About Film
Satya Prakash's
POV
Film &
Ideology
Cinema in terms of Art and Aesthetic seeks ideological
contemplation for engrave a particular society of world in tune of its
contemporary and historical position. Society has a series of contrasting ideological
moorings which produce many upheavals in its development.
Italian film maker Fedrico Felini's say of movie is
" The
picture that moves is called movie".
What sort of picture moves in movie, brings back the
question of ideological mooring of movie. What sort of pace of movement of
picture,brings back the question of technological as well as ideological
mooring of movie. A character in film raises a series of questions about
his/her association with various aspects of society like caste, class, clan,
elitism , aristocracy, serfdom, feudalism, feudal monarch , monarchism,
democracy, socialist democracy, capitalism, capitalist democracy, dictatorship,
social democracy and other various social-economic-political philosophies that
affect human lives to live in their sorts of ideological mooring. In such a
wave of thoughts and dialectic situations , film making or film can not be kept
isolated from churning of society. In these whirls of social churning, writers
catch the story of human lives of all shades.Romance, love, separation , crime,
ferociousness of rulers and Samaritan sorts of rulers become the parts of story
that has spread like a novel into a script for film. Technically, script is
moving in a series of logical progression from fade in
to fade out. How the film makers
use the technical know- how in the film, raises a series of ideological muse.
So film goes ahead with thoughts that attack upon another existing thoughts
that come into agitation and collision.Should a film go ahead with a story line
that has mindless action and hilarity in terms of exploitation of woman's body
to lure the male's erotica ? But is it isolated from a particular " point
of view"? This is also a prejudice opinion of male gender to satisfy
female as commodity. This film is ideologically against woman as human-being.
Few films have been placed as examples to
The recent movie " Masaan" unfolds many layers of
Indian society. A voluntary love between two young boy and girl mesh up the
life of a boy with his forced end in a hotel's room. This film exposes the
police atrocity on a retired and respected teacher and his young daughter.This
film says of love between untouchable boy and girl from upper caste.After
stating his social untouchability in social order of India ,educated
engineering state suffers from the dense state of distress and distraught
without taking sleep in night.The girl accepts the boy, confessing that her
family will never accept him but she is ready to go with him.However, this love
story ends up before arrival of social storm in Benaras( Holy city of Inda)
because the young and courageous girl departs from this world in a pathetic bus
accident.Both the love stories have lost their respective counterparts. They
come to another Holy city of India: Allahabad for their job and further
study.They meet at the bank of Sangam ( meeting of three holy rivers Ganges
,Yamuna and Sarswati in myth).Film fades out with sowing a new love story
between untouchable boy and pious Brahmin girl.
The movie " Pyaasa" unveils the seemingly-
looking-harmonious - Indian society that is nothing but inhumane greed that
puts love in triangular conflict along with nudity of human relation in a state
of highest degree of popularity of a poet.Social status emerging from power of
money dominantly becomes a cause of assassination of ethics, love and
human relations.
Director Rakesh Roshan's mega budget film " Karan
Arjun" is a revenge movie in successive two births of two brothers Karan
and Arjun as protagonists.This film screens out the grotesque face of a man who
kills his own brother-in-law and his two maternal nephews, strengthening the
meta physique theory of existence of God, rebirth and physical entity as world
created by God.So the film " Karan Arjun" exposes despotic cruelty of
human, establishing invisible power of God and that is ideology in the film.
The film "O MY GOD" progresses with the
assumption of "World without
God" but film fades out with strong assumption of
"World with God". However, the leading male character inflicts
attack upon dogma and superstition ,donation
borne out off religious practice of God in temples.Character
sues God,making film interesting. Thought works here obviously in safe guard of existence of God who runs human world.
The recent controversial film " PK" goes against
God and their false incarnations, dogma, superstitions and religious bigotry of
all religions of the world that are invented and created by men. The
protagonist says that the people do not worship the real God and that's why
,their prayers do not work.He says that this is wrong number. Above all, this
is a reformist film that says of impious
religion that is impediment
of progress of society. God and
religion must be there on right track.
Bollywood was influenced with noir cinema of France and it
has a series of films that reflect social and political churnings like "
Paar","Ankush" Ardh-satya,Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro etc.
Therefore, film cannot be kept away from social upheaval
and churning. Film is made male-centric or woman-centric or for working class,
for bourgeoisie class or for dominant Indian caste for vice versa.
These challenge to easy generalization raise significant
questions about ideological determinations and aesthetic value. They cast doubt
on the notion that any film, however Romantic or innovative or radical, must
produce certain influence at another., more controlling level that may provoke
others..They also help to remind us that art gets lost in the rush
to theory. This menace is
deep-rooted in mind of film makers. And this is the challenge posed before
them to entertain the audiences with
provocation. So, content must travel with life without compromise with immense
passion to the script, film makers transcends the ideology of writer
through their film making commitment.
Generally and traditionally, film critics regard the
influence of a text ( script) as dependent on
its distinctive qualities. When this influence is cast in terms of
"Textual System", as Metz calls it, "tension may well remain
between textual analysis and general theory or between ideology as a function
of an overarching system or apparatus and
as a function of a specific textual instance".
The literary critique Terry Ellington does not convince
himself, declaring sharply that art must avoid ideology because the ideology
prevents the flow of art from being nourished with various ways of thinking. Ideology
is like a forward walking of eye-fenced horse that pulls cart on the road .The
horse is compelled to see ahead on the road because of side- covered fence on its
eyes. Terry's example is right in case of animal world. Film makers are not slaves like animals.Art
makers and film makers are the part and parcel of production, evolution and
development of society or they are revolutionary to change the society through
their arts.
"Art is for art" is an ideology that makes human
society inert and fatigue that make the entire society detrimental to change.
Such art or cinema serves the capitalists who pump huge money into film making
business.
Therefore, thought and ideas work to shape the film with
sense of imagination. Greater the thought, greater would be imagination and
vice versa. So the art and cinema would be greater and realistic to shape the
society in a creative and intellectual way.
