Seeing is Believing: Selected Writings on Cinema

One of India’s most influential film critics and film historians, Chidananda Das Gupta has been writing on cinema since 1946. He has been witness to and has written about almost every development in Indian cinema since Independence, including the film society movement which he initiated, the establishment of various institutions to facilitate film-making like the FTII, the NFAI and the NFDC, the popularity of mainstream cinema and the rise of the New Indian Cinema, among others. Seeing Is Believing brings together some of Chidananda Das Gupta’s finest writings on the subject of cinema over the last sixty years. In these highly informed and thought-provoking essays he addresses diverse themes like the origins and history of the parallel cinema in our country; the national film awards; the unique interface between politics and film in India; the portrayal of women, sex and violence in our films; and the quintessentially Indian contribution to movies—the song. The collection also includes definitive studies of the work of five of the nation’s finest film-makers—Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Shyam Benegal. Consistently erudite and engaging, Seeing Is Believing is a fascinating window to the journey of Indian cinema over the last six decades.