski
Roti in 1969 which won him the Filmfare Critics Award for best movie and
his other movies like Ashad Ka ek Din, Duvidha and Idiot
also got awards. A graduate from the Film and Television Institute of India
(FTII), Mani Kaul got the National Film Award for his documentary film Siddheshwari
in 1989. Mani Kaul ended his brilliant film journey on July 6, 2011.

Bhagwan
Das Garga was one of India’s eminent film scholars. His 1969 film on life and
paintings of Amrita Sher Gil and art and architecture of Mahabalipuram are
included in the homage section. B D Garga died in Patiala on July 18, 2011

Noted
writer, commentator, actor and documentary film maker Partap Sharma is
remembered through his two short films – Framework of Famine (1967) and Kamli
(1976) on the evils of dowry system. Partap Sharma passed away on November
30, 2011

Prabhakar
Pendharkar’s Weave me some flowers on the artistic traditions of the Indian
textile industry and the documentary on  Baba Amte  are included in
the homage section. Pendharkar breathed his last on October 25, 2010

Two
films of Kannada film maker and documentary producer M V Krishnaswamy are
part of the Homage section. They are – Dr M Visveswarayya, tracing the life
of India’s brilliant engineer-statesman and Mysore a film travelogue on the
city of palaces. Krishnaswamy passed away on October 25, 2010

Voice
of the Films Division, Zul Vellani’s two films – A Port of Prosperity on the
Mumbai port and Man in Search of Man documenting the lost tribes of Andaman
and Nicobar Islands wre screened.

Report
By Rajendra Joshi