INDIA Rajendra Joshi

Homage to Mani Kaul and 5 other noted film makers through 14 films in Special Screening during - MIFF-2012

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