Sunday 20 July 2014
Sunday 17 March 2013
English The odds Against Us
Unit-VI
The Odds Against Us
Satyajit Ray
Learning Objectives:
To understand the difference between Indian films and other films
To develop vocabulary – Synonyms - Idioms
To get familiar with Reading comprehension
To develop writing practice – Information Transfer
To enhance listening skills – announcements and directions
To improve speaking skills - role plays – interview skills
To acquaint with grammar – Adverbials
Fill in the Blanks for Objective Paper
1. With the backing of money and materials, it was easy for Hollywood to produce a Spartacus and
Russia to produce War and Peace.
2. A director’s will depend on two things to select a story 1. His affinity with the theme of the story 2.
His belief that the story would make a good film.
3. Ray used a shot of couple kissing in a movie named Devi.
4. As per Ray a good director is someone who learns to lower his brow a little.
5. If directors slightly deviate tiniest part from a classic, a horde of belligerent titans will stoop down
and tear them limb from limb
6. Casting is the first step in the process of ‘interpretation’
7. Avant-Grade means writers, artists, film makers, or musicians whose work is innovative,
experimental, or unconventional.
8. There are roles which can be brought to life b professional actors like Chunibala.
9. In foreign countries there are agents who keep fat dossiers on available extras.
10. Ever since the death of Chabbi Biswas, Ray stopped writing script for middle aged part as it
requires high degree of professional talent.
Assignment Questions:
1. According to Satyajit Ray, what are the three factors that should guide a director when
he/she chooses a story for a film?
Ans: Commenting on the first step of film making Satyajit Ray said that story is considered to be the
property of any movie. The story is generally, as assumed by him is decided by the director. But a
director should not enter this chancy medium to fool his audience and to make some quick money.
The author feels that a director’s choice of a story is commonly depends on the two major
considerations. The first one is a director’s affinity with the theme of the story. The second one is his
belief that the story would make a good film. The third one is he has to take his audience interests
into account. These three factors are very vital. They help a director to choose a story of a film.
2. How does Ray describe the films that are commonly made in India?
Ans: Speaking about the classic movies, Satyajit Ray opined that Indian directors do not plunge into
classics. They do not dare because they do not have money. Even if they did have money they
would not have market. This besides, they do not know-how to compete with the Hollywood movies.
Hence, Indian directors chose the intimate cinema which is cinema of mood and atmosphere rather
than of grandeur and spectacle. Ray felt that Intimate cinema is the most common kind of cinema on
Indian silver screen.
3. What kind of balance between the two extremes of avant-garde cinema, which is beyond
the understanding of most people, and pure make-believe did Ray try to strike in his films?
Ans: Satyajit Ray strikes a fine balance between the two major extremes. Intimate cinema of India
deals with the mood and atmosphere. It also explores new themes and new aspects of society, new
facets of human relationships. Avant gardism is considered to be a revolutionary and radical form of
cinema. It does its best to show something novel and different which will go beyond the
understanding of many.
Avant gardism is considered to be extravagance. Indian directors can never operate such movies like
a fashionable aesthete Alain Resnais of French. Indian directors could never afford it because such
movies never draw good number of audience and do not bring back the money invested. Hence,
Indian directors always take up intimate movies and explore innovative ways to present the society
and human relationships. Whatever they do, they do it economically and profitably.
4. What problems do Indian directors face when they make slightly modified versions of
classics and films based on political themes?
Ans: Indian directors have many restrictions when making a movie. If they ignore any of these slightly
they will face difficulties. They are not allowed to present movies on political themes like Advice and
Consent, A Dr.Strangelove and A Judement at Nuremberg.
Narrating Ray’s personal experience, he says that we can not show a corrupted congress man. We
can not even show a poor bank clerk who came up in his profession through dubious means wearing
a Gandhi cap to cover his baldness. If anyone does it (like Ray did it) the sensor board orders to
colour the cap black on celluloid. If a director has to present an Anglo-Indian in a poor light in his
movie, people may think of the director sharing his prejudice against Anglo-Indians. It will be pointed
out when the director movie comes for an official prize in Delhi.Heaven could only help if directors take up a classic and deviate it slightly. A host of intellectuals turn
a short notice and a horde of belligerent titans will pounce the director from limb to limb.
The upshot of these problems is a director has to operate his movie with in a narrow field. Some of
the fond dreams of the directors have to wait until good sense prevails among the public. These are
some of the most common problems of the Indian director.
5. What do filmmakers in India usually do in order to find extras?
Ans: As per Ray, once the story is finalised the next step is cast. Some of the roles are always precast
like X plays the role of wife; Y plays the role of husband and Z by a little cute girl. But there are
many other extra roles like men, women, children, peasants, shopkeepers, prostitutes and professors
and they last for a short time. There are many ways to find these extra characters.
In India, there are no agents who carry fat dossiers and supply extra characters. If directors want
“unknowns”, they could give ads in news papers or set talent-scouts scouting. Sadly, people who
have talent will never answer the ads because of an irrational fear of being rejected. And whatever
response the directors could get find its place in a dustbin. This besides, they are left to scour the
streets and scan the faces of the pedestrians. They can go to race-meets, cocktails and wedding
receptions and all of which they hate from bottom of their heart.
Satyajit Ray was compelled to go to a Chinese brothel for Chinese extras (for Aparajito film). Where
he was put to wait and promised extras were shown after a long time. He had to be tolerant to get
the scene done as he planned it. Although the directors hate these they can not help it.
6. Why was Satyajit Ray not troubled by the lack of comfort and facilities in the studios
where he shot his films?
Ans: Commenting on the facilities in his own time, Satyajit Ray said the studios of Calcutta show their
hallowed past in every crevice on the wall, in every tatter on the canvas that covers the ceiling. He
said some of the families of the rodents have been there since the beginning of the industry. The
floor is eroded and the camera groans when it turns and the voltage begins to drop down in the
evening. Facilities available seem to be lack of elegance and frightening. But Ray was unmindful of
all these never see them as hurdles. He always feels that we have essentials to make a movie and it
all depends on us to make a movie good or bad. The conditions and facilities in India make a director
to be inventive and economical. They also give him an opportunity to create beauty in the
circumstances of shoddiness and privation. It is this feeling which makes Satyajit Ray exciting and
enthralling.
Satyajit Ray feels happy to be working where he is.
7. Reflect on the views of Satyajit Ray in his piece of prose “The Odds against Us”?
Ans: Satyajit Ray is one of the pioneering film makers of the world. He is one of the few Indian
directors who introduced Indian cinema to the globe and won many accolades worldwide. The
present piece of prose “Odds against Us” is taken from his work “Our Films and their Films”. The
lesson focuses on the author’s twenty years experience in the film industry. It deals with differences
between Indian cinema and western cinema. It explains what makes a director successful in India
besides some of the restrictions on Indian cinema. It throws light on budget, cast and the limited
facilities available for Indian film makers.
Speaking on the role of a filmmaker, Ray said that the exact job of film maker is not widely
publicised. People have common and a vague understanding that film making is a tough task. For
instance, the big Hollywood blockbusters like Spartacus, War and Peace and Madrid wore this
toughness. Hollywood produced movies on conflagrations, orgies, earthquakes, battles and
triumphal processions which can not be made by a snap of fingers. They constructed famous cities
like Rome, Moscow and Peking for shooting and they remain today as tourist spots. All these were
possible for the western movie makers because of money, men and material.
Indian directors do not dare to plunge into epic movies as they do not have money. Even if they did
have money they would not have market. This besides, they do not know-how to compete with the
Hollywood movies. Though they have predilection for epics they can not make such movies. Hence,
Indian directors choose the intimate cinema which deals with mood and atmosphere rather than of
grandeur and spectacle. There is a favourite publicity catch line “two years in the making” and the big
Hollywood classics do possess it. Ray also used it for a different reason for his most successful
intimate film “Pather Panchali”. As the money for this film was given in small trickles and they had to
wait long stretches sitting idle.
Comparing his own days to today, Ray said that things have been improved in terms of finance. It
does not mean that film making is a cushy job for him. It still remains a tough task. He said we are
surrounded by a special set of problems which are indigenous to India. They come out of special
codes which guide film makers’ lives and form their destinies.
The first step of film making, as Satyajit Ray said is the story which is the property of any movie. The
story is generally, as assumed by him is decided by the director. But a director should not enter this
chancy medium to fool his audience and to make some quick money. A director’s choice of a story is
commonly based on the two major considerations. The first one is a director’s affinity with the theme
of the story. The second one is his belief that the story would make a good film. If the director is not a
greenhorn he will also take his audience interests. Experience teaches him all this for his own bright
future. If a director’s movie fails to bring back the cost involved, his backers will loose faith in him.
Others do follow the suit and soon he will be branded as a bad risk. They come from experience and
all wise directors learn to lower their brow a little. Avant gardism is considered to be extravagance.
Indian directors can never operate such movies made by a fashionable aesthete Alain Resnais of
French. Indian directors could never afford it because such movies never draw good number ofaudience and do not bring back the money invested. Hence, Indian directors always take up intimate
movies and explore innovative ways to present the society and human relationships. Whatever they
do, they do it economically and profitably.
Besides balancing the budget, the serious film makers in India face several other problems which are
non existent abroad. For example, the full bodied treatment of physical passion is there in Indian
literature but unthinkable on Indian screen. Ray had to shoot a kissing scene in a movie called ‘Devi’
and he did not venture beyond a long shot with the lovers silhouetted behind mosquito netting. He
knew well that if he had gone for a close-up he would get disapproval calls from the lower stalls and
ruin his delicate mood. The scenes of love making in Indian films have been limited to a formula of
clasping hands, longing looks, and amorous verbal exchanges which lack imagination and
intelligence. Love duets in movies are always sung against artificial romantic backdrops. These
restrictions always discourage serious film directors like Satyajit Ray. He decided not to take up a
story, however good it is, that calls for an open treatment of love. It is because he does not want to
ruin the story by diluting it.
Indian directors have to go through many restrictions when making a movie. If they ignore any of
these slightly they will face difficulties. They are not allowed to present movies on political themes
like Advice and Consent, A Dr.Strangelove and A Judgement at Nuremberg.
Narrating Ray’s personal experience, he says that we can not show a corrupted congress man. We
can not even show a poor bank clerk who rose in his profession through dubious means wearing a
Gandhi cap to cover his baldness. If anyone does it (like Ray did it) the sensor board orders to colour
the cap black on celluloid. If a director has to present an Anglo-Indian in a poor light in his movie,
people may think of the director sharing his prejudice against Anglo-Indians. It will be pointed out
when the director’s movie comes for an official prize in Delhi.
Heaven could only help if directors take up classics and deviate it slightly. A host of intellectuals turn
a short notice and a horde of belligerent titans will pounce the director from limb to limb.
The upshot of these problems is a director has to operate his movie with in a narrow field. Some of
the fond dreams of the directors have to wait until good sense prevails among the public.
As per Ray, once the story is finalised the next step is cast. Some of the roles like wife, husband and
a little cute girl are always pre-cast. But there are many other extra roles like men, women, children,
peasants, shopkeepers, prostitutes and professors and they last for a short time.
In India, there are no agents who carry fat dossiers and supply extra characters. If directors want
“unknowns”, they could give ads in news papers or set talent-scouts scouting. Sadly, people who
have talent will never answer the ads because of rejection. And whatever response the directors
could get find its place in a dustbin. This besides, they are left to scour the streets and scan the faces
of the pedestrians. They can go to race-meets, cocktails and wedding receptions and all of whichSatyajit Ray was once compelled to go to a Chinese brothel for Chinese extras (for Aparajito film).
Where he was put to wait and the promised extras were shown after a long time. He had to be
tolerant to get the scene done as he planned it. Although the directors hate these they can not help
it.
Satyajit Ray was lucky enough to get the right idle aged characters for his story. He felt that there is
dearth for good professional middle aged characters. He told he could not make Pather Panchali
again because Chunibala was no more. Stories like Jalsaghar, Devi and Kanchanjungha were
written with Chabbi Biswas in mind. He stopped writing stories which require professional middle
aged characters after their death.
Commenting on the facilities in his own time, Satyajit Ray said the studios of Calcutta show their
hallowed past in every crevice on the wall, in every tatter on the canvas that covers the ceiling. He
said some of the families of the rodents have been there since the beginning of the industry. The
floor is eroded and the camera groans when it turns and the voltage begins to drop down in the
evening. Facilities available seem to be lack of elegance and frightening. But Ray was unmindful of
all these never see them as hurdles. He always feels that we have essentials to make a movie and it
all depends on us to make a movie good or bad. The conditions and facilities in India make a director
to be inventive and economical. They also give him an opportunity to create beauty in the
circumstances of shoddiness and privation. It is this feeling which makes Satyajit Ray exciting and
enthralling.
Satyajit Ray feels happy to be working where he is.
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