Indian cinevista at Venice

As the oldest film festival celebrates 80 glorious years, Ranjan Das Gupta recalls India’s participation over the decades

Debutant director, Karan Tajpal’s film 'Stolen', produced by Gaurav Dhingra is the only official entry from India at the 80th Venice International Film Festival this year. A film with no commercial clippings and box office ingredients, 'Stolen' will have its world premiere at the festival.  

Venice, Berlin and Cannes are internationally renowned film festivals for cinema of the esquire. While the red carpet and open market have disturbed Cannes' earlier reputation, Venice and Berlin still hold to the traditional essence of classic cinema. It is not without reason, Satyajit Ray described Venice — the oldest film festival — as a master’s choice for film competition.

The first Indian film delegation visited Venice in 1954. Led by Bimal Roy, the other delegates included Chetan Anand, Dev Anand, K A Abbas, Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Salil Chowdhury and Balraj Sahni. The films exhibited included ‘Do Bigha Zamin’, ‘Aandhiyan’, ‘Rahi' and ‘Awara’. Though none won awards, they were critically acclaimed. Bimal Roy spoke occasionally while Chetan Anand, Dev Anand, K A Abbas and Raj Kapoor did most of the interactions.

The delegation visited Charles Chaplin’s residence at La Montreux and had a long discussion with the maestro on film academics. 

It was Satyajit Ray’s ‘Aparajito’ which won the Golden Lion Award — highest award at Venice Film Festival — in 1957. ‘Aparajito’ also won other awards including the FIPRESCI prize at the festival. Italian film producer Carlo Ponti was deeply moved by the montages in ‘Aparajito’ and lauded the film as ‘sheen poetry on celluloid’. Satyajit Ray was considered a connoisseur of intellectual cinema at Venice and, to this day, the festival holds retrospectives of the master. 

India’s early participation dates back to the 1930s when the festival was in its early years. C Pullaiah’s ‘Savitri’ (Telugu) and Debaki Bose’s ‘Seeta’(Bengali) were among the honorary films at the second Venice International Film Festival in 1933. In 1937, Vishnupant Govind Damle’s ‘Sant Tukaram’ was among the five special recommendations at the festival.

Mrinal Sen’s long conversation with Sophia Loren at Venice in the early ’70s ranged from literature to cinema, to photography. After Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen was the most sought after Indian filmmaker at Venice on the basis of cinematic excellence and awards. 

From the next generation, Adoor Gopalakrishnan is the only filmmaker to create waves at the festival. 

Naseeruddin Shah remains the only Indian actor to win the Best Actor Award at Venice in 1984 for his performance in Goutam Ghose’s ‘Paar’. Watching his performance in ‘Paar’, Dustin Hoffman named Shah among the top ten international actors. 

Mira Nair’s ‘Monsoon Wedding’ premiered at Venice and won the Golden Lion in 2001 — the only Indian film apart from Ray’s ‘Aparajito’ to win the title at Venice.

In recent times Aditya Vikram Sen Gupta has represented India at Venice with films like ‘Once upon a time in Calcutta’ (2021) and ‘Asha Jaoar Majhe’ which won him the Best Debut Director title in 2014. His style of filmmaking is modern, rational and with due respect to the cinematic language. 

The Biennale Cinema 2023 — 80th Venice International Film Festival —  is held between August 30 and  September 9.