Ghashiram Kotwal (film)

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Ghashiram Kotwal
Directed by
Written by Vijay Tendulkar (original play, screenplay)
Based on Ghashiram Kotwal
by Vijay Tendulkar
Produced byYUKT Film Cooperative
Starring Mohan Agashe
Om Puri
Cinematography
  • Rajesh Joshi
  • Binod Pradhan
  • Manmohan Singh
Music by Bhaskar Chandavarkar
Release date
  • 1976 (1976)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageMarathi
BudgetRs 1,50,000

Ghashiram Kotwal is a 1976 Indian Marathi-language film, which is an adaptation of Vijay Tendulkar's play of the same name. Tendulkar himself wrote the screenplay. Coming at the height of the Parallel cinema movement in India, the film was an experiment in collective filmmaking. [1] It was produced by YUKT Film Cooperative, a 16-member collective consisting mostly of graduates of the Film and Television Institute of India. The title role was played by Om Puri, who made his debut with this film. The final shot of the film lasts for more than ten minutes. According to K. Hariharan, one of the four directors of the film, this shot is unique in film history as "the world’s longest shot on a standard reel of 1,000 feet to be shot by four camera operators". [1]

Contents

Synopsis

The film, like the play, is set in Peshwa-ruled Pune in the eighteenth century, and is based on the lives of real historical characters. Nana Phadnavis was a powerful figure during this period, and he became the de facto ruler of the Maratha confederacy.

Ghashiram (Om Puri) is a North Indian Brahmin, an outsider in the city of Pune. He is ill-treated by the law enforcing agencies, accused of being a pickpocket, and imprisoned for no fault of his. He decides to take revenge. Ghashiram then sells his own daughter to Nana (Mohan Agashe) to secure the post of Kotwal (police chief). Nana uses him to spy on people, especially Brahmins. Ghashiram turns into a tyrannical official, introducing permits for everything and putting people in jail for small offences. Meanwhile, Ghashiram's daughter dies in childbirth. Eventually there is an outcry, when some people die in jail due to suffocation. Thereupon Nana gets rid of Ghashiram in the most ruthless manner possible.

Cast

Crew

Production

In a 2014 interview, K. Hariharan has recounted the story of the making of the film. When he was in his second year at FTII, the Emergency was declared. He and fourteen others decided to form a cooperative. Mani Kaul, who was several years senior to the others, asked if he could join too. Vijay Tendulkar's play, which had done over 80 shows around Maharashtra, caught the attention of the group. They requested Tendulkar to make the script more directly relevant to contemporary politics. Hariharan recalls: "Playwright Badal Sircar did a six-day theatre workshop with us." They were all influenced by the work of Hungarian filmmaker Miklos Jancso, known for his long takes and choreographed camera movements. Hariharan adds: "It was a combination of all these factors — Tendulkar, Badal Sircar, Jancso, and one-and-a-half-lakh rupees that we borrowed from a nationalised bank — that resulted in the film." [3]

Reception

According to one commentator, the film "disappeared from view shortly after being released in a theatre in Pune for a week." [4] Critical reception, too, according to Hariharan, was "uncharitable". [3] The film was, however, screened at the Filmotsav in Madras in January 1978, and subsequently selected for screening at the 1978 Berlin Film Festival. [3]

In recent years, there has been a revival of critical interest in the film. One reviewer writes: "Ghashiram Kotwal seems like a seminal work now, a crossroads in terms of ideological and aesthetic experimentation ..." [1] According to the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, it is a "remarkable avant-garde experiment in collective film-making". It adds: "The film’s main significance resides in the way it adapts theatre to investigate cinema itself." [5] Thirty-six years after it was first screened at Berlin, it was selected for screening in the Forum section of the 2014 Berlin Film Festival. [6]

Preservation

The Berlin-based Arsenal Institute of Film and Video Art has restored Ghashiram Kotwal [1] and released it in DVD format. [7] It is one of only two Indian films to be restored by Arsenal Institute.

Related Research Articles

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Om Puri Indian actor (1950-2017)

Om Prakash Puri, was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films, as well as independent and art films. He is one of the most notable actors in the Indian cinema. He is best known for his author-backed roles in films like Aakrosh (1980), Arohan (1982), Ardh Satya (1983) and television films like Sadgati (1981) and Tamas (1987) and also light-hearted roles in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983) and Chachi 420 (1997). He had various collaborations with director Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani. Puri also appeared in non-Indian productions in the United States and Britain. In the 1990s, he appeared in My Son the Fanatic (1997) and the comedy drama East Is East (1999), receiving a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Vijay Tendulkar Indian playwright

Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi.Vijay Tendulkar is one of India’s greatest playwrights, whose hard-hitting Marathi plays established him as an irreverent but brilliant writer of plays with contemporary, unconventional themes. He is best known for his plays Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe (1967), Ghāshirām Kotwāl (1972), and Sakhārām Binder (1972). Many of Tendulkar's plays derived inspiration from real-life incidents or social upheavals, which provide clear light on harsh realities. He has provided guidance to students studying "play writing" in US universities. Tendulkar had been a highly influential dramatist and theatre personality in Mahārāshtra for over five decades.

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Dr. Jabbar Patel is a Marathi-language theatre and film director of India. His production of the play Vijay Tendulkar's play Ghashiram Kotwal, in 1973 is considered a classic in Modern Indian Theatre.

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<i>Ghashiram Kotwal</i> Film

Ghashiram Kotwal is a Marathi play written by playwright Vijay Tendulkar in 1972 as a response to the rise of a local political party, in Maharashtra. The play is a political satire, written as historical drama. It is based on the life of Nana Phadnavis (1741–1800), one of the prominent ministers in the court of the Peshwa of Pune and Ghashiram Kotwal, the police chief of the city. Its theme is how men in power give rise to ideologies to serve their purposes, and later destroy them when they become useless. It was first performed on 16 December 1972, by the Progressive Dramatic Association in Pune. Jabbar Patel's production of the play in 1973 is considered a classic in Modern Indian Theatre.

<i>Aakrosh</i> (1980 film) 1980 film by Govind Nihalani

Aakrosh (transl. Anger) is a 1980 Hindi arthouse film directed by Govind Nihalani and written by Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar. The film stars Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Amrish Puri in lead roles and went on to win 1980 National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and several Filmfare Awards.

Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe is a Marathi play written by Indian playwright Vijay Tendulkar in 1963 and first performed in 1967, directed by Arvind Deshpande, with Sulbha Deshpande as the main lead.

Disha was a 1990 Hindi film directed by Sai Paranjpye, based on the plight of immigrant workers in urban India, starring Shabana Azmi, Nana Patekar and Om Puri in lead roles.

Mohan Gokhale was an Indian film, television and theater actor who has worked in art films such as Sparsh, Bhavni Bhavai and Mirch Masala. His father was a senior journalist and Editor of the weekly Swarajya and Assistant Editor of Sakal in Pune.

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Bhaskar Chandavarkar was an Indian sitar player, academic and film and theatre composer who worked with well-known directors of Indian cinema like Mrinal Sen, Girish Karnad, Aparna Sen, K. G. George and Amol Palekar in various languages including Marathi, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Oriya and was known for his blending of Indian classical and western music.

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K. Hariharan is an Indian film director who has directed films in Tamil, Marathi and Hindi. Currently he is the professor of Film Studies at Krea University. Born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, his father H.Krishnan was the vice-president of Eastman Kodak. An alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Hariharan formed "Yukt Film Co-operative" in 1976 together with his batch mates to make an experimental film called Ghashiram Kotwal. Ezhavathu Manithan, his directorial debut in Tamil cinema, won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil and was nominated for Golden St. George at the Moscow International Film Festival.

Anand Modak Indian music director, composer (1951–2014)

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "GHASHIRAM KOTWAL (Dir. K. Hariharan, Mani Kaul, Kamal Swaroop, Saeed Mirza, 1976, India) – Experiments in Time & Space". moviemahal.net. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  2. ↑ "Ghashiram Kotwal (1976) Cast and Crew". gomolo.com. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Kamath, Sudhish (30 January 2014). "History reloaded". The Hindu. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  4. ↑ Ramnath, Nandini (6 April 2014). "Classic: Negative-positive". livemint. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  5. ↑ "The Wager on Cinema: Screening 8 – Ghashiram Kotwal". sarai.net. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  6. ↑ "Berlinale:Archive:Annual Archives:2014:Programme - Ghashiram Kotwal". berlinale.de. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  7. ↑ "Arsenal: Ghashiram Kotwal". arsenal-berlin.de. Retrieved 9 June 2018.

Ghashiram Kotwal at IMDb

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