What Do You Know?

The first week of this new century I descended on Austin, Texas, a rapidly growing city in the Lone Star State. My mission was to spend some quality time with my scriptwriter Shuchi Kothari putting the finishing touches on a screenplay I hope to direct in the near future. We camped at a mansion of historical note that was home to John Downing, Chair of the Universityof Texas8217; School of Radio, Television and Cinema Studies, and his life partner, the irrepressible Ash Corea, the Empress of the Empenada Parlour8217; the chicest restaurant this side of the Mason-Dixie line. JD as he is affectionately called by all is an international expert on media studies and has a deep passion for world cinema, including India. Among the many books he8217;s edited is one on third world cinema, which includes a hefty chapter on Indian cinema, specifically Art Cinema, as practiced by Ketan Mehta, Shyam Benegal and some others. He teaches this subject during term and has an enthusiastic response. The only problem is procuring prints with well-scripted English subtitles of some of the films to screen for his student. Reflecting on this I strongly feel that the Ministry for Education and the Directorate of Films should get together and set aside a fund and make prints and video copies of movies commonly taught in film studies and make these available to institutions both in India andworldwide. NFDC, which claims to have copies of most of these films, is in such disarray these days tht there is no telling what is available and what isn8217;t. And if the ministry is reluctant to take this step then IMPAA or some other industry trade body should set this up. Media and cinema studies not only enhance understanding of culture and indigenous ideology but also give impetus to new audiences to discover more. As India approaches the new century as one of its prominent players there is a growing need to present an Indian face in world culture through international media.

Sign o8217; times

Making their mark in the Big Apple through the respected pages of the venerable New York Times last weekend were none other than Bombay8217;s beloved and my only heterosexual crush! Sanjna Kapoor and her cohorts in her pioneering venture The Prithvi Theatre Festival. In a huge spread over two pages, replete with photographs, the Times waxed eloquent on this year8217;s festival and its uniqueplace in presenting contemporary Indian plays and works in progress. Reading the piece I couldn8217;t help but get a lump in my throat as I recalled my school days when Sanjna, a classmate, would host school trips to then still-under-construction Prithvi Theatre and her wonderful and inspiring mother Jennifer would make us play improvisational games. In their shack near the theatre complex a huge photograph of Prithviraj Kapoor as Sikandar in Sorab Modi8217;s epic of the same name hung on one wall, providing a benign majesty to our amateur theatrics. In the same issue of the Times there was another piece written by the stupendously talented actor extraordinaire John Malkovich in which he praised Santosh Sivan8217;s The Terrorist as one of the most refreshing films he8217;s ever had the pleasure to witness. So moved was he by the film and the performance of our very own Ayesha Dharkar that he has lent his formidable name to promote the film in the US. His patronage and all that it means will mean good thingsfor the film come awards time which in turn should help the film in monetary terms. All this being good news to committed filmmakers in South Asia and other minority cinemas who want their work to be appreciated by new audiences world wide. No longer is the gap between India and the mythical west a bridge too far. Each day one more small Bombay duck transforms into a big shark, swimming through the seven seas which themselves are becoming seven streams thanks to economic globalisation and new media.

Riyad Wadia, avant garde film-maker, is at home in New York.