Monochrome visions

Frequently we find students claiming themselves to be ‘film buffs’, but do they really know about films? While they beat their own drums to label themselves as movie buffs, some film admirers beg to differ.

“Young people should be sensitized about good films, to begin with. Once they are exposed to good international and national cinema, they’ll understand the value of films,” says, Ranjan Ghosh, director of <g data-gr-id="70">Hrid</g> Majhare, a Bengali film. “The idea that black and white movies are boring has developed because young uninitiated students have been shown works of the masters, for which they were still not ready,” adds Ghosh.

Outstanding films go unwatched by the <g data-gr-id="63">self proclaimed</g> movie enthusiasts. Rather films with mindless drama and commotion find place in the must watch list of these ‘movie buffs’. Most youngsters tend to stick to their preferred genre rather than exploring the vast expanse of cinema, yet claim to be movie maniacs. Classics have been listed over the years, but among them the black and white films go mostly unnoticed by the present youth as they identify the monochrome films to be ‘boring’. There are several interesting black and white films, both products of Bollywood and Hollywood, which comprise of both <g data-gr-id="92">full length</g> feature films and shorts films. 

Cultures have changed over the years and so have the movies. Yet some ageless masterpieces rule the <g data-gr-id="54">must watch</g> list for movie addicts. But are the young minds aware of the ageless black and white 

cinema or are they looking out only for the recent quality films?

Pradipta Bhattacharyya, director of Bakita Byaktigoto, winner of the best feature film in Bengali at the 61st National Film Awards, believes that people these days are more aware of films and they do understand movies better than what people used to do a decade ago. He suggests some black and white must watches for film enthusiasts—Battleship Potempkin(1925), films of Charlie Chaplin, films of Akira Kurosawa, Jean Renoir, Federico Fellini, and Citizen Kane (1941) from around the world, and masterpieces of Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Shyam Benegal, Guru Dutt and Bimal Roy. “I was especially inspired by Ray’s Pather Panchali and it is undoubtedly one of my favourite films of all time,” says the director.

Actor <g data-gr-id="60">Aryann</g> Bhowmik (Detective Byomkesh Bakshy fame) said, “Bringing out the colour from just Black and White is some serious and exciting art that I have always admired.” 

<g data-gr-id="61">Kartikey</g> Tripathi, an actor and screenwriter thinks that if people can understand the basics of film studies then they can understand its value too. “Listing good monochrome movies will be limiting the periphery of the movie world. If black and white films are boring how come we all have watched the likes of Casablanca and Psycho every time we got the chance of watching it?” adds Tripathi.

“I feel monochrome is even better than colour. An expression or a feeling can be best explained by it. Monochrome has a crazy expressive tone. Some of my personal favourites are Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane, John Ford’s Stagecoach, Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times and Mani Kaul’s Uski Roti” said <g data-gr-id="68">Uppanishad</g> Ghosh, a recent pass-out from the Department of Film Studies, Jadavpur University. Meghan Hooper, an ex-student of New York Film Academy says, “I think that it should be compulsory for movie lovers to watch and know at least one movie from every genre.” Her favourite monochrome films have been His Girl Friday and Holiday Inn.

A suggestive tiny list of some very interesting monochromatic films would inspire young film enthusiasts:

It’s a Wonderful Life(1946), Bicycle Thieves(1948), Rashomon (1950), Roman Holiday (1953), 12 Angry Men (1957), 400 Blows(1959), Psycho(1960), An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1962), Do Bigha Zamin(1953), Pyasa(1957), Mughal-e-Azam(1960), Dosti(1964).