KOCHI:
Select movies from the National Film Archive of India are being screened across four evenings from Monday parallel to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, throwing light on the heritage of Indian cinema.
A total of seven films, mostly of the 1930s vintage, will be shown at the Pavilion in the Cabral Yard venue in Fort Kochi under the latest segment of the Artists’ Cinema slated for the last four days of this month.
The opening day (February 25) had Shortest and Best Route to South India (8 minutes), followed by 95-minute Bangla film Devdas (1935) by Prathemesh Barua based on the Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay novel by the same name.
Tuesday’s movies are Whirl (5 min) and P V Rao’s 90-minutes black-and-white silent film Marthanda Varma (1933). This film is based on the 1891 Malayalam novel by the same name written by titan litterateur C V Raman Pillai.
The third day will have Kaya Palat (1983), a 7-minute feature film directed by Satyen Bose featuring Anoop Kumar and Suresh Chatwal. This will be followed Shyam Sundar Agarwal’s silent movie Ghulami Nu Patan (1931, 100 minutes). It deals with the issues of slavery on peasants who were unable to pay their exorbitant taxes.
The last day of the package will show Shyam Sundar Agarwal’s Diler Jigar, a 106-minute silent movie made in 1931.
The Kochi Biennale Foundation is organising the Artists’ Cinema, with this package highlighting the importance of celebrating the heritage of Indian film industry.
