Vintage Bollywood!

Bollywood showcards are making waves at Canada’s Royal Ontario Museum. Deepali Dewan, curator of South Asian Arts and Culture talks about the importance of film art

What’s the significance of the exhibition Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s?

The Bollywood showcards are part of a long tradition of painted photographs. There are no names of recorded artists, but Nathdwara in Rajasthan was popular for the art, which was initially patronised by royalty over a hundred years ago. Later, it became accessible to everyone and the photographs were used during memorials, and even sent to suitors as part of a marriage proposal. As for Bollywood, these showcards are rare, since unlike film posters, there were only sets of four or six available for each film. It’s a miracle any have survived. Showcards were a unique form of film advertising and only found in India. They are different from the typical stills displayed in lobbies of cinema halls; film stills were pasted on to a board and painted over to create an emotional and dramatic impact.

What are your memories of Bollywood?

Surprisingly, I have few memories of Hindi films. I have a Hindu-Punjabi father and American mother and we lived in Delhi in the early 70s, where we usually watched films on television and rarely ventured into a cinema hall. When we moved to Canada, my dad brought loads of music tapes along. I grew up knowing all the songs, but minus the images to go with them and not knowing which films they were from. I was exposed to the films only in the 90s and my favourite remains Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. I never thought I would be doing research based on Bollywood! It’s been great to get the reactions from people who have viewed the show; some are impressed to find these in a museum!

How did you source the showcards?

There are several collectors, but we eventually used the personal collection of Canadian Angela Hartwick, whose photographer husband is based in Mumbai. They found these showcards during a visit to Mumbai’s Chor Bazaar, and over five years, collected 200 such examples.

Tell us about your project Bollywood Hero…

It’s a commissioned billboard, 15 feet tall and 36 feet wide, and will be part of the museum’s permanent collection. The lead artist is Mumbai-based Suresh Sandal. It’s a historical exploration of the role of the hero, from the early days to the present — from Dev Anand to Shah Rukh Khan and beyond. It has a huge picture of Amitabh Bachchan from the film Deewar. It’s a handpainted history of Bollywood.

Do you believe that Bollywood is not a local but global phenomenon, and a serious one at that?

It has its fun side as being entertaining and a secret pleasure that no one admits to, although that seems to be changing. It has its roots in art and stage performances and is part of a larger cultural whole. As a researcher, I take that seriously. I also teach at the University of Toronto and ask my students to watch Bollywood films; they write about the links they find to the stories told through miniature Rajput paintings. Hindi cinema, which was renamed Bollywood only much later, was part of the international film industry from the initial years. The characters, costumes were all part of an international dialogue. Hollywood films played in Bombay, and Hindi films were submitted to film festivals abroad. We must appreciate the complexity of the Hindi film phenomenon.

Vegetarian — Or Not?

Raising a child to be vegetarian or dealing with one while one parent enjoys meat can be confusing. You enjoy your fish, while your spouse digs his veggies…or you both enjoy meat, while it makes your child queasy. How do you guide your child’s eating choices, without passing value judgements?

When Vijayluxmi Bose’s son was young, he refused to touch his meat and found fish smelly — a very difficult situation indeed for a Bengali family. He equated meat with animals and the sight of meat on his plate brought images of animals being slaughtered.

Despite pressure from well-meaning relatives and friends, Bose decided to let her son be. However, she says, “He now has eggs and occasionally kebabs. But if there’s a choice between rajma and korma, he’ll choose the former.” He’s also been explained that it may be discourteous to refuse meat as a guest at someone’s house, when veggies may be a more expensive option or when they rarely figure as part of the menu.

Parents’ Dilemma

It’s tough for parents to walk the talk when it comes to raising kids as ‘veggies’, even when the choice is made for them. A young mother, a vegetarian, shares her dilemma, “My husband is a hardcore non-vegetarian and I don’t even eat eggs, so I had my task cut out when my daughter was old enough to understand. However, we are of one opinion that she doesn’t really need to eat meat now and it will be entirely her choice once she is old enough.”

Leaving it to the child to decide may work in some cases, but is easier said than done for others. Sumita Thapar’s parents decided to allow their three children to choose to eat meat if they wished despite being vegetarians themselves. She states, “Today, two of us remain hardcore vegetarian. One of my brothers enjoys his mutton, and my little nephew counts bacon as his favourite food. Fine by all of us.”

Having a set of parents, one vegetarian, and the other ‘non-veg’, can make for a confused child. Priya Cassens rewinds to her childhood, “The child wants to emulate the parents’ eating habits and doesn’t know what to do. While Mom was vegetarian and we are vegetarians by caste, Dad had opportunities to sample meat dishes at the neighbours’, growing up in north India.

My parents never discouraged me from eating meat, but it was never really ever prepared at home and if Dad ever wanted to cook chicken occasionally, Mom asked him to use separate utensils and dishes.”

She adds, “So while I had been introduced to meat at a very early age and even liked the taste of it, I think watching my Mom not eat it, and not even like the smell of it, made me feel uncomfortable about eating meat.” While her brother grew up unreservedly relishing meat-based dishes, she chooses chicken and fish only if there isn’t “a good vegetarian alternative”.

Confusing Rules And Standards

For parents who want to ensure their children stay vegetarian, how do they explain to a child that it’s wrong to kill animals when one parent eats meat? Psychiatrist Anjali Chhabria believes there’s no perfect way to do this. She says, “The child wonders why there are different rules or standards set for him and his parent. In order to deal with this situation, you can start by telling your child that different individuals tend to follow different eating habits for different reasons.

One has learnt from childhood that eating meat is okay, however, the other has learnt that eating meat involves killing animals which is morally incorrect. You can emphasise on the positive aspects of eating vegetarian food. For instance, it’s healthier and easier to digest. Also, it is important that you focus on the eating behaviour and don’t give any labels to the parent, such as: ‘he’s doing wrong, it doesn’t mean you do it, too’.”

And, how do you deal with emotional children, once they make the connection that meat comes from animals they love reading about or see around them? Chhabria adds, “If the child is very attached emotionally to, say, a toy duck that she plays with while having a bath, you need not explain how the animal is killed and made into meat.

Also, you can give the child a scientific and nature-based explanation as to how the ecosystem maintains its balance when people eat farm food as well as animals. It’s important that the parent helps the child understand that there is no sin in eating meat.” It’s wise to allow the child to explore and take her own decision.

Is Vegetarianism Good?

Meanwhile, is a purely veggie diet good for kids? Explains Delhi-based dietician Beena Arora, “The nutritional needs of children change, as they grow. A vegetarian diet can meet a child’s nutritional needs, but only if it is well-planned. A diet rich in fruits and veggies will be high in fibre and low in fat, factors known to improve cardiovascular health by reducing blood cholesterol and maintaining a healthy weight.

If your child insists on pizzas or burgers, make it at home and include as many veggies as you can.”

She cautions, “Some of the nutrients that vegetarians should include in their diet are: vitamin B12 — present in dairy products and vitamin-fortified products like cereals and bread; vitamin D — present in citrus juices;

Calcium — dairy products, green leafy vegetables, tofu and other soy products being the rich source; Iron — whole grains, leafy green vegetables, and iron-fortified cereals, bread and Zinc — wheat germ, nuts, fortified cereal, dried beans, and pumpkin seeds.”

It’s a balancing act, in more ways than one! Ultimately, it’s a matter of choice.

http://www.speakingtree.in/view-article/Vegetarian-Or-Not

'Rama’s Mistakes Bring Him Closer To Us'

Did King Dasaratha’s weakness for his young wife Kaikeyi affect his son Rama’s choices towards his wife Sita, leading to her banishment? Did the revered prince of Ayodhya abandon the kshatriya code when he killed monkey king Vali?

In her book, Lost Loves: Exploring Rama’s Anguish, ARSHIA SATTAR talks of Rama’s conflict between multiple dharmas and the relevance of the epic today. She talks to ANURADHA VARMA about Rama and Sita’s love story gone wrong and more.

What are your earliest memories of the Ramayana? And what later attracted you to its retelling and Rama, in particular?

I first heard the story of Rama when I was a child, from my ayah who came from the hills. It’s also my first memory of fear — I was afraid that Ravana would come and take me away. My parents were always reading me stories and buying me books, especially books of myths and folk tales. So I think I entered a story-telling universe of flying monkeys and dragons and fairy queens rather early. And I stayed with it.

The Ramayana is everywhere in India — it’s like the air we breathe. So it’s not that I was attracted to it again, it was always there, somewhere. As for Rama, that’s been more recent. And I can’t say that I’m ‘attracted’ to him; it’s more like I am confused about him and so have to think about him more than I do about other characters in the story.

How much was Rama human and how much god-like? Which aspect appeals to you more and why?

I think everyone decides for themselves how human Rama was or how god-like. The human Rama is interesting because he seems closer to us. We can think about his actions in terms of our human failings and temptations and fears. We can see that he made mistakes which he deeply regretted. And that brings him close to us.

You’ve written that Dasaratha’s attitude towards Kaikeyi embarrassed Rama and affected his own relationship with Sita. Was this the root cause in his eventual detachment from Sita?

There’s a whole chapter in the book that talks about this. Yes, I think Rama was deeply affected by his father’s actions — actions which changed Rama’s life forever. Had they not been exiled into the forest, perhaps Sita would not have been taken away from him. But then, we would not have had this beautiful story, which is one of how we can lose love and what happens when we have to live without it.

What is the eternal dharma that Rama strives towards? How does this conflict with his kshatriya dharma and personal desires? Where, in all this, does Rama’s real greatness lie?

Rama renounces kshatriya dharma on three separate occasions, so it’s clear that it troubles him on many levels. It’s not simply about warriors and violence, it’s also the demands that kingship makes on a person. Rama is impressed by and attracted to the quietude of the lives of the ascetics in the forest. You could call that eternal dharma if you like.

For me, the more challenging idea is that there are multiple dharmas according to who you are and what stage of life you are in. We could also argue that Dasaratha chose to honour his dharma as a husband because he was at the end of his life as a king. Rama had to reject Sita because he was starting his life as a king. I’m not sure where Rama’s greatness lies.

For some people, he was never great. It’s for the reader or the believer to decide whether Rama is great and if so, what it is that makes him that.

What makes Sita finally leave Rama? Is it because she realises that Rama has forgotten how to love her? Is there a final irrevocable emotional distance between the two?

This is also in the book — it’s this terrible moment that gives the book its name, ‘Lost Loves’. I don’t think he’s forgotten how to love her, he has learnt to love her differently. He loves her now as a king would love his queen. Sita takes the enormous step of leaving him by entering the earth. In that sense, she gives up on the idea of their love — so yes, given that she leaves him forever, to say that there is an ‘irrevocable distance between the two’ would be an understatement!

Is the Ramayana eventually a love story? What lessons do Rama-Sita’s relationship have for us?

The Ramayana is ALSO a love story, even as it is many other things. It’s an epic; it’s a story about how to be a king. For some people, it’s a story about god acting on earth, among humans, showing what to do and what not to do. I find the Ramayana most compelling as a love story, but there’s a Ramayana for each of us. What do we learn from Rama and Sita’s relationship? We learn how hard it is for love to be constant, how hard it is to have expectations from your beloved that are not fulfilled. We also learn how vulnerable we are and how difficult it is to adjust to changes in our lives.

Do we need to challenge the notion of Rama-Sita as the eternal ideal couple?

I can’t see how a relationship that’s largely spent in separation can be ideal. Rama and Sita and their relationship are always going to be on our cultural horizon but how we regard it, whether as ideal and eternal or problematic depends on who we are. If one believes that Rama is god, then of course his relationship with his wife and others are going to be considered ideal. But if not, then we have other ways to think about the relationship, and consider what it says about our ideas of men and women in society.

http://www.speakingtree.in/view-article/Ramas-Mistakes-Bring-Him-Closer-To-Us

'We’ve forgotten Sita'

SAMHITA ARNI has authored the graphic novel, ‘Sita’s Ramayana’. In retelling the epic, she is pleasantly surprised to discover a strong, assertive and powerful Sita. She talks to ANURADHA VARMA 

What prompted your retelling the Ramayana from Sita’s point of view?

As a child abroad, the Ramayana didn’t interest me much because I didn’t find Sita interesting. When I came back to India, I found that every day, the newspaper had some reference or other to the Ramayana. The epic is still very much alive and permeates all aspects of our lives — from politics to reality television. So, of course, I got interested in the epic.

In my grandmother’s generation there were lots and lots of women called Sita; in my generation, I don’t know a single Sita. Women, obviously, don’t want to call their daughters Sita; why name their daughters after a long-suffering, abandoned, self-sacrificing wife? Women don’t want that fate for their daughters.

Yet when I started reading and discovering the other versions of the Ramayana, some had assertive, powerful, strong Sitas. For example, one version has a very interesting explanation for why Janaka required Sita’s suitors to string Shiva’s bow. When Sita was a young child, Janaka found that she had lifted the bow. So Janaka, determined, that if his daughter was so strong, he must find a man who could match her in strength, and thus he devised the swayamvara.

How do you view Sita and her journey?

I think we’ve forgotten who Sita is. Sita’s Ramayana came partly out of feeling the need to have a retelling of the Ramayana that gave Sita a voice. I think a lot of women who are single mothers, in tough situations, who are struggling to make a life for themselves in what is still very much a man’s world, can find inspiration in Sita’s courage.

We shouldn’t forget the ending of the Ramayana as it is narrated in the Valmiki and many other versions — that Sita chooses, instead of returning to Ayodhya and being Rama’s queen, to go back to where she came from — the earth. She makes a choice; she strikes out on her own. It’s a very powerful, proto-feminist choice.

How do you perceive Rama as a god and also as man, husband and father?

In the dilemmas that Rama and Sita face, we can find an echo of our own problems. There are episodes that aren’t always neat, aren’t black and white — I think they should provoke us to think, engage with the text, and ask questions. If we cease to engage with the epic, I think we start to forget what a powerful and influential story it is.

Can this be called a feminist Ramayana? The women’s anguish is portrayed well: from Mandodari’s pain to Tara’s anguish on being asked to return to former husband Sugriva and also Rama’s lashing out at Sita after his victory, when he says, “Sita, you are free. I have freed you. You can do whatever you want. Go wherever you want.”

Unfortunately, we live in a time that when you call something feminist, it immediately makes people think that it’s only for women. So I’m hesitant to call it a feminist Ramayana for that reason — I’d really like little boys to go out and read this. I hope, I’ve written it in a way that appeals to them, too. Moyna (illustrator) and I are both women, and so our own engagement with Sita and the Ramayana will be coloured by that. I think that’s what made me identify with Mandodari, Tara and Sita.

And the bit about Rama’s conversation with Sita after his victory — I’d like to clarify since many have thought that this is a feminist insertion — that’s actually taken from the Valmiki Ramayana. I met Moyna, a Patua artist; she had a really interesting take on the Ramayana that was based on the Patua folk version. The retellings from the oral tradition, which evolve and change over time and with each storyteller, interested me. Moyna’s version — from Sita’s point of view like the 16th century Bengali poetess Chandrabati's version— was interesting.

You wrote a children’s version of the Mahabharata when you were barely 12. And now, at 27, you are writing on the Ramayana. Which epic engages you more today and why?

Both epics engage me in different ways, and for different reasons. I think the Mahabharata is an epic that is always relevant — someone once said that the Mahabharata is about war, and so it is relevant to every experience of conflict. Maggi Lidchi-Grassi, whose three-volume, The Great Golden Sacrifice of the Mahabharata came out recently, draws parallels between the Mahabharata and World War II.

Dharamvir Bharati’s play on the Mahabharata, Andha Yug, is influenced by Partition. When Peter Brook dramatised and filmed the Mahabharata in the ’80s, his choice of an international cast showed that the epic is relevant to all cultures; it speaks to every experience of conflict, including Vietnam and the Cold War.

My favourite character is Karna. He’s a tragic hero, and his story and fate reveal that conflicts are always more complex and tragic, that the ideas of good and evil aren’t absolute and are very complex.The Ramayana
interests me differently. I find the innumerable versions fascinating, from shadow puppet performances to the epic versions in various languages.

The way the epic has travelled outside India and evolved in Indonesia, a Muslim country, and in Buddhist Thailand is something we often neglect. It’s a pan-Asian tradition, and the proliferation of the epic is fascinating. Every re-teller of the story has added a new nuance, and has a different perspective on the story. As for characters, I find Sita fascinating. I’m also very partial to Trijatha. All the female characters, from Kaikeyi to Urmila and Surpanakha, intrigue me.

What is your forthcoming book, ‘Searching for Sita’, about?

It’s a ‘speculative fiction feminist thriller’ which situates the Ramayana in today’s world — there are phones, Internet, 24-hour news channels, etc. The main character is a journalist, who wants to interview Sita but can’t find her, and in the process, meets all kinds of characters like Kaikeyi and travels to Lanka, Mithila, and gets into trouble. Hopefully, it should be out in 2012.

http://www.speakingtree.in/view-article/Weve-forgotten-Sita