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Abstract
This study examines how socially-conscious Bengali filmmakers in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India used cinema as a means of political action and came to grips with urgent social and political issues in films made between 1970 and 2002. It focuses on alternative, non-commercial and off-beat feature films because Bengali films that appear to be strong indictments of social and political injustices are produced by directors working outside the commercial film industry. Bengali films produced outside the dominant film industry depart from the conventions and values associated with the entertainment-driven cinema. Bengali alternative filmmakers often employ innovative c1nemabc techniques to convey political criticisms. These Bengali films marked by formal experimentation and political commitment are recognised as politically critical in form and content.
This study specifically asks the following questions: how do these serious Bengali filmmakers use cinema as a means of political action? How do these films intervene in a crisis situation? A key follow-up question is: Do these films deal with the actual causes of social injustice, or merely show the effects of social problems? Through the detailed analysis of four specific films, my thesis seeks to discuss and analyse the above questions in order to gain an understanding of Bengali politically critical films. The study also examines how these filmmakers make overt political statements and use cinema language to indict contemporary problems.
Another question that is germane to my thesis is: how do these Bengali filmmakers employ strategies of Third Cinema in their political films? In my thesis, Third Cinema theory is used as the main conceptual framework to examine Bengali politically oriented films. The study also draws on various theoretical concepts of political cinema in order to analyse these Bengali films. Using case studies from West Bengal and Bangladesh, the study argues that these Bengali films retain Third Cinema characteristics and they fit within the rubric of politically-critical cinema. There is no comprehensive study that critically examines the characteristics of politically-critical Bengali films made in Bangladesh and West Bengal. My study attempts to fill this gap.