Her Father's Daughter

Aparajita Sinha is a cultural activist whose work ranges from organizing annual classical arts festivals to making shorts films which were telecast on television (DD national) and Britain's Channel. She runs the popular Hyderabad film club Moving Images. Aparajita's father, the late Bimal Roy, was one of the pioneers of Indian cinema, who made such classics as Bandini, Sujata and Do Bigha Zamin. Her mother Manobina Roy was one of the earliest women photographers of India.

1. What is your work about?

I have been doing some work connected with cinema from as far back as I can remember, even during college years. Reviewing films, interviewing film personalities for magazines, subtitling films for film festivals, and organizing film shows. I have even organised film appreciation work shops - in Calcutta where I used to live and in Hyderabad. .

2. Tell us about Moving Images and Sanskar.

Moving Images is a Hyderabad based film club started by a group of film lovers 8 years ago and registered with the AP Registrar of societies. It is a non-profit body headed by a core executive council. We may start a chapter in Mumbai if circumstances permit. Sanskar was set up as a Trust to promote Indian culture via concerts and major festivals. Its focus was classical music, dance and contemporary theatre. It was also begun by a like minded group of people interested in preserving our art forms and ancient cultural traditions and we did some memorable festivals in Hyderabad in between 1991 and '95.  Sanskar no longer exists.

3. What films have you made? 

Aparajita Sinha on stage with Javed Akhtar at a Moving Images event,
ITC Kakatiya, March 2009.

I have made three or four documentaries. One was a commissioned one for DD National and dealt with a historical figure from the Indian freedom struggle, Alluri Sita Rama Raju. The second was an independent film about the Kumbh mela that was telecast in Britain (on Channel 4) but never shown in India. The third and fourth were never released. 

4. What inspired you to run a film club?

I think it was my love for cinema. I grew up breathing and thinking films because my father was a greatly respected film maker, a pioneer in fact of the 40’s and 50’s. His films are part of the 100 years of cinema celebration going on now. He died in 1966. Because I hardly knew him I watched his films with great concentration and I felt that films can change people’s hearts and minds. That is why I wanted to screen great films so that people could aspire to be better human beings - as my father’s films did. So many people have told me over the years that they learnt good values by watching his films.

5. What festivals have you organised?

Under the auspices of Sanskar we organised festivals of dance, music and drama in Lalit Kala Toranam and Rabindra Bharati. These were funded by the Department of Culture, Govt of India as well as Department of Culture, Andhra Pradesh and were free for all. Daily we had people of 2000 to 3000 people. The audience was very well behaved and appreciated the efforts we had taken to invite some really eminent personalities to perform here from all over India. The best and most illustrious artists performed at these festivals. Later we organised a concert by L.Subramaniam, the world famous violinist who lives in the US and a concert by Uma Dogra, kathak dancer. Recently Sanskar started in a small way and we had a baithak style performance by the Dhrupad singers Gundecha Brothers.

Moving Images has done festivals of Bimal Roy (my father’s films), a Tagore festival “Rabindra Darshan” and a very successful Spanish film festival in the Prasads Multiplex which was open to the public and free. Some Spanish film makers and actors also came as delegates for this. we have done retrospectives of  Czech Cinema, German cinema, and we hope to dany many more restrospectives of leading Indian film makers such as Adoor Gopalakrshnan and Aparna Sen. We want to also do retrospectives of Telugu artists like Jamuna.

 

6. How was it living and growing up with your father and mother, two very famous personalities?

 

My father was a famous man. When you are famous other people admire you and would therefore try to be like you. He taught me that being famous also meant being responsible for your actions. My mother was not famous in the same way: she was the one who looked after us and cared for all our needs. My mother saw to it that we continued to have an uninterrupted education and grow up like children of less famous people.  Fame often prevents you from having a normal family life. One can see that all around us - especially in the case of film personalities. The father is out all the time, and the children are in bed by the time he comes back home. Film stars have to take special holidays to be able to spend time with their children. It was the same in our case. I hardly saw or knew my father. He often left home before we went to school, as shooting commences early usually, and would return late at night, exhausted.He was always travelling out of town. But what I did learn and experience from him was how to handle fame and exposure. He was a quiet and modest man, and did not like the artificial atmosphere of what is now called Bollywood. He kept us away from that. We didnt go to film parties, nor did we meet film stars, except those who were personal friends of my father, eg Dilip Kumar. Dilip Kumar was a gentleman and educated and well spoken. We also met musicians, writers, artists, and our home was a centre for cultured people to meet. That had a great influence on my upbringing. Besides, my father was a zamindar’s son but did not believe in class or caste differences. His humanistic principles also influenced me.He was also a reader of the classics such as Sarat Chandra and Rabindranath Tagore. He was an admirer of Nehru and Gandhiji and naturally therefore believed in nationhood and non-violence. All these things had subtle influences on me and my siblings.   

My mother had a different childhood from my father. My mother and her two sisters (they had no brothers) were brought up by and idealised her school principal father who did not believe in gender discrimination, but brought up his girls to believe they were equal to boys. They had a liberal upbringing and went to college and spoke Urdu. They read a lot and sang beautifully. The influence of these value systems was far reaching for me. I feel that what my parents gave me was priceless, and more important than a vast fortune - they taught me to think for myself, they taught me that one had to work hard to earn the label of “fame” and that whether you become famous or not, you have to value yourself and your work first - that is, working hard and believing in oneself is worth more than merely only famous.

7. What do you think about present day films?

Some films being made today are very good - for different reasons. I suppose we are talking of Indian cinema. I liked Munnabhai and Lagaan. Many films that did well recently at the box office did not make the grade of good cinema in my opinion. Even films like Barfi which was selected for the Oscar was a poor imitation of other foreign films. I liked Chittagong which has just won the National award for best first feature film. It is a gem of a film, with good performances and about a real life historical incident when a group of courageous school boys and young girls tried to overthrow the British in their town. It is about courage and sacrifice. I dont like films that glorify violence or revenge ( many films of the 70’s and 80’s did that) and I don’t like films where women are made to wear revealing clothes or do item numbers just for the sake of it. There are too many like that today. If our actresses had some self respect they would put their foot down soemtimes. I also dont like films where song sequences are shot in foreign countries and needless public money is at stake. You dont have to spend a fortune to make a brilliant film. We have much to learn fom Iran that way.

8. Besides running a film club, you are into social work, like ‘Save the Rocks Society’ and others, tell us about that.

I believe social work is the best way one can contribute to the world. I help people in the rural areas and the small industries in association with a close friend who is a social worker.

Registered in 1996, Save the Rocks Society works towards coveying the message of appreciating and preserving our great Deccan Rocks which are the Deccan’s natural heritage and are 60 times older than the Himalayas and have an amazing beauty. We would never get them back if destroyed. I am associated with the society through a very good German friend of mine, Frauke Quader, who is the secretary of the society. Rock walks, interactive lectures, cultural programmes and prize competitions are organised and corporates, developers, government, sponsors, donors, and funding agencies are involved.Today there are over 500 active rock crusaders. 26 rock areas have been placed under protection as heritage precincts under HMDA. However, the lack of their safekeeping is now a cause for concern.

9. What message would you like to give to people wanting to make a career in films and documentaries?

Watch films - as many as you can, daily if possible, if you feel film making is what you want to really do.  You can never fail to learn something when you watch a film. Even if it is a bad film it will teach you what makes a film “bad” and how NOT to make an immature or unsatisfactory film. Also make sure that film making is a fitting career for you. Don’t set out to be a film maker because your friend wants to be one or you feel it’s a glamorous, lucrative profession. Film making is a hard life, full of disappointments and failure, and it is hard work.  Be prepared before you start the journey. But if you do, life may change forever for you, and you may change someone else’s life, by making honest, sincere, beautiful films.

Yusra Hussain