{"id":8677,"date":"2024-07-02T10:55:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T05:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=8677"},"modified":"2024-07-02T13:56:33","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T08:26:33","slug":"directors-chair-sui-generis-a-book-in-a-class-of-its-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/directors-chair-sui-generis-a-book-in-a-class-of-its-own\/","title":{"rendered":"Director\u2019s Chair, ‘Sui Generis’: A Book in a Class of Its Own"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Directors

Director’s Chair – Hindi Cinema’s Golden Age<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cSome books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested,\u201d wrote Francis Bacon. In the case of Manek Premchand\u2019s Director\u2019s Chair: Hindi Cinema\u2019s Golden Age,<\/em> I would like to add that it also needs to be relished, savoured and valued.<\/p>\n

The book offers a delightful ringside view of the \u2018Director\u2019s Chair\u2019 and its truly amazing occupants who helmed the most incredible films from the silent era to the eighties.<\/p>\n

To me it was a perfect serving of delicious filmy cuisine covering the oeuvre of my all-time favourite directors including Guru Dutt, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Raj Kapoor and Vijay Anand.<\/p>\n

Each profile is garnished with important milestones of the individual\u2019s journey, the crests and troughs, vignettes from personal life and filmographies. The unique facets which made the work of each artist stand out are also brought to the fore. For instance, in the section on Guru Dutt, Manek Premchand talks about the lighting technique called chiaroscuro, which the filmmaker used in the song Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam<\/em> (Kagaz Ke Phool<\/em>)! \u201cThe song with its evocative poetry underscores an existential crisis that identifies Time as the central culprit of their (the protagonists\u2019) once beautiful relationship, with the stark setting and lighting combining to create an electric effect!\u201d Touche!<\/p>\n

While writing about Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the author emphasises how the director championed the cause of the common man, which made him win the title \u2018God of middle-class cinema\u2019. \u201cHis films give us views of his mind, showing us that the poor very simply need to be given a context in which they can express their predicament. Perhaps Mukherjee took inspiration from the writings of the French philosopher Albert Camus whose stories looked at poverty in much the same way as Mukherjee\u2019s films did.\u201d<\/p>\n

My slight complaint against Manek Premchand here is that he has mentioned Anand<\/em>, one of the greatest movies ever made, in passing. It deserved the author\u2019s keen analysis a lot more.<\/p>\n

\"Rajesh

Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan and Sumita Sanyal in Anand<\/em> (1971)<\/p><\/div>\n

In the segment on Raj Kapoor, Manek Premchand writes about the showman\u2019s obsession with music and how one had to forget looking at the watch and even the calendar while collaborating with him. To underscore another key element of the icon\u2019s filmmaking the author quotes Bunny Reuben, well-known film journalist, \u201cSomebody once said that it was Raj Kapoor who invented love on the Indian screen. There is a great deal of truth in this. What Raj Kapoor actually achieved when he first stormed the gates of \u2018Follywood\u2019 in the late forties was this: he kicked open the gates of prudery and let in a gust\u00a0 of fresh air which visualised the art and technique of filmmaking in general and the art of filming the love scene in particular, both of which had for years suffered from an overdose of dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manek Premchand\u2019s tribute to Vijay Anand, too, is bang on \u2014\u201cThe world remembers him through his films, most of them great value for money, some exceptional, and one, Guide<\/em>, sui generis, <\/em>meaning in a class of its own.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book offers priceless nuggets, delicious trivia as well as an empathetic gaze at the hearts, minds and souls of the colossuses of Hindi cinema. The quality of printing and production, as in the case of every book published by Blue Pencil,\u00a0 is par excellence.<\/p>\n

To borrow from the author\u2019s own words Director\u2019s Chair<\/em> is sui generis<\/em> \u2013 a must read for the dilettante as well as the aficionado!<\/p>\n

Genre<\/strong>\u00a0: Non-Fiction\/Cinema
\nBinding :<\/strong>\u00a0Paperback (6.14\u2033 x 9.25\u2033)
\nPages :<\/strong>\u00a0572 pages
\nPublished<\/strong>\u00a0: January 2024
\nISBN:<\/strong>\u00a0978-81-956660-8-9<\/p>\n

Available on Amazon<\/a> | Flipkart<\/a> | Blue Pencil<\/a> | Kunzum Books<\/a> | UN Dhur <\/strong>(Kolkata)<\/p>\n