In 1948, the year after India's independence, the visionary director Satyajit Ray articulated his perspectives on the state of Indian cinema while composing the Manifesto of Indian Cinema. He sought to comprehend the fundamental causes contributing to the restricted global acknowledgement of Indian cinema. Ray asserted that American idioms significantly influenced India's dominant cinematic language while contending that they could adapt to diverse cultural situations. This manifesto was written shortly before he began working on "Pather Panchali" (1955). Within the context of Ray's seminal work, ‘What is Wrong with Indian Film,’ a cohort of emerging filmmakers, graduates of the Film Institute of India, has skillfully introduced a new cinematic genre that intricately examines the nuances of desire and mortality. An ontological and phenomenological approach to realism characterises this new movement. They examine how a traumatic historical narrative can result in social and cinematic suppression. They challenge the exploitative processes sustained by Brahmanical power and express their opposition to caste, gender, and community prejudice. This paper will examine cognitive divergence and its relationship with an Indian aesthetic framework within the Indian New Wave, utilising a realist perspective that emphasises image generation and cinematic cognition. It examines the necessity of avant-gardism for New Cinema, encompassing cultural attitudes and the concepts of progress and linear time inherent in its evolution.It will also also examine the philosophical ramifications of the New Cinema movement, which may establish a distinct identity that diverges from both social realism and the norms of middle cinema.

Authors:
Debjani Halder, Manipal Institute of Communication, India

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Debjani Halder is a national and international award-winning writer, film historian, and filmmaker. She is working as an associate Professor of Filmmaking and head of short course in Manipal Institute of Communication, MAHE, Udupi.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.manipal.edu/soc/department-faculty/faculty-list/Debjani_Halder/_jcr_content.html

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

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