Laila Sharmeen is a storyteller who happens to be an artist. She believes in changes. She is a visionary whose ideas of change involve both the past and future, while remaining firmly rooted to the present. Laila Sharmeen is delightful, evocative and lyrical. She has the simplicity of a child and the intensity of a…
Sasanka Perera showcases the Sri Lankan artists who have made bold attempts to dismantle modernist preconditions without being trapped by the postmodern condition. Like much of the rest of South Asia, Sri Lanka also has a very long tradition in visual arts, particularly with reference to painting and sculpture mostly within the archaeological record relating…
Cartoons, as they are now known, was introduced in Bengal in the 1870s by the British expatriates emulating the famous London Punch. Soon this new genre of art caught the imagination of educated Bengalis who found a new medium to express their age old talent of self-mockery. Bengali cartoonists pilloried the deficiencies and drawbacks of…
Let’s face it. Monica Ali did not write Brick Lane to bring out an image of the community that western audiences are not used to imagining. She highlighted the stereotypes with some broad brush strokes and no intention to look for nuances. The settings she portrayed are probably cliché for us Bangladeshis. However, to unsuspecting…
John Hood’s recent book claims to give a comprehensive and impartial analysis of Satyajit Ray’s oeuvre. Shamsad Mortuza’s book review questions the ethos of judging films while sitting on the cultural fence, and challenges the notion of neutrality. Apart from stating the obvious, the title of John W. Hood’s recent book Beyond the World of…
The influence of the proscenium theatre in the creation of the first generation of actors and actresses in Indian cinema is immense. Such an influence challenges the hegemony of the west and helps us detect a film tradition of our own. ‘New forms of pleasures arrive with the development of the society. Among other forms…
Tareque Masud locates his films on the confluence of high and popular art and urges for the rise of pre-modern Islamic culture as a response to Islamomania. James Leahy caught up with Tareque Masud for an intriguing interview. James Leahy: Obviously Matir Moina (The Clay Bird) is deeply rooted in the culture of Bengal and…
Recently we went to the Bangladesh National Film Archives and sifted through the dust-encrusted stacks of old cinema posters in their collection. What we found was a gold mine, albeit a disorganized and neglected one – hundreds of posters dating from the industry’s earliest stirrings in the 1950’s to the present day. Some are painted…
The Natyasastra, or “Principles of Drama” as set forth in the ancient Indian tradition, may guide us towards a better understanding of the unique aesthetics of South Asian cinema. “Popular” cinema, while looked down upon by elitist critics, has many elements drawn from the Natyasastra, such as an emphasis on “emotional arousal” over narrative. Father…
In Bangladesh art cinema, the representation of Islam often conveys a simplistic and clear-cut dichotomy between an ‘obscurantist’ version of Islam and ‘modern and secular’ Bengali identity. Zakir Hossain Raju believes this is a reflection of longstanding and unresolved identity conflicts within the society. This essay is an effort to deconstruct how Bangladeshi art cinema…
