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Classics revisited!

The last fortnight saw some of the greatest films ever made being screened in Bangalore. Sadly, hardly anyone knew about it and chances are that these films won’t be screened again in India for a while. The government doesn’t care enough about bringing the world of good cinema into the country.

There is no independent cinema circuit. Everyone presumes there isn't a large enough audience for great foreign films, so nobody considers doing anything about it. They believe you and I don’t exist. But isn’t it wonderful to be in love with great films? Even more so if you’re in India!

If the financially impoverished Bangalore Film Society -- bless them a million times -- can screen 20 good films a year, why can't others do it? But we need much more than just 20 films, because good cinema is education. And in a country like ours, where most people don’t have access to the written word, cinema becomes a very important medium of education. Perhaps, the most effective one even.

Let us proceed to tell you about ‘Cinemillennium,’ starring Vittorio De Sica, Akira Kurosawa, Henri Georges Cluzot, Sergei Eisenstein, Jean Luc-Goddard, Federico Fellini, Carl Dreyer, Jiri Menzel, Andrzej Wajda and Ingmar Bergman. If there's anyone who doesn't know who all these great names are, let's say they represent the cream of some of the greatest cinema mankind has ever seen.

There were inspirational films like Bicycle Thief, The Seven Samurai, Breathless, Wages of Fear, Battleship Potemkin, 81/2, The Passion of Joan d’Arc, Closely Guarded Trains, Ashes and Diamonds and Virgin Spring screened at the festival.

Read the write-ups on these films and you’ll feel even worse for having missed them. Talking about each film would be quite a futile exercise because there’s not much we can tell you about them. Chances are that we'll get really carried away. Besides where do we begin?

With Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin?...which has a sequence considered by most to be the greatest ever in the history of world cinema (and to think this film was made way back in 1925)! Or with Bicycle Thief, one of the most poignant films ever on morals and the father-child relationship. Or Closely Guarded Trains, a film that had me rolling in the aisles one minute and stunned by its intensity the other. The fact of the matter is every film had something to say about cinema. The films had us enthralled right up to the final minute...and wishing the festival would never end.

Do forgive us for not telling you more about the films. But there are far too many who have written so much about them. Each one is a true classic. There cannot be anything that could make you not want to see these films if you are a true film-lover or even if you've seen them once.

Although the prints weren’t top class, the acoustics in the hall weren't great, there were audible disturbances outside, seats were uncomfortable, the English subtitles were not too good -- the quality of the films shown more than made up for everything else.

One of the reasons why such festivals don’t happen often enough is because of the lack of a visible support base for cinema of this kind. "The biggest problem we face is lack of audience support," said Vasant Mukashi, one of the organisers behind the festival. Come again, lack of support from us? But aren’t we the people who complain about lack of enough good cinema in this country and the commercial rubbish that run in theatres?

The response to the just concluded ‘Cinemillenium’ was better. But only better than the response to the last set of films that were screened by the Bangalore Film Society (which isn’t really as encouraging as it sounds). Part of the reason could be the name. Most people would try and find the time to watch some of these ‘millennium classics,’ but most of us still only talk about the need for more such festivals.

The only thing Mukashi wanted us to do was "request film lovers to make time to support these little festivals." Only when support for good cinema starts becoming more visible will it be possible for greater steps to be taken. An example of support would be to make it a point to tell people about screenings being held, encourage people to talk about these screenings, build an audience for good cinema, lend a voice to the call for more such films being brought into the country.

For instance, you could make time to watch the next set of films slated to be screened by the Bangalore Film Society or patronise similar festival ventures in your city, start a film club among people you know, build a film community of independent cinema lovers in India on the Internet... do anything you can to make more festivals like 'Cinemillennium' happen. Because, as Mukashi pointed out, "the only way we can bring you great cinema is if we’re sure you’ll come and watch. If you tell us you want more 'good cinema' by being there whenever we bring it to you."

So spread the word and who knows, one day we might even have films like Being John Malkovich, The Idiots and hundreds of independent films that get made and released in markets around the world, coming to India. One day, India might even have a real world class film festival.

Till then, fly down to Bangalore for the second part of ‘Cinemillennium’ slated to be held in the first week of April. This time, unmissable classics of Indian cinema. If you can't find the time, don’t complain -- because we did tell you!