Reviving Gandhian values on celluloid

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2023

The recent years have seen a significant transformation in cinema. Its efforts to exhibit socially conscious and responsible films have broadened its role beyond that of merely providing moving pictures and have had a significant impact on millions of people. The movie business is gradually turning its attention to social concerns and hopes that the trial will increase public awareness of them. However, many image creators continue to employ the same picture-making method, which may negatively impact viewers. The purpose of the study is to examine the significant influence that Indian films have on audiences. In order to achieve this, it will discuss and examine both virtues and flaws. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the social objective of the movies, which sheds light on the evolution of the entertainment business. This study demonstrates that moviegoers enjoy these films, and it inspires upcoming directors and the media to consider social issues by including real-world events into their works.

Kalindi College Yearly Academic Journal 2017 (ISSN: 2348-9014), 2017

This research paper attempts to focus on how Gandhi and Cinema together contributed towards the birth of a nation. Both worked individually towards uniting the country by infusing nationalist fervour. It further explores the relationship between Gandhi and Cinema to understand how did they impact each other? Cinema as a tool not only proved to be an inspirational agent but also contributed towards strengthening the cause for independence. But, somehow, Gandhi never gave the recognition it deserved as he never preferred watching cinema. Despite being averse to it, cinema always portrayed Gandhi as an idealist and a national hero whose presence in cinema could alone validate its existence and acceptance in the society. Indian cinema, thus, always stood for uniting the nation and its people by spreading the aura of Mahatma. Undoubtedly, cinema played a pivotal role in carrying his legacy and philosophy which has permeated into our very thoughts and act even today.

International Journal of Multidisciplinary Educational Research, 2018

M. K. Gandhi constitutes an undeniable space of Indian landscape. Textual interpretation, along with information, concerning Gandhi has been abounded with numerous significant works in social sciences. These are the crucial signpost to comprehend Gandhi. Nonetheless, there is limit to these academic works in terms of accessibility to commoners. Another medium which can be easily accessed by commoners for knowing Gandhi is cinema. It is one of the most powerful and vital expressions in India. Cinema plays an important role in social formation. The influence of movies as agent of socialization, along with all forms of media, cannot be underestimated. It is obvious that films are one of the potent media for setting the desired agenda on masses. In India, the query as to comprehend film to understand society has been mostly ignored. In this backdrop, it becomes imperative to interrogate those spheres which so far have not been unveiled in terms of explaining the cinematic representation of Gandhi. Popular Hindi cinema is one such realm; there are numerous Hindi movies in which Gandhi appears either as a character or as an idea. In this regard, this paper proposes to disentangle the link between popular Hindi cinema and Gandhi.

IJAHMS, 2015

Cinema has always been one of the most fascinating forms of knowledge which has made great impact on human culture. The cinema has become the most powerful media for mass communication in India. India has the largest film producing industry in the world. The raw material for cinema is life itself. It has become universal teacher molding the cultural, psychological and socio-economical frameworks of a common man. It is a platform where people could see different cultures. It is an audiovisual translation of literature and potential source for revenue. It has the ability to combine entertainment with communication of ideas and appeal for its audience. Cinema presents an image of the society. It is a powerful medium that provides useful and entertaining information on history, civilization, religion, politics and socioeconomic aspects in various regional languages. It creates awareness on social disorders like untouchability, child labor, bonded labor etc. and leads to communal harmony. It has been Promoting National Integration, International Understanding and helping in eradication of illiteracy by creating awareness in the society. It is helping the mass to have access to free flow of information providing large scale employment, promoting infrastructure development and key source of foreign exchange earnings. Cinema is creating awareness on the issues relating to women, children, minority and other common people. In 20 th century Indian cinema became a global enterprise, enhanced technology paved the way for upgrading the cinema industry. Contemporary Indian cinema literature centered on common man and bears the essential relation with social and political history of the country. There is a general feeling that, cinema badly affect the health and studies of the youth and leads to the present day crimes. Indian youth failed to make use of good impacts and are badly influenced by the present cinema. Cinema influences the society and vice-versa. Now a day"s movies became more commercial instead of inspirational or motivational in giving good messages. It has become almost impossible to sit the kids with elders to watch movies together, because of lip locks, bikini and romantic scenes. This paper is intended to reveal the place of a common man in cinema literature as well as the impact of the cinema on a common man.

Library Progress International, 2024

The study looks at how western cinema and the impact of Progressivism has affected Indian cinema on a broad scale, as well as how that has affected societal values. India's film industry underwent significant changes in terms of both content and production as the country opened its doors to the world market and embraced the forces of globalization. This study explores how the western cinema with the help of globalization affected different facets of Indian cinema, which in turn affected societal norms, values, and attitudes.

2019

The Indian Cinema has unveiled significantly in the recent years, by not restricting itself to just being a source of mere entertainment, but, by experimenting to stride towards showcasing social and responsible cinema” thereby having a stronger impact on the masses. Slowly but steadily the film fraternity is vouching on social issues and is ready to take the ordeal to create awareness amongst the audience. However, a major chunk of the movie makers still follow the traditional movie making formula which may have adverse bearings on the audiences. The research paper aims to cover the holistic effects of Indian cinema on movie buffs through a discussion and box office success of certain movies belonging to realistic cinema. The objective of the paper is to applaud the social initiatives taken by the cinema highlighting the success of the ever evolving showbiz industry. The study showcases that the success of this genre amongst cinema-goers and encourages the budding young film makers...

Films shape and change the views those people hold about the world at large and its public in particular. The film producers have managed to lift the veil on a concealed quandary. It might be about a bias to a marginal, or the bold story of transformation by a single character, but either way, it raises consciousness about the issue at hand. (Robert Oakes, "Movies Promoting Social Change"). Cinema is an influential medium. It speaks with the tongue of universality. Cinema through story-telling, documentary, realism or narrative through its very nature demands a universal language. By accessing and understanding what makes a universal subject, the audiences can better connect with the world around them. Films symbolize and at the same time imply. They remix the real, the unreal, the present, real life, memory, and dream on the same-shared intellectual level. There are many factors important for a movie to leave an impact in the memory of the audience. Quality of the movie is one of those factors. It must have a forceful and persuasive storyline that can effortlessly bond with the viewers but also reveal varied issues in a clear and easy manner. Madhuri Dixit starrer ‘Hum Apke Hai Kaun' is a very apt example of this kind. ('Hum Apke Hai Kaun'.) There are many pieces of research on the role of films and their effect on the values of a human being and society to create social awareness and knowledge. Movies have a very powerful force in creating an idea and social awareness. The force is added by using glamour, sex, music, gaudy visibility and new styles are adequate to reinforce this concept. Films can be treated as a media of enjoyment in people's everyday lives. They are viewed and enjoyed by all, irrespective of class, gender, and age. It is a very powerful means to make our ideas conduct in some way or another and the impact may be both good and bad. There is a direct and quick link between films and their outreach as changing means. Most of the persons would automatically change their thoughts after viewing a film. Nobody can deny their very strapping means to transform the outlook of the society. In India, films are a popular, cheap and mainstream way of entertainment, as there was, no other popular, cheap and easy way of entertainment. Edgar Dale conducted 13 studies to prove this point. He classified movies into 10 groups after important study. Bollywood filmmakers, artists and actors claim they are the torchbearers of 'feminism' in the new-age cinema. In lectures, they advocate the woman's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes. But in Indian films, women are treated as the toy of a man. They hardly get a good role. They are depicted very wrongly, e.g. a woman, betrayed by the lover/groom picks up a bottle of alcohol and walks the streets while an old 'Hindi' song plays in the background... In the latest development, in the films- a woman, tired of doing the daily chores in the kitchen, pulls a chair and begins to sip some wine with her husband and other 'men'. This is women empowerment and feminism of Bollywood. Such critics fail to understand the story of women's valour and their brave, harsh, radical decision. It was their choice. That was dear to their feminism. It was their power and freedom to choose. It was Padmavati's choice and free will to not give herself up to Khilji. The question about life after rape does not arise. She, out of her free will, chose to embrace the fire rather than the debauch Alauddin. It was a matter of choice and not forced upon them by their husbands! Films, ads, opinions that portray women doing things that man do is lauded and celebrated as 'feminism'. According to Bollywood films, feminism and equality are reduced to women smoking, drinking, gambling, body showing, free-sex etc on screen. It is a matter of pride that, Indian cinema has not only remained popular in India, but it has increased its boundaries elsewhere in the world. It is really encouraging to see a ‘double bottom-line' production house in India. Films are a really powerful medium in India. Now, activism has crept into Bollywood. A whole generation of young writers is growing up in the shadow, pomp and show of activism. But their approach is very negative. In the name of art, they support the cause of artists from Pakistan and anti-Hindu storyline. Such activists always try to defame the nation and malign the Hindus. Stars like Aamir Khan, Naseeruddin Shan, Javed Akhter, Shabana Azmi etc indulge such type of negative activism. Even terrorists are shown as victims. These art movies show nation and ideas in poor light. But art, real spirited art that does not hunt for easy crutches, achieves far more in the course of moving us and amusing us than activism ever does. The film ‘Newton', for instance, shows with considerable power the absurdity of democratic process in an impoverished tribal region; and that extreme uprightness in a person is actually a psychiatric condition. The film tried to depict Maowadi terrorists as victims of the system and tried to generate more sympathy for the "Maoist terrorists". All this discussion is enough to say that in India, the power and reach of a film have not being used in the nation building and create a positive approach about the nation nada the society. On the contrary, they create a very negative image of the nation, society, women, Hindus, Indian history and Indian society. The Government and the censor board need to tackle these issues and force the Bollywood to change. The society must understand that while judicial verdict and laws help, but the nation and any faith should not be demonized. The society's attitude towards them must change. This is an area where the people have to join the battle.

2019

This chapter looks at how issues of modernity and Hinduism have been treated in a key modern medium: film. Chatterjee looks closely at several important Indian films that all reveal changing ideas on the place of Hinduism in modern India. Several of these films are historical. For instance, Rammohun Roy, the subject of Killingley’s chapter, is the hero in the 1965 film bearing his name. It shows the reformer as an enlightened man fighting social ills, insisting that Hinduism should exist peacefully with Islam. According to Chatterjee, the portrayal also glosses over several other, and important, aspects of his life. The social and religious movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries inspired a large body of Indian films in the early decades of Indian cinema, and these are one of the main foci of Chatterjee’s chapter.

Tulika Books, 2009

Nowhere has the cinema made more foundational a public intervention than in India, and yet the Indian cinema is consistently presented as something of an exception to world film history. What if, this book asks, film history was instead written from the Indian experience? Indian Cinema in the Time of Celluloid reconstructs an era of film that saw an unprecedented public visibility attached to the moving image and to its social usage. The cinema was not invented by celluloid, nor will it die with celluloid's growing obsolescence. But 'celluloid' names a distinct era in cinema's career that coincides with a particular construct of the twentieth-century state. This is not merely a coincidence: the very raison d'etre of celluloid was derived from the use to which the modern state put it, as the authorized technology through which the state spoke and as narrative practices endorsing its authority as producer of the rational subject.