In the modern economic system, the only certain reality is class struggle. Mrinal Sen’s 1979 movie ‘Ek Din Pratidin’ portrays the struggle of a young woman from economically marginalised society. Using her struggle to interpret our... more
In the modern economic system, the only certain reality is class struggle. Mrinal Sen’s 1979 movie ‘Ek Din Pratidin’ portrays the struggle of a young woman from economically marginalised society. Using her struggle to interpret our current political system and vote-driven political agenda, writes Muhammad Kamruzzaman.--'NEW AGE'
This article investigates why and how the Naxal movement, a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist armed revolutionary movement which emerged in May 1967 in India, has been repeatedly addressed, adapted, and accommodated in Indian cinema. As an... more
This article investigates why and how the Naxal movement, a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist armed revolutionary movement which emerged in May 1967 in India, has been repeatedly addressed, adapted, and accommodated in Indian cinema. As an organized political movement with specific manifesto and vision of the nature of the state, the Naxal movement attempted to disrupt and dismantle the quasi-feudal Indian social structure and an oppressive Indian state that functioned still under colonial administrative regulation, as caretaker of interests of the powerful classes. In this article, I argue that the Naxal movement helped Indian cinema to map out the history and internal architecture of political dissent in post-independence India and construct a counter-nationalist discourse. The paper aims to evaluate how the Naxal Movement serves as a resource to represent the politics of dissent in India in the 1970s in parallel cinema and as a critique of the neo-liberal policies of the Indian State in the postmillennial Bollywood films. It aims to analyse selected films that deal with the Naxal/Maoist movements in India as a counter historiography.
Mrinal Sen made Chorus in 1974. His political fantasy set in future was very avant-garde in its treatment and conception, but it has never been connected to the genre of Cyberpunk; a sub-genre of science fiction which became popular much... more
Mrinal Sen made Chorus in 1974. His political fantasy set in future was very avant-garde in its treatment and conception, but it has never been connected to the genre of Cyberpunk; a sub-genre of science fiction which became popular much later with Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982). Chorus shares many of its ideologies with this culture and this article showcases the comparisons between the film and the tropes it shares with the genre of Cyberpunk.
