Kumar Shahani
Kumar Shahani | |
---|---|
Born | British India | 7 December 1940
Died | 24 February 2024 Kolkata, West Bengal, India | (aged 83)
Nationality | Indian |
Occupation(s) | Film director, film academic, visual artist |
Known for | Maya Darpan, Tarang, Khayal Gatha, Kasba |
Kumar Shahani (7 December 1940 – 24 February 2024) was an Indian film director and screenwriter, best known for his
Early life
Shahani was born on 7 December 1940, in
Career
After returning to India, Shahani made his first feature film
From 1976 to 1978, he held a Homi Bhabha Fellowship to study the epic tradition of the
Influences
Shahani considered
For his film Tarang, which dealt with labour issues, Shahani mentioned that he consciously tried to avoid 'repeating' or 'imitating' one of his favourite films: Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin. Shahani stated:[4]
[F]or Tarang for instance, I was shooting a strike sequence. It was an obvious point where one could have quoted Eisenstein. Most filmmakers in such a situation would do so, inadvertently and unconsciously. Even the most "bourgeois" filmmakers as it were, the most commercial ones, or their exact opposites, would all do that. That is why one should remember him, to remember what he did and not to repeat it. So I remembered him while I was shooting that sequence, constantly like a prayer. We can't help saying that Eisenstein did it such a way and let only him do like that. That is why I feel very happy with that particular sequence in Tarang. It doesn't have, in any sense, an imitation of Eisenstein.
Shahani was also influenced by Ritwik Ghatak.[1][9]
Death
Shahani died in Kolkata, West Bengal on 24 February 2024, at the age of 83.[1][3][5] He was survived by his wife and daughters Uttara and Rewati.[9]
Filmography
Year | Film | Notes |
---|---|---|
1966 | The Glass Pane | b/w, 35mm, 10 min. Graduation film. FTII. |
1967 | Manmad Passenger | b/w, 35mm, 15 min. Short film. FTII. |
1967 | A Certain Childhood | (English and Gujarati). b/w, 35mm, 22 min. Documentary for Directorate of Films, Gujarat, India. |
1970 | Rails for the World | 35mm, 20 min. Technicolor, Documentary made for Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) |
1971 | Object | 16mm, 10 min. Kodachrome, Short film made in coll;aboration wioth the psychoanalyst Udayan Patel. |
1972 | Maya Darpan | (Hindi) 35mm, 100 min. Feature. NFDC. Winner |
1973 | Fire in the Belly | (English). b/w, 35mm, Documentary made for Films Division, India. |
1976 | Our Universe | (English). b/w, 16mm, Educational film |
1983 | A Memoir of the Future | (English). 35mm (incomplete). Film made on the work of British psychoanalyst W.R. Bion |
1983 | Rules of the Game | 35mm, Documentary (censored but not released), made for Films Division. |
1984 | Tarang | (Hindi). 35mm, Cinemascope, Feature produced by NFDC. National Film Award – Special Jury Award (Certificate)[16][17] |
1988 | Var Var Vari | (Hindi). b/w, 35mm, 29 min, produced by the Film & Television Institute of India |
1988 | A Ship Aground | (English). 16mm, Short film. |
1989 | Khayal Gatha | (Hindi) 35 mm Winner |
1991 | Kasba | (Hindi) 35 mm, produced by NFDC. Winner Filmfare Award – Best Film (Critics)[3]
|
1991 | Bhavantarana | (Oriya) film about Guru |
1997 | Char Adhyay | (Hindi and Bengali) film based on Rabindranath Tagore's novel[5] produced by NFDC |
2000 | Bamboo Flute/Biraha bhariyo ghar angan kone | (Hindi and Tamil) film produced by the Ministry of External Affairs |
2004 | As the Crow Flies | Film based on the artist Akbar Padamsee |
2007 | Chhapakhana | (Bengali) short film made at Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute |
2019 | Priye Charushile | (Oriya and Italian), feature documentary, completed but unreleased |
Awards
Source:[20]
- National Award (1972, 1984, 1991)
- Filmfare Critics Awards – Best Film(1972, 1990, 1991)
- FIPRESCIAward (1990)
- Prince Claus Award(1998)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Filmmaker Kumar Shahani passes away at 83". www.onmanorama.com. 25 February 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
- ^ Ashish Rajadhyaksha (January 1986). "Dossier on Kumar Shahani". Framework N 30.31. academia.edu. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Acclaimed filmmaker Kumar Shahani passes away at 83 from age-related ailments in Kolkata". Deccan Herald. 25 February 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
- ^ a b c d Winds From the East. "Interview With Kumar Shahani", Retrieved on 17 June 2014.
- ^ a b c d Ghosh, Avijit (26 February 2024). "Kumar Shahani, master of arthouse cinema, passes away". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
Director Kumar Shahani ... passed away at a Kolkata hospital late Saturday night. He was 83...
- ^ Homi Bhabha Fellowships Council. "Mr. Kumar Shahani" Archived 3 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved on 2 March 2009.
- ^ a b c d Ramachandran, Naman (25 February 2024). "Kumar Shahani, Pioneer of India's Parallel Cinema Movement, Dies at 83". Variety.
- ^ Upperstall.com Profile. "Kumar Shahani Upperstall Profile", Retrieved on 2 March 2009.
- ^ a b c d "Maya Darpan and Tarang director Kumar Shahani passes away". The Indian Express. 26 February 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
- ^ a b "20th National Film Awards". International Film Festival of India. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ a b Kumar Shahani, The Hindu
- ^ House of World Culture. "Kumar Shahani", "Culturebase The International Artist Database" Retrieved on 2 March 2009.
- ^ Ashish Rajadhyaksha. Kumar Shahani: The Shock of Desire and Other Essays. academia.edu.
- ISBN 978-93-82381-61-7.
- ^ G.K., "Musings of a Marxist", The Hindu. Retrieved on 2 March 2009.
- India International Film Festival. Archived from the originalon 12 November 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
- ^ "31st National Film Awards (PDF)" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
- ^ "39th National Film Awards". International Film Festival of India. Archived from the original on 15 March 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- ^ "39th National Film Awards (PDF)" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- ^ "The 5th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art" (Archived 21 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine), Retrieved on 2 March 2009.
External links
- Kumar Shahani – The Shock of Desire and Other Essays ed. Ashish Rajadhyakhsha
- Laleen Jayamanne The Epic Cinema of Kumar Shahani
- Jacques Kermabon & Kumar Shahani Cinema and Television: Fifty Years of Reflection in France
- Kumar Shahani at IMDb
- The museum as a refuge for film: the case for Kumar Shahini's epic cinema at Indian Auteur