Modern Masters of Cinema: A personal tribute!

‘Modern Masters of Cinema’ by Dhiraj Singh (Notion Press) is an account of the appeal of selected cinema masters, mostly from Hollywood cinema. The first-person tone of the book makes it amply clear that it is a homage, a personal tribute to these actors. Non-Hollywood directors and actors are from Italian Cinema and of course Amitabh, Dilip Kumar, Rishi Kapoor, Yash Chopra also figure prominently. Essays about the representation of North India in Hindi Cinema and ideology and auteurs completes the volume. 

First thing that hits the reader is - despite an attempt at dense analysis, there is no erosion of readability in the chapters. Small size of the chapters and their popular appeal has something to do with it along with the author’s grasp over the language and his intimacy with his subject matter- i.e. appeal of these masters for him. Singh is clearly on the territory of feelings, though he is good with the technical stuff that helps in what he calls ‘communication of the joy’ of an ‘orchestra art’ i.e. cinema. Feelings are personal stuff and a good book is about making that personal moment or feeling into something universal. The book does communicate the joy of art and craft of cinema and manages to resonate as an analysis for a wider audience.

Singh has the heart of a common audience and the eye of a cinema critic. His essays get their fuel from his fandom. He gets mesmerised first and then gets down to explain, mostly to himself, about the process and ingredients of that magic. The entry point can be a lingering feeling such as wistful self-deprecation of Marcello Mastroianni, twinkle of guilt of the characters played by Michael Douglas, grace of Dilip Kumar, enduring appeal of Amitabh Bachchan or an incomplete feel of Paul Thomas Anderson’s films, whom he calls an ‘Unconsummated Genius’. 

An example of finding a hook into the world of Bernardo Bertolucci, Singh takes a route that often hits the viewer of the director’s work very intensely and moves from there, he writes “Bertolucci emerges as a prolific chronicler of sex in all its forms, sensuous, therapeutic, communion, a mode of feeling, way of making sense and just simply as lust.  In his films, sex is presented as life affirming force, soul corrosive wound and mostly as sometimes gentle–sometimes brutal background.  It is not fair or accurate to bracket a force of nature like Bernardo Bertolucci.  However, like Marlon Brando’s character in The Last Tango in Paris and three young characters of The Dreamers, sex can be a vehicle to traverse Bertolucci’s art and life.”

Apart from the above masters, he has taken up Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Marlon Brando, Martin Scorsese, Italian Maestro Fellini, Tarantino, Coen Brothers, Daniel Craig, Manoj Vajpayee and many more. 

In these essays, Singh often goes to the acknowledged masters of cinema criticism such as Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael and others. Ebert is openly credited with guiding his cinematic sensibilities. Still, these essays are not term-papers scavenged from various masters, the voice of personal exploration is clear and a serious reader is rewarded with a unique view point to approach these masters. 

His chapters on Indian Cinema show his comfort with Bollywood. He clearly likes Bollywood and the volume has three essays on Amitabh Bachchan. Through Amitabh, he goes into the rarity of a great second innings and finds the thespians carving of this unique trail a major service to Hindi Cinema. He praises Dilip Kumar for laying down the grammar of modern Hindi cinema acting and bringing it out of its hyperbolic initial form. His admiration for Rishi Kapoor’s Rauf Lala in Agneepath is praise for the actor's bold disruption of his long held lucrative soft personality. All are fully realized essays. 

His theoretical essays deal with the demand of ideology on the auteurs. Here he is against burdening art with carrying ideological preferences. He is not advocating art for art's sake or denigrating ideology as a parameter but his preferences are with communicating the themes and emotions clearly. He acknowledges the value of the camera's gaze but prioritizes the communication over normative judgement. A forceful stand in a debate which is far from settled. 

The book has an anthological feel as it is a collection of articles. The disjointedness can be jarring and absence of a detailed introductory article is perhaps its biggest weakness. There is no single woman cinema personality in the volume, which again is a huge lacunae as among actors and directors he has left a major part of cinematic talent unexamined. A Sophia Loren or a Meena Kumari would have fit perfectly with the tone of the book. The same goes for the absence of Indian language Cinema from regions. One would have loved to see Mohanlal, Mammooty or Rajnikant through his eyes. 

Despite its faults, ‘Modern Masters of Cinema’ is a labour of love and Dhiraj Singh’s love for movies shines through. Reading this slim volume will definitely equip the reader to have a deeper appreciation of the work of the masters that have featured in the book. 

Abhishek Dayal

Abhishek Dayal is a serving civil servant and a communication professional professor for last 27 years. His earlier books are “20th Century Mass Communication Theories in the Age of Social Media” and “Deep Waters:  A Survivor’s guide to Office”.

(डिस्क्लेमर : इस लेख में व्यक्त विचार लेखक के स्वयं के हैं। रागदिल्ली.कॉम के संपादकीय मंडल का इन विचारों से कोई लेना-देना नहीं है।)