Neo-Wave in Indian Cinema: A Chronological Evaluation

Piyali Chakraborty
(Assist. Prof. Dept. of Mass Communication & Videography, Vidyasagar University.
[email protected]. Mob No.:9432534842)

Santanu Banerjee
(Head, Dept. of Mass Communication & Videography, Vidyasagar University.
[email protected]. Mob No.:9231923292)
Objective: The Indian Neo Wave, commonly known in India as Art Film or Parallel
Cinema emerged as an alternative to the mainstream Indian cinema, is a precise movement in
Indian cinema, acknowledged for its serious content, realism and naturalism. The movement was
developed as an alternative school of thought with a specific contrast to the mainstream
commercialization of films, mostly based upon Bollywood (Mumbai Film Industry). The
pioneers of the movement had a keen eye on the socio-political climate of the contemporary
times. The objective of our paper is to find out the chronological traces and an evaluation of
various aspects of Indian Parallel Cinema and the infusion of Neo-realism and humanitarian
approaches in Indian Films.
Summery: India is well acknowledged for making and successfully marketing of
commercial cinemas, better known as Bollywood Massala movies. In addition to commercial
cinema, there is also Indian art cinema; known to film critics as The Indian Neo Wave or
Parallel Cinema. Many people in India plainly call such films as art films, stands at sharp
contrast to mainstream commercial movies. From the 1960s through the 1980s, the parallel
cinema was patronized primarily by different state and central governments. Directors could get
government grants to produce non-commercial Art films usually on Socio-cultural themes. Their
films were showcased at state film festivals. These films had limited acceptance to the lay movie
watchers in India and overseas.
The pursuant directors of such art based parallel cinema owed too much to numerous
foreign influences like Italian Neo-Realism or French New Wave, Avant Garde cinema
movements etc. Among the best known New Cinema directors, were Bimal Roy, Chetan Anand,
Ritwik Ghatak, and Satyajit Ray. Few of the best known films of this genre are the Apu Trilogy
(Bengali) by Satyajit Ray and Do Bigha Zameen (Hindi) by Bimal Roy. Undoubtedly Satyajit
Ray was the most affluent among the parallel cinema directors.
In South India, the parallel cinema was well flourished in Kerala. Malayalam movie
makers like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan, and M. T. Vasudevan Nair were quite
successful. Starting the 1970s, Kannada film-makers from Karnataka state produced a string of

solemn, low-budget films. In other markets of south India, like Tamil and Telugu etc are ruled by
popular cinema which makes the box office hit. Still, a few directors, such as Balachander,
Bharathiraja, Balu Mahendra, Siddalingaiah, Dr.K.Vishwanath, and Mani Ratnam have achieved
fair amount of success at the box-office balancing elements of art and entertainment together.
Key Words: Indian Neo Wave, Parallel Cinema, Massala Movie, Indian Film Theory.
Introduction: The very concept Neo Indian Cinema points to trajectories in Indian
cinema that are identified with the emergence of a certain aesthetic sensibility, a political
awareness and engagement with social realities and a new stylistic approach of film-making.
This movement had some distinct features that can differentiate the film derived from this
cult from the mainstream Bollywood cinema and began around the same time as the French New
Wave rocked the continental silver screens. The movement was initially led by Bengali cinema
industry which had produced a number of internationally acclaimed filmmakers such as Satyajit
Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak and many others. The land of Indian renaissance, Kolkata then
gained prominence over the other film industries of India.
The Concept: To Define the Indian neo-wave cinema, noted film director Shyam
Benegal said, I, and my colleagues, were looking towards a cinema, neither personal, nor
escapist or theatrical. We decided to explore unknown arenas like the proletariat movement, milk
dairy crisis, and exploitation of the poor as well as the working class. Of course, the Marxist
ideology inspired us to an extent. It introduced a realistic approach towards aesthetic
presentation and interpretation of films. In the words of Gabinda Nihalani: In our earlier films,
we sought actors and not stars. A realistic performance is an actors prerogative more than a
stars. The neo-wave cinema also gave birth to some highly talented and actors and actresses
who bring in iconoclast appearance in silver screen. One such actor, Naseeruddin Shah describes
the neo wave acting style citing example from films like Manthan and Akrosh as, The dhoti
clad, nose-picking people, yelling in protest against the system. [1]
The Realism in Indian Cinema:
The infusion of Realism in Indian cinema dates back to as early as 1920s and 1930s. One
of the earliest examples was V. Shantarams 1925 silent film classic Sawkari Pash (Indian
Shylock), about a poor peasant (portrayed by Shantaram himself) who loses his land to a greedy
moneylender and is forced to migrate to the city to become a mill worker. Acclaimed as a
realistic breakthrough, its shot of a howling dog near a hut has become a milestone in the march
of Indian cinema.[2] The 1937 Shantaram film Duniya Na Mane (The Unaccepted) also
critiqued the treatment of women in Indian society.
Most of the film pundits trace the beginnings of the New Indian Cinema to Satyajit Ray
and his well celebrated Apu trilogy, which initiated with the Pather Panchali(Lore of the Road)
in 1955. Though socially-conscious movies were earlier made by directors like Bimal Roy and V.

Shantaram well before Pather Panchali and the element of neo-realism predominated in the
Chinnamool directed by Nimai Ghosh. Nonetheless, they did not initiate any radical movement
of kindle any significant departure from the mainstream Indian cinema. Pather Panchali, on the
other hand, changed the course of indigenous film making and the way the whole world looked
at Indian films.
The high-quality and constructive work started in Bengal continued and massive
improvements in the standard of art films commenced in the southern parts of the country. Even
Marathi films which are very much influenced by the contemporary Mumbai Massala movie,
started keeping pace with the newly introduced cultural standards. Though Hrishikesh Mukherjee
is not an art film director we firmly consider him the man who bridged the gap between hardcore
commercial films and serious thought provoking parallel films. Quite brilliantly his films
prepared the mind of the then viewers to digest something serious told in a in rather less serious
way. The making of Anand and Guddi at the very start of the new decade was significant. It
helped lay people know that there is none superior to the story and lead actors and actresses are
the ones who merely help in the smooth flow of the story. Directors like Mani Kaul and Adoor
Gopalakrishnan also started making their mark in the very early 1970s.
A Brief Chronological Study:
The Parallel Cinema movement began to take a substantial shape from the late 40s to the
60s of the last century. The pioneers were Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Bimal Roy, Mrinal Sen,
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas,Chetan Anand, Guru Dutt and V. Shantaram. This period is considered
part of the Golden Age of Indian cinema.[3]
This cinema borrowed heavily from the classical Literature of the times, hence became an
important study of the contemporary Indian society[4]. The distinct features of Bollywood
movies are now studied by scholars and historians alike to map the changing demographics and
socio-economic as well as political temperament of the Indian populace. Right from its
inception, Indian cinema had got people who wanted to and did use the medium for earning
money through entertainment more than exploring its artistic potentiality. The aesthetic value of
the film was deliberately ignored by most of the Indian maestros. Amid this circumstance, the
predecessors of Indian new wave came out to explore the artistic credential of films and utilized
their talents to infuse humane values in the films. They used it to highlight prevalent issues and
sometimes to throw open new issues for the public.
Achhut Kannya (Untouchable Maiden), 1936 was considered amongst the early Hindi
super-hits made in the Bombay film industry. The film was directed by Franz Osten and
produced by Himanshu Rai. It dealt with the social position of Dalit girls and is considered a
reformist piece. Virtually it was an epoch making venture considering the contemporary socioeconomic circumstance.

One of the effective early example was Chetan Anand;s Neecha Nagar (1946), a social
realist film that won the Grand Award at the debut Cannes Film Festival[5]. Since then, Indian
independent films were frequently in competition for the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film
Festival. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, many of them won major prizes at the festival.
This encouraged the makers of parallel films and helped them to find producers.
During the 1950s and the 1960s, intellectual filmmakers and story writers became
frustrated with the affluence of virtually absurd musical films in the industry. To counter this,
they felt the necessity of creating a novel genre of films which would depict the reality from an
artful perspective. Most films made during this period were funded by different state
governments to promote an authentic art genre from the Indian film fraternity. The most
noteworthy Indian neo-realist was the Bengali film director Satyajit Ray, followed by Shyam
Benegal, Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan and Girish Kasaravalli. Ray's most
famous films were Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959), which
formed The Apu Trilogy. Produced on a shoestring budget of Rs. 150,000 ($3000), the three
films won major prizes at the Cannes, Berlin and Venice Film Festivals, and are today frequently
listed among the greatest films of all time.
Certain art films have also garnered commercial success, in an industry known for its
surrealism or fantastical movies, and successfully combined features of both art and
commercial cinema. An early example of this was Bimal Roys Do Bigha Zamin (1953), which
was both a commercial and critical success. The film won the International Prize at the 1954
Cannes Film Festival and paved the way for the Indian New Wave. Hrishikesh Mukherjee, one of
Hindi cinema's most successful filmmakers, was named the pioneer of middle cinema, and was
renowned for making films that reflected the changing middle-class ethos.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Mukherjee carved a middle path between the
extravagance of mainstream cinema and the stark realism of art cinema.[6]Renowned
Filmmaker Basu Chatterjee also built his plots on middle-class lives and directed films like Piya
Ka Ghar,Rajnigandha and Ek Ruka Hua Faisla. Another filmmaker to integrate art and
commercial cinema was Guru Dutt, whose film Pyaasa (1957) was honoured to be featured in
Time magazines All-Time 100 best movies list.
In the 1960s, the Indian government began patronize independent art films based on
Indian themes. Many of the directors were associated with the Film and Television Institute of
India (FTII) established at Pune. One of the predecessors of neo wave film director Ritwik
Ghatak became a professor at the institute and successfully groomed many well-known directors
and film personalities. Unlike Ray, Ghatak could not gain international repute during his lifetime.
For example, Ghataks Nagarik (1952) was perhaps the earliest example of a Bengali art film,
preceding Rays Pather Panchali by three years, but unfortunately did not release until after his
death in 1977.[7]

His first commercial release Ajantrik (1958) was also one of the earliest films to portray
an inanimate object, in this case an automobile, as a character in the story, many years before the
Herbie films. The protagonist of Ajantrik, Bimal, can also be seen as an influence on the cynical
cab driver Narasingh (played by Soumitra Chattapadhya) in Satyajit Rays Abhijan(1962).
The advent of parallel cinema gained momentum with Mrinal Sens FDC financed
Bhuvan Shome. With the unexpected commercial success of a film like Bhuvan Shome which
performed tremendously well for a low budget art film. The film paved the path for the
emergence of an enlightened middle class audience versed in the classical approach of European
cinema language and could potentially evolve into a lucrative niche market.
During the 1970s and the 1980s, parallel cinema entered into the limelight of Hindi
cinema to a much wider extent. This was led by such directors as Gulzar, Shyam Benegal, Mani
Kaul, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Kantilal Rathod and Saeed Akhtar Mirza, and later on Mahesh Bhatt
and Govind Nihalani, becoming the main directors of this period's Indian art cinema. M. S.
Sathyus Garam Hawa was released in 1973. It created history and stared new cult in Hindi films.
With a taut screenplay by Ismail Chugtai and a majestic performance by Balraj Sahni, the film
set trends, unknown to the Bollywood Industry. Soon released Benegals directorial debut
Ankur (The Sapling) in 1974. It got a major critical success and was followed by numerous
works that created another field in the movement. These filmmakers tried to promote realism in
their own different styles, though many of them often accepted certain conventions of popular
cinema. Parallel cinema of this time gave careers to a whole new breed of young actors,
including Amol Palekar, Om Puri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Pankaj Kapoor, Deepti Naval, Farooq
Shaikh, and even actors from commercial cinema like Rekha , Hema Malini , Kamal Hassan,
Satrughan Siha etc. ventured successfully into the parallel cinema.
In 1982, the NFDC was involved in co-financing Richard Attenboroughs biopic Gandhi
and throughout the early 1980s, it experienced its most instrumental and productive decade,
distributing a catalogue of quality Indian films that have come to be regarded as the high point of
parallel cinema. This period of prominence includes award winning films such as Aakrosh (Cry
of the Wounded, Govind Nihalani, 1980), Anantram(Monologue, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, 1987),
Ardh Satya (Half Truth, Govind Nihalani, 1983),Bhavni Bhavai (A Folk Take, Ketan Mehta,
1980), Chakra (Ravindra Dharmaraj, 1980),Ghare-Baire(The Home and the Word, Satyajit Ray,
1984), Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (Who Pays the Piper, Kundan Shah, 1983),Khandhar (Mrinal Sen,
1983),Salaam Bombay (Mira Nair, 1988),Sati (Aparna Sen, 1989) and Tarang Kumar Shahani,
1984).
Malayalam director Adoor Gopalakrishnan extended the Indian New Wave to Malayalam
audience with his film Swayamvaram in 1972. Long after the Golden Age of Indian cinema,
Malayalam cinema experienced its own Golden Age in the 1980s and early 1990s. Some of
the most acclaimed Indian filmmakers at the time were from the Malayalam industry, including
Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan, John Abraham, Padmarajan, Bharathan, T. V. Chandran

and Shaji N. Karun. Gopalakrishnan, who is often considered to be Satyajit Rays spiritual heir,
directed some of his most acclaimed films during this period, including Elippathayam (1981)
which won the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival, as well as Mathilukal (1989)
which won major prizes at the Venice Film Festival. Shaji N. Karuns debut film Piravi (1989)
won the Camera dOr at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, while his second film Swaham (1994)
was in competition for the Palme dOr at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. His third film
Vanaprastham (1999) was also selected to Cannes Film Festival, making him the only Indian
film maker who could take consecutively three films to Cannes.
Girish Kasaravalli, Girish Karnad and B. V. Karanth led the way for parallel cinema in
the Kannada film industry. . Girish Kasaravalli, directed his first film, Ghata Shradha in 1977,
which won the National award for best film. Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia and Jahnu Barua did it
for Assamese Cinema. K. Balachander, P. Bharathiraja and Mani Ratnam has done the same for
Tamil cinema and Aribam Syam Sharma pioneered Parallel Movies in Manipuri Cinema.
A trend of decline in making and promotion of parallel cinema was seen in the early
1990s. The increasing costs involved in film production and introduction of then costly digital
technologies, the commercialization of the films had cast a negative impact on the growth of art
films. The fact that investment returns cannot be guaranteed made art films less popular amongst
filmmakers and producers. Underworld financing, political and economic turmoil, television and
piracy proved to be fatal threat to parallel cinema, as it lost its old glory. However, the end of the
movement might far more complicated to derive a simple conclusion as the NFDC (National
Film Development Corporation) continues to support indigenous and emerging film makers in
terms of financial support.
The Influences:
The makers of the parallel cinema evidently owed much to foreign influences, such as
Italian Neo-Realism or French New Wave. During the formative period of Indian parallel cinema
in the 1940s and 1950s, the movement was influenced by Italian cinema and French cinema,
particularly by Italian neorealism as well as French poetic realism. Satyajit Ray particularly cited
his debt to Italian filmmaker Vittorio De Sicas Bicycle Thieves (1948). Later he assisted the
making of The River (1951) by French filmmaker Jean Renoir, The influence of the two was
evident in his debut film Pather Panchali, alongside influences from Bengali literature and
classical Indian theatre.[8]
Ever since Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar won the Grand Prize at the inaugural Cannes
Film Festival in 1946, Indian parallel cinema films frequently appeared in international forums
and film festivals for the next several decades. This allowed Indian independent filmmakers to
reach a global audience. The most influential among them was Satyajit Ray, whose films became
successful among European, American Latin American and Asian audiences [9]. Currently many

films are being released in international film festivals abroad. The native viewers only can access
these films after being screened in the festivals.
Institutional studies began with a few government initiatives. The Film Training Institute
of India (FTII - presently Film and Television Institute of India) was set up in Pune in 1961 .The
National Film Archives of India (NFAI) was established in 1964. The Film Finance Corporation
(FFC) was set up by the Government in 1960, with the objective of giving loans to directors who
wanted to make feature films outside the commercial circuit. All these factors lead Indian
Cinema to a revolutionary change. A new genre of Indian films arrived, which are often termed
as the New Wave Indian Cinema or the Indian Parallel Cinema.
Film Society Movement:
Establishment of Film societies in different parts of the country had a massive influence
in nurturing the neo wave movement. The Film societies extend the scope of watching good
movies and evaluating them. The first film society was founded in Bombay in 1943 and Satyajit
Ray founded a film society in Calcutta in 1947. By the beginning of 1970s there existed above
150 film societies all over India.
Through these societies people could see the best of Indian cinema and also they got
access to the best of foreign cinema. The first International Film Festival of India was held in
Bombay, Madras and Calcutta by the Films Division in 1952. Western classics like De Sicas
Bicycle Thieves were shown in the film festival. These initiatives created waves among the film
lovers and young filmmakers who were frustrated with the mindless melodramatic movies
overburdened with needless songs-dances and actions made in India.
An Evaluation:
Unlike the mainstream Bollywood Massala cinema, the New Indian cinema is almost
always concerned with the common man. The heroes are not supermen with extraordinary
ambition, who have to rise from poverty, tame the rich girl and fight the evil landlord, but
ordinary men and women acting under the pressures of ordinary living. It is a form of
individualization as the characters no longer have to represent icons of society like the suffering
wife or the evil mother-in-law. This also explains why the form of these films is usually neorealistic, though there is a great variety in the films of different directors.
The realism and sensitiveness with which Satyajit Ray portrays Apu in his trilogy
encouraged many contemporary directors. European neo-realistic films like Bicycle Thieves and
initiation of several International Film Festivals in different cities in India also contributed to this
awakening. Another director who had a profound effect on the Neo Indian cinema is Mrinal Sen.
Starting from a dialectical Marxism outlook and maturing to a liberal humanist philosophy, his
films have a certain insight, grace and warm perceptiveness. Mani Kaul and Kumar Shahani
were much more overt in their revolt against customary establishment. Kauls Uski Roti (A

Days Bread) and Shahanis Maya Darpan. Shyam Benegal started as a neo-realistic humanist.
They attacked the feudal and caste relationships that form an integral part of Indian culture.
One distinct feature of Indian Neo realistic films is that these are full of humane warmth.
The western movies may be technically much more sound than the Indian ones but they are
better in humanitarian treatment. Under the influence of Neo-Wave the Indian film industry saw
an awakening in regional cinema, especially in the south. Girish Karnad, who has made his
influence widely felt both in theater and cinema, was at the forefront of the Kannada New
Wave. Further ,south in Kerala, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who also began as a theater personality,
tackled bold subjects through his films.
Before conclusion, we like to place a few words about mainstream Bollywood movies.
There is an undercurrent of realism and humane approach amid the superficial chaotic
presentation. Hindi movies, is scrutinized for what it says about contemporary politics,
corruption, public perception of the state and its agencies such as the police administration and
judiciary. The law and order situation, the position of women in Indian society, and of course
such social phenomena as the rise of the middle class, consumerism, social and sexual mores, the
Westernization of Indian society, and the like.
As these brief observations indicate, one window into the position of women in
Hindustani society, and more broadly into cow belt states, on which there is much scholarly
work done in general. But virtually none on its manifestations is reflected in popular Hindilanguage cinemas. Similar considerations may, perhaps, be entertained about films in Tamil,
Kannada, Gujarati, Urdu and other Indian languages.
Typical demonstration of the concept of Secularism is another parameter of Indian silver
screen. India has a significant population of Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and other religious
communities. But the films are predominantly about Hindu society, though not always selfconsciously so. Many commentators, for example, have noted the presence of the good Muslim
in these films, while deploring the fact that Muslim society has not received sustained treatment
in more than a handful of films. In alike attempt, throughout the 1960s and 1970s the token
presence of a Christian priest was quite common in Hindi films. Often the unfortunate fugitives
from justice would seek shelter in a church, welcome by the good priest who would invariably
declare that The Christ is ready to receive everyone.
The role of a new generation of actors and actresses cannot be underplayed in the
development of the Neo Indian Cinema. A great many of them were trained at Pune and brought
a more subdued and less histrionic style of acting to the new age films. Some of the most
talented actors and actresses passed out from the institute include Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun
Chakraborty, Smita Patil, and Shabana Azmi. Besides, Om Puri, Ajoy Devgan, Nandita Das,
Vidya Balan etc are exercising their talents in art and experimental movies as well as mainstream

ones. The interests of many new generation film personalities in film also did not stop with mare
acting. Many of them tried their hand at directing, theater production and cinematography.
Citations:
1. Lalit Mohan Joshi 1st edition (17 July 2007). Indias Art House Cinema Published
by British Film Institute. Retrieve: 2009-06-02.
2. Ranjan Das Gupta : Neo-wave to new-age Cinema Published in The Tribune,
Saturday, July 3, 2010.
3. K. Moti Gokulsing, K. Gokulsing, Wimal Dissanayake (2004). Indian Popular
Cinema: A Narrative of Cultural Change. Published by Trentham Books. Pg.17.
ISBN No.: 1-85856-329-1.
4. Banerjee Santanu : In Search of Bollywood Film Theory Published in Listen-See
[Vol.:1,2010], lab journal published by Dept. of Film Studies, West Bengal State
University .
5. Randor Guy: Maker Of Innovative, Meaningful Movies. Published in The Hindu,
Friday, June 15, 2007.
6. Gulzar; Nihalani, Govind; Chatterjee, Saibal (2003). Encyclopaedia of Hindi
Cinema. Published by Encyclopaedia Britannica (India) Pvt Ltd. Pg. 592. ISBN
No.:81-7991-066-0.
7. Ghatak, Ritwik (2000). Rows and Rows of Fences: Ritwik Ghatak on Cinema.
Published by Ritwik Memorial & Trust Seagull Books. Pg. 13436. ISBN No.: 817046-178-2.
8. Cooper, Darius (2000). The Cinema of Satyajit Ray: Between Tradition and
Modernity. Published by Cambridge University Press. Pg.14. ISBN No.: 0-52162980-2.
9. Arthur J Pais: (14 April 2009). Why we admire Satyajit Ray so much [Link:
http://movies.rediff.com/report/2009/apr/14/why-we-admire-satyajit-ray-somuch.htm].
Sources and References:
1. Vasudev, Aruna. The New Indian Cinema. New Delhi: Macmillan, 1986.
2. Rajadhyaksha, Ashish; Willemen, Paul. Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. London:
British Film Institute; New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994.
3. Kishore, Valicha. The Moving Image. Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1988.
4. Tejaswini Gantiv (2004). Bollywood: a guidebook to popular Hindi cinema.
Published by Psychology Press. pg. 139 ISBN No.:978-0-415-28854-5. Retrieved 26
April 2011.