Mythology and the Dawn of Indian Cinema (1913-40s)

Indian cinema is not only the largest film industry in the world in terms of the number of films that are made, but it may well be the most "religious" film industry in the world! The sheer number of titles that have been made on stories from the ancient epics ("mythologicals"), biopics about poet-saints, as well as the frequent use of devotional themes and scenes in other ("social") films, is perhaps unsurpassed. (see my recent article on this topic in the Indian Express, here).

The beginning of Indian cinema is usually dated with the showing of D.G. Phalke's 1913 silent film Raja Harischandra. (There were earlier attempts, mostly involving the filming of staged plays; a feature we see in some early mythologicals for the next two decades). Harischandra is a popular story of a king who gives up his throne and goes through many trials and tribulations just to keep up his promise to a sage (who, in cahoots with the gods, is only testing him). The film was remade numerous times, and though cinema in general never appealed to Mahatma Gandhi, this story was a particular favorite of his.

Phalke's spirit is nicely evoked in the recent film Harischandraschi Factory (Harischandra Factory). He was a magician, photographer, family man, and renaissance man. There seems to some kind of a montage of clips of his early films on You Tube, here. And the beginning and end of Raja Harischandra (probably the 1917 remake, the oldest surviving footage), here!

The 1920s and 1930s saw many stupendous mythological and saint films being. An especially striking example is A Throw of Dice (note correction from syllabus) (1929), a historical fiction made by a German-born director and Indian cast and crew.

(Rachel Dwyer's book Filming the Gods discusses this topic in great detail, and is a good resource.)

The most critically acclaimed film in this era is probably the Marathi film Sant Tukaram (1936), the entire film is available, with subtitles, here.

Though devotional and mythological themes gave way to socials in the Hindi industry, they remained an A-list genre in Telugu and Tamil until the 1970s. Maya Bazaar (1957), a mythic romantic comedy, is considered by many Telugu viewers to be perhaps the greatest film made in the language (and stars the legendary NTR as the god Krishna). Watch a brief trailer (for its re-release in color, here).

My novel, The Mythologist, draws on something of this world!

Representing India

The controversial Oprah video clip, here . Is saying "you still eat with your hands" complimentary, patronizing, or "just television"?

Chris Kattan in IFC's Bollywood Hero, here .

Mother India, Indiana Jones, Slumdog Millionaire, Ashton Kutcher's ad ... what has changed and what has not?

On a slightly different note, Burger King's Goddess Lakshmi ad, and the controversy, here.