Mani Kaul (1944-2011): Ode To A Great Indian Filmmaker

Mani Kaul was one of the pioneering Indian filmmakers who contributed to the evolution of Parallel Cinema in India. Trained in the Film and Television Institute of India Pune, when Ritwik Ghatak was the chairman, Mani Kaul took cinema as an intricate method of expression. His Uski Roti (1969) was a revolution in Indian cinema bringing in an intellectual and intuitive approach to film-making (Filmfare critics award, 1971). Instead of obvious portrayal of emotions he made the audience study and understand every frame of his creations. If you are not attentive you may soon lose the thread of the narrative.

Rooted to realism Mani Kaul could hardly differentiate between his masterful features and documentaries. He won his first National Award for his feature ‘Duvidha’ in 1974 for Best Direction and won his second for his documentary ‘Siddheswari’ in 1989 for Best Documentary. His musical masterpiece ‘Dhrupad’ (1982) showed his deep understanding of Indian music and rigorous training under a guru. With profound understanding of life he also took the bold step of adopting Fydor Dostoevsky’s ‘The Idiot’ (1992) as a Hindi television serial and later a film for which he got the Filmfare critics award, 1993. In all, he got four Filmfare Critics Awards.

I met him several times when he was associating in the organization of the first and second Bombay International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (now MIFF) during 1990-92. Last time I met him on a long drive which was also several years ago. His liberated mind and sense of humor made him great company, always.

His death at 66 marks the end of an era. Maybe an incomplete one. Mani Kaul died at New Delhi in the early hours of 6^th July, 2011 after a prolonged illness. We condole the demise of a great filmmaker and pray for the eternal bliss of his soul.

How to Cut Wasteful Expenditures!

One imposing stern-faced snobbish bureaucrat showed an innovative way not only to control but to altogether cut away wasteful expenditures recently.

A team of experts were visiting his company to assess performance and productivity of various faculties and departments. There was everything official about it and the officer had no risk of spending a penny from his pocket. Now, due to links and sub-links the visiting team did not necessarily remain limited to only the experts and naturally expanded into a bigger one. Other company officials had to join too for various reasons. Anyway, there were no problems and the big team went on visiting.

The last stop was an interactive session with high tea. This time the imposing stern-faced snobbish bureaucrat put his assistant at the hall entrance and started screening people selecting specimen from his dear clan mostly for entry. So, many justifiably linked members of the team were effectively debarred from the last session…specifically the tea! Just imagine how much money saved thus!

Next day there was the report giving meeting at a posh hotel. Experts and key officers got seated inside the executive room. But a whole lot of linked members had to linger outside in the hotel lounge. Meantime preparations were made at the counter for serving tea. The imposing stern-faced snobbish bureaucrat told his assistant to oversee that tea was served only to those seated inside and not to anybody outside.

What a revolutionary way to cut down expenditures. The best thing is that it can be adopted by any officer in any office. So, next time a colleague or visitor comes down to your room deny him the tea! If you deny it to at least ten persons a day you save at least thirty bucks a day (taking into account the subsidized tea prices in offices) for your company. If you multiply by the number of working days in a year you save nearly nine thousand bucks! Taking into account the normal service years of 36 you stand to save a whopping three hundred thousand bucks.  If all serving officers adopt this innovation the savings would run into billions.

The method is almost foolproof. A particular imposing stern-faced snobbish bureaucrat would only have to ensure that he himself is not denied a tea on occasions when he is on the visiting side.

What a novel tea(r)ful way to cut down wasteful expenditures!

Maya Is Only Maya!

The genocides, tortures, murders and rapes currently coming to light in Uttar Pradesh of Northern India only prove that feudalism still rules in this region. Feudal lords of states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar may have assumed a democratic nomenclature, but  their basic nature and execution of duties remain horrifyingly the same as in the middle ages. The situation is confounded by still existing poverty, illiteracy, damnable traditions and exploding population.

Though bitter political fights are being fought over this saga of inhumanity, it’s hardly political. The ruling party may be under a lot of pressure and if this eventually effects transfer of  power to an opposition party the situation would not ever improve. This basically means a transfer of power from a feudal lord to another equally reactionary feudal lord. Feudal exploitation would remain its mantra.

No wonder, the Women Reservation Bill has been facing maximum opposition from these two states. Because, the basic principle of feudalism is to dominate and exploit women. The Lords would rather die of shame than elevating women. That the concerned Lord may be a woman too hardly matters.

From the ancient period the great sages and scriptures have been teaching us that the external world is only an illusion or maya. We should ignore it and try for internal bliss. So now, from the philosophical side whatever has been happening in Uttar Pradesh or in Northern India is only Maya (illusion). And, from the materialistic side it’s also Maya (wati)! We can only appeal to the sages to kindly reincarnate and tell us what to do!