Abstract
Amidst the clichéd representations of the urban world in Indian cinema in post-independence times, where ‘the urban’ is often perceived as the inevitable vice, there are few directors in both mainstream and regional cinema of India who attempted to dwell on a more engaged and critical reading of the newly emerging urban world and subject in Indian contexts. Within the domain of the Assamese cinema, Bhabendra Nath Saikia and Jahnu Barua have been the two prolific serious film makers who are noted for such engagement of their films with urbanity. This paper aims to describe, analyze and compare the characteristics of the cinematic projections of the urban life and urban subjectivities in the films of Saikia and Barua.
Highlights
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Money economy and intellectualism are closely connected phenomenon, he argues, and since large cities are the very centers of modern market economy, urban life is by necessity characterized by a high degree of rationalism expressed in a multitude of phenomena- for example, in how people organize their personal life, how they react to each other, which aesthetic preferences they develop, etc’ (Larsen: 2007:29-30)
Saru and Taru of Sandhyarag decided to settle in town with Moti; Jayanti of Abartan started a new life with Porimal in town; in Sarathi, the frustrated middle class man is ready to live his life in the same situation with his memories; Kiran of Kolahal accepts Badal for leading her future life, the unfortunate couple of Anirban find a new hope in the face of Dibakar and his wife
Summary
Production and distribution of Indian cinema is closely associated with the expansion of urbanity It has depicted the long process of urbanization ‘as a struggle towards coming to terms with and formulating agendas for modernity, and as reactions to and counter-programs against this process.’ (Kaarsholm: 2007:1) With its composition, cinema ‘offers aesthetic expressions of urban mass existence which are more adequate than most traditional art forms.’ (Larsen: 2007: 31) In studying city in the cinema, where notion of urbanity is considered as ‘newly encroaching world’, urbanity is seen through the rural perspective. The city or urban space as a concept of cinematic representation was remained a crucial absence in the Assamese film history It was director Bhabendra Nath Saikia, who endeavored to enter in the complex world of serious cinema by bringing the urban experience through camera. A critical look is always there for the urban lifestyle and ideology, which is bring together with the other major issues
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