A group of men walk towards a young boy being carried by his father. As the boy notices that the men are Muslim, he frantically rubs the stripes off his father’s forehead, trying to conceal their religious identity from the hostile group. Another clip reveals a woman questioning why she has to feel incomplete without a man. These aren’t scenes from an Oscar line-up with themes of terrorism, gender equality or the intricacy of human relationships. These are excerpts from regional Indian films that reveal an India far removed from popular perception created by commercial Bollywood films. The themes and messages are very close to not only the film makers’ hearts, but a reflection of the reality in different regions of India. There are a thousand movies produced in this country annually. To most of us this would translate to Bollywood, as the Hindi film industry is popularly known, churning out a majority of these films. However, Anu Radha’s ‘Cinema with a Purpose’ reveals the lesser known facts about the film industry outside Bollywood, which in fact dominates 70 percent of the film production in India.
It would be unfair to say that Bollywood only produces big budget commercial fare with a focus on style rather than substance. There is a lot of originality and experimentation within Bollywood today, but ‘Cinema with a Purpose’ suggests that regional cinema has long been ahead of Bollywood when it comes to realistic or controversial themes. The documentary is peppered with excerpts from Tamil, Bengali, Telegu and Marathi films that focus on everything from communalism to hierarchical relationships in society. To believe that these cater to a well educated or urban niche audience is also a misconception. Interviews with film makers and actors like Nandita Das and Amol Palekar reveal that regional film festivals are well attended by a cross section of rickshaw pullers to local homemakers to students. These films run for a considerable time in theatres with their inspirational messages and a reality that many in the audience have experienced.
