Indian Parallel Cinema originated in West Bengal in the 1950s as an alternative to Mainstream Cinema. The characteristics of Parallel Cinema are serious content, realism and neutralism. Parallel Cinema primarily focuses on the socio-political situation of the country. It leans away from the routine dance-song sequence that’s typical of Mainstream Cinema.
Influence of Italian Neorealism on Indian Parallel Cinema
It was Italian Neorealism that influenced the origination of Parallel Cinema in India. In 1945 Italy was liberated from German occupation. Italian Cinema started afresh as the shooting studios were damaged and funds were drastically reduced. The experiment with Neorealism in Cinema received a good response in Italy. It involved shooting at the locations, ditching the expensive studio sets. The real issues of the common man got a voice through Neorealism in Italian Cinema.
Other than Italian Neorealism, revolutionary Bengali literature and theatre also contributed to the development of Parallel Cinema in India.
Influence of Bengali Literature in Parallel Cinema
1) The era after the British Raj is known as The Golden Era of Indian Cinema. (1940s to 1960s). During this period, many filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha produced internationally recognised cinematic wonders. These were the filmmakers who wanted to utilize cinema as more than just a source of entertainment. The enlightened souls knew the real power of cinema to address a large number of people in a short time.
2) I would like to give an example of Pather Panchali, the Bengali drama film by Satyajit Ray based on the Bengali book by the same name. It is the first in the famous Apu Trilogy– Pather Panchali (1955),
Aparajito (1956) and The World of Apu (1959). The film is the story of the childhood of the protagonist Apu, his sister Durga and the harsh village life of their poor family. It was completed in three years because the shooting was done at the locations and not at the film sets. The music of Apu trilogy was composed by Pt Ravi Shankar.
* All three films in Apu Trilogy are considered the best work of Indian Cinema to date. These films were produced on a budget of only Rs.150,000/. They won major prizes at the Cannes, Berlin and Venice Film Festivals.
3) More masterpiece are:
* Dharti Ke Lal (1946), a film about the Bengal famine of 1943 by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas.
* Neecha Nagar (1946), a film directed by Chetan Anand and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas that won the Grand Prize at the first Cannes Film Festival.
* Some art films were also successful at the box office. Bimal Roy’s ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ was one of them. It also won the prestigious award at The Cannes Film Festival.
* Mani Kaul’s several films Uski Roti (1971), Ashadh Ka Ek Din (1972), Duvidha (1974) etc earned the International spotlight.
* Shyam Benegal’s Ankur (1974) was also a success at the box office and appreciated by the critics.
Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Amol Palekar, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Pankaj Kapoor, Deepti Naval, Farooq Shaikh were the famous actors who popularized Parallel Cinema.
Trivia question of the day!
Guess the movie from this clue:
“An Indian commando goes undercover in a college to foil a terrorist plot.”
The one who gives the fastest and the correct answer will be given a special mention in the next post on Bollywood Gossip!
The answer to the question asked in the previous post is ‘Ajit’ and the winner is Ms Deepika Sharma! Congratulations:)
PANORAMIC RIPPLES 
In the 1980s parallel cinema had the peak of its bloom. With wonderful filmmakers and actors like Govinda Nihalini, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, and others.
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Ashad ka ek din is such a wonderful movie. I loved your list. Parallel cinema has gifted us some amazing gems.
Deepika Sharma
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Main Hoon Na…is the answer?
Parallel or Art movies are not for everyone. Some of them are just classics. I liked Mirch Masala. Ardh Satya.
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I love parallel/ art cinema a lot, especially players like shyam benegal, saeed mishra, aparna sen, shabana aazmi, naseerruddin shah and works of satyajit ray, mrinal sen, tapan sinha to name a few. Such movies didnt had fanciful scenes, or sensationalism and had toned down color pallette and formalist editing patterns. Even though they bought a new wave to cinema, audience were limited. They were more of social critique but I found them more realistic hence love them.
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I have not seen any of those you have mentioned. But we are at home I might as well check them out
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Parallel cinema brings some meaning to Bollywood. The movies you have mentioned are gems.. Ankur is One of my favorite.
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Parallel cinema has given some extremely wonderful movies and artists to the industry. Thanks for bringing it to the limelight. The movies mentioned by you are real examples of great artwork. Haven’t watched all of them but have always appreciated the essence and grace they hold.
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yes parallel cinema has its own magic and there are many wonderful actors who had done incredible work in parallel cinema. there were so many new facts in the post. you did really good research on this subject.
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I would say that parallel cinema is the more realistic cinema of all and closer to reality. Got to learn a lot about Parallel Cinema through your post
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I loved the list of masterpieces you suggested buddy, will try to get my hands on them if I can, o someone love watching ok’d movies a lot
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So glad you talked about Pather Panchali and the Apu Trilogy in the post. Satyajit Ray was a genius.
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This concepts seems new to me. But I’m glad you have out a list for me to watch so that I could understand further
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I wish we had such amazing parallel cinema now. Do Bigha Zameen had the suave Balraj Sahani and was a heartbreaking film.
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I am a lover of parallel cinema; some movies from the list are my all-time favorite list, like mirch masala. Parallel cinema has a different fanbase.
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I would love to watch some of these. Something out of the usual norm. I like such kind of movies.
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I haven’t seen any of these. Thanks for this wealth of information.
I love letter X posts! Always such variety.
It’s hard to believe the blogging challenge is almost over for 2021. Then the after survey, reflections, and the road trip sign-up.
Plus, I’m taking part in the Bout of Books read-a-thon in May. So much excitement!
J Lenni Dorner~ Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge, OperationAwesome6 Debut Author Interviewer, Reference& Speculative Fiction Author
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Congratulations on the completion of the AtoZ series!
Yes, I agree that X posts need a lot of creativity;)
Good luck for your ventures 🤩
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It makes me proud to be a Bengali.
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Parallel Cinema is a film movement in Indian Cinema, which originated in the state of West Bengal in the 1950s as an alternative to the mainstream commercial Indian cinema, represented especially by the popular Hindi cinema known as Bollywood.
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