Lonely Planet

Many would say that this is oversimplification —a sentimental surmise of a city negotiating 21st century. For Kolkata (or for that matter any great city) exists only in books for most. More so for those who call it their home. We make our way through its streets; call its rambling,colonial buildings our home/office/college/school but never really decipher it. We fall back on the arts for that. That’s why when Amitav Ghosh talks about the Gol Park of the 1970s in the Shadow Lines,we sigh in collective nostalgia. When Vikram Seth talks about romantic afternoons in the Park Street cemetery (A Suitable Boy) we nod our head in agreement. And when A certain Dominique Lapierre talks about the squalid Kolkata,we shake our head in disagreement.

In 1993,Ruchir Joshi decided to spoof the Western cinematic notions of the city that he loves. “My documentary Tales From Planet Kolkata was made to mock the popular perception of the city. I was fed up of everyone telling me about the progression of Mumbai and Delhi while Kolkata,apparently,languished in the backwaters,” says Joshi. The 38-minute film satarises depictions of Kolkata in foreign films (most notably in Louis Malle’s Phatom India) and the film falso uses a Patachitra,a narrative scroll painting,as a narrative device. Tales from planet Kolkata will be shown at Max Mueller bhavan today. “We will also present clips from my work on progress which is also based in Kolkata,” says Joshi.

Tales from Planet Kolkata will be screened at Max Mueller Bhavan today,6.30 pm onwards