Amrit Gangar is an Indian film scholar, historian, critic, curator and writer from

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, India. He worked as consultant content developer for the National Museum of Indian Cinema set up by the National Council of Science Museums in Mumbai. He was actively involved with India’s film society movement and was secretary of Screen Unit, and Regional Secretary of Federation of Film Societies’ Western Region. Curator of Experimenta (first in

and now in Bangalore), Shai Heredia in an interview with Amrit Gangar, draws the history of Screen Unit and the film society movement in India over the years; he is credited to have been one of the pioneers in ushering in the serious film appreciation in Mumbai. He has also been holding film appreciation workshops all over Gujarat and at various educational and institutional spaces in India. Gangar has been working in the field of cinema in various capacities for over three

decade A decade (from , , ) is a period of 10 years. Decades may describe any 10-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years. Usage Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement ...

He has been part of production and creative teams of numerous

feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature recognition, could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (machine learning), in statistics: individual measurable properties of the phenome ...

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

, short films and video installations by artists from Europe and Scandinavia. For the past several years, he has been engaged with his new theoretical-philosophical concept ''Cinema of Prayoga'' or ''Cinema Prayoga''.

Cinema of Prayoga: A New Concept

Amrit Gangar has been responsible for coining, developing and theorizing his new theoretical concept of 'Cinema of Prayoga' or 'Cinema Prayoga' that aims at substituting and expanding the generally accepted Euro-American-centric term the '

Experimental Film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that does not apply standard cinematic conventions, instead adopting Non-narrative film, non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many e ...

' while celebrating the cinematographic idiom deeply located in the

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord ...

of Indian philosophy and cultural imagination, including the perception of 'time' and 'space'. Since his first public presentation of 'Cinema of Prayoga' at the Experimenta, Mumbai in 2005, he has been presenting it at various venues and fora in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and abroad. Films by Amit Dutta, Ashish Avikunthak, Vipin Vijay, Kabir Mohanty and Arghya Basu fall within the ambit of this concept.

Authorship: Books – English, and other Indian languages (Original or Tr.)

* Roopantar, adaptations from literature to cinema, Arunodaya Prakashan, Ahmedabad – in Gujarati, 201

* Walter Kaufmann (composer), Walter Kaufmann: The Music that Still Rings at Dawn, Every Dawn, Goethe Institute, Mumbai, 2013. * Cinema Vimarsh, Gujarat Sahitya Akademi,

Gandhinagar Gandhinagar () is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the industrial corridor between the megacities of Delhi and Mumbai. Gandhinagar ...

– in Gujarati, 2012. * Mumbai 24 x 7, essays on the city of Mumbai, Arunodaya Prakashan,

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

– in Gujarati, 2 011. * Cinema. Culture. Capital. Context: India, Monfakira, Kolkata, 2010. * Sohrab Modi: The Great Mughal of Historicals (in the series, the Legends of Indian Cinema), Wisdom Tree, New Delhi, 2008. * Paul Zils and the Indian Documentary, Goethe Institute, Mumbai, 2003. *

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

Ani Tyanche Chitrapat (

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

), Lokvangmaya Griha, Mumbai, 2002. (Tr. from original English) *

Franz Osten Franz Osten (23 December 1876 in Munich – 2 December 1956) was a Bavaria, Bavarian filmmaker who along with Himansu Rai was among the first retainers of Bombay Talkies. Osten partnered with Rai on a number of India's earliest blockbuster film ...

and the

Bombay Talkies Bombay Talkies was a movie studio founded in 1934. During its period of operation, Bombay Talkies produced 40 movies in Malad, a suburb of the Indian city of Bombay. The studio was established in 1934 by Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani. Afte ...

: A Journey from Munich to Malad, 2001, Goethe Institute, Mumbai. * seven Parichay Pustika (Introductory Booklets), Parichay Trust, Mumbai - in Gujarati (2000-2013) #

Bimal Roy Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 7 January 1966) was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as , '' Parineeta'', ''Biraj Bahu'', '' Devdas'', '' Madhumati'', '' Sujata'', '' Parakh'' and '' Ba ...

Sohrab Modi Sohrab Merwanji Modi (2 November 1897 – 28 January 1984) was an Indian stage and film actor, director and producer. His films include ''Khoon Ka Khoon'' (1935), a version of Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'', ''Sikandar (1941 film), Sikandar'', '' ...

# Bharatiya Cinema ma Navo Juval (The New Wave in Indian Cinema) # Yadgar Dastaveji Chitro (Memorable Documentary Films) # Bharat na Uttam Balchitro (The Best of Indian Children’s Films) #

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

# Rashtriya Film Sangrahalaya (The National Film Archive of India) #

National School of Drama National School of Drama (NSD) is a drama school situated at New Delhi, India. It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and became an independent school ...

# Bharatiya Cinema ni Shatabdi (100 Years of

Indian Cinema The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on p ...

)

Editorship, Co-Editorship: Books – English, Gujarati, Danish (Tr.)

Art in India: A mighty river of the unique and the universal
ARTiT (Japan’s first bilingual art quarterly), special number on Indian contemporary art, co-ordination and co-editing with Johan Pijnappel, 2007. # Jainism: Walking into Eternity, Eds.Birthe Molhave, Amrit Gangar, Kuntal Gangar and Kristian Molhave (Danish), 2001, Systime, Aarhus, Denmark. # Indian Cinema: A Visual Voyage (with Virchand Dharamsey), 1998, Publication Division, New Delhi. (contd.) # Edited the National Film Development Corporation’s monthly bulletin, 1995. # The Rigour of Austerity: Robert Bresson and Luis Buñuel, 1989, Federation of Film Societies of India, Mumbai. Ed. # Andrei Tarkovsky: A Homage, 1987, Screen Unit, Mumbai. Ed. # Ritwik Ghatak: Arguments / Stories (with Ashish Rajadhyaksha), 1984, Screen Unit, Mumbai. # Also published Ritwik Ghatak: A Return to the Epic, the first major book in English on Ritwik Ghatak by Ashish Rajadhyaksha on behalf of Screen Unit, Bombay,1982 # Gujarati Cinema: At 1982 (with Manilal Gala), Screen Unit, Mumbai. # Edited the main and retrospective catalogues of the Mumbai International Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films from 1990 uptil1998, as also of the Children’s Film Festival of India, and of the National Film Development Corporation.

Part of Publications

# Unveiling Desire: Fallen Women in Literature, Culture, and Films of the East, Eds. Devaleena Das and Colette Morrow, Rutgers – Forthcoming # The Unposted Letter, A collection of articles by and on Shri Goverdhan Panchal, an expert on Sanskrit Theatre, Architecture, Ed. Hasmukh Baradi, TMC, Ahmedabad, 2014. # Kalaveethi, Eds. Ajaysingh Chouhan, et al., Pranav Prakashan, Ahmedabad, 2013. #

Ritwik Ghatak Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (; 4 November 19256 February 1976) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, actor and playwright. Widely considered as one of the greatest film makers of all time, his works remained largely underrated and ignored during hi ...

: A Return to the Epic, Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Screen Unit, Mumbai, 1982. # Essays, Poems contributed to Books, Catalogues and Journals: English, Gujarati, Kachchhi, Marathi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, French, Spanish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, German, Swish, Swedish, Russian, Persian (Tr.) (Select) # Buddhadeb Dasgupta: Poet of Celluloid, Federation of Film Societies of India, Kolkata, 2014. # Routledge Handbook of Indian Cinema, Eds. K. Moti Gokulsing and Wimal Dissanayake, Routledge, London, 2013. # Moving Image Review & Art Journal (MIRAJ), London, Ed. Catherine Elwes, 2012. # Swarnim Gujaratno Swapnadrashta: Veer Narmad, Ed. Jagdish Gurjar, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat, 2011. # The Chawls of Mumbai: Galleries of Life, Ed. Neera Adarkar, imprint One, New Delhi, 2011. # Focus: Design & Informal Cities, Indian Architect and Builder, Mumbai, 2010. # Revisioning Mumbai: Conceiving a Manifesto for Sustainable Development, Eds. Vimal Shah, Pankaj Joshi, The Asiatic Society, Mumbai, 2010. # Asian Film Journeys, Eds. Rashmi Doraiswamy, Latika Padgaonkar, Wisdom Tree, New Delhi 2010. # the kernel is a fact, Kabir Mohanty, Gallery SKE, Bangalore, 2010. # Girls and Girlshood at Threshold of Youth & Gender, Ed. Vibhuti Patel, The Women Press, Delhi, 2009. # INDIA: Cine de , documental independiente y ideocreacion (1899-2008, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, 2008. (Spanish) . # Espace Croise 1994–2006, cahier # 2, Roubaix, France, 2008. (French) # Vishva na Yadgar Pravachano, Ed. Suresh Dalal, Mahesh Dave, Image Publications Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, Ahmedabad, 2008. (Gujarati) # Masala: Bollywood – sa furnkar det, Ed.Katarina Przybtl, Ostasiatiska Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2008. (Swedish) # India Express: Sacred and Popular, Eds. Erja Pusa, et al., Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland. (Finnish, Swedish, English) # Song for an Ancient Land, Kabir Mohanty, Gallery SKE, Bangalore, 2006. # Bollywood in Switzerland, Ed. Alexandra Schneider, The Museum of Design, Zurich, Switzerland, 2005. (German) # The Best of Speaking Tree, Vols. 1 and 4, The Times of India, 2004, 2007. # Enduring Legacy: Parsis of the 20th Century (in 4 parts), Ed. Nawaz B. Mody, K.R. Cama Oriental Institute, Mumbai 2005. # The Best of Speaking Tree, Vol. 4, The Times of India, 2007. # Ardhi Sadi ni Vachanyatra, Ed. Mahendra Meghani, Lok Milap Trust, Bhavnagar, 2006. (Gujarati) # Film & Philosophy, Ed. K. Gopinathan, University of Calicut, 2003. # International Film, an Iranian Film Quarterly, Ed.Houshang Golmakani Tehran, Iran, 2001. # Frames of Mind: Reflections on Indian Cinema, Ed. Aruna Vasudev, ICCR, UBS, New Delhi, 1995. # Bombay: Mosaic of Modern Culture, Eds. Alice Thorner and Sujata Patel, OUP, 1995. # Bombay and Mumbai: The City in Transition, Eds. Sujata Patel and Jim Masselos, OUP, 2003. # Indomania, Ed. Dominique Paini, Cinematheque Francais, Paris, 1996.(French) # Figures, Facts, Feeling: A Direct Diasporic Dialogue, Parthiv Shah, 2000. # Images of India in European Cinema, Goethe Institute, Mumbai, 2000. (long essay) # Germany in Upheaval: A Series of Documentary Films, Goethe Institute, Mumbai, 1999 (long essay) # DEFA: Documentary Films, Goethe Institute, Mumbai, 1998. (long essay). # Voices of Emergency: An All India Anthology of Protest Poetry of the 1975-77 Emergency, Ed. John Oliver Perry, Popular Prakashan, Bombay, 1983. # Essays and poems published in numerous other catalogues, journals and dailies (English, Gujarati, Malayalam, etc.) including the Cinemaya, Osian’s Cinemaya, Art India, Lensight, the journal of the Film & Television Institute of India, Danish Film Institute Journal, Farbas Trimasik, Etad, Tathapi, Pratyaksha, Sameepe, Mumbai Samachar, Janmabhoomi Pravasi, Nav Gujarat Times, etc.

Conceptualization and Curatorship of Programs (Select): India and Abroad

# Cinema of Prayoga, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, 2014 # Film Programs, Tapi Festival, Surat, India, 2014. # Kshaya of Akasa is also the Kshyaya of Chetana: Some Reflections on the shrinking of Sky in Cinema, Pondicherry, 2016. # Cinema of Prayoga, Danish Film Institute, Copenhagen: Indian Film Program, March 2012 . # Tribute to Mani Kaul, 12th Osian’s Cine-Fan Film Festival, 2012, New Delhi. For the first time the practitioners (camerapersons, soundpersons, editors and production persons) came together to discuss aesthetics and the philosophy of Mani Kaul’s cinematography. # Hosted and curated (along with Neville Tuli) Deewar: Celebrating 100 Years of Cinematic Heritage of India, 12th Osian’s Cine-Fan Film Festival, 2012, New Delhi. # Cinema of Prayoga, Conference at the Viswabharati University, Santiniketan, 2011. # Chelsea College of Art & Design, University of the Arts London, Moving Image Art and Global Media Spectacle, June 2011. # Centre Pompidou, Paris: Indian Experimental Films, June 2011. # Saat Sarjak. Saat Samvad (Seven Creators. Seven Dialogues), a seven-month-long (monthly) program on Cinema of Prayoga, National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai, 2008. # National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai: Short Films about Sufism (2006). # Arts Reverie, Ahmedabad: Fana’a, 2007 – Sufi Soul: A Bouquet of International Short Films; Sufi Films, Ahmedabad Art Festival, 2012 (shown at the National Institute of Design). # Katha Centre for Film Studies, Mumbai: Curatorial Workshops-numerous. # Katha Centre for Film Studies, Mumbai: Chalchitra Chawlchitra: Conceived and curated a program of films around Mumbai’s chawls. # Bollywood Film Posters: Worked with the Norwegian Film Institute, Oslo, Norway in putting together hand painted billboards and writing a lead article for its exhibition, continuing from August 2007. # INDIA: Bollywood and Living Gods: Worked with the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, Sweden in putting together visual material pertaining to popular Hindi cinema within the exhibition (September 2007 – March 2008) concept. # Cinema of Prayoga (the term he coined to substitute the Anglo-American Experimental or Avantgarde Film.) Tate Modern, London presented this program along with a seminar in which he also spoke, 2006. # Devi Diva - Images of woman in Indian cinema, a short compilation of film excerpts, with Berenice Ellena, during an exhibition at Musee des Arts Asiatiques, Nice, France, 2006. # Kali: A program of Indian cutting edge short films about Kali presented at Gallery Espace Croise, Roubaix, France. It was part of the bigger event about Mumbai / India in Lille, France, 2007. # India Express: Presented an Indian film program in aesthetical context at the exhibition of Indian popular art at the Helsinki City Art Museum, Finland. Also helped organize a workshop by the Bollywood billboard painters during the exhibition. # Bollywood in Switzerland: Presented a film program in historical context and helped the exhibition organized by the Museum of Design in Zurich, Switzerland, 2001. # Dogma film program for the International Film Festival of Kerala in Trivandrum, Kerala. # Experimenta 2005: First time presented his new theoretical concept of Cinema of Prayoga, at this first of its kind cutting edge film festival in Mumbai. # Kala Ghoda Artfest: Curated film programs continuously for four years until 1998. Was commissioning editor for several short films on Kala Ghoda area made by different professional and amateur filmmakers, Mumbai, 1999. # Mumbai International Film Festival of Documentary, Short & Animation Films (MIFF). Curated retrospective programs from 1990 until 1996. # Curatorial Advisor, National Curatorial Program initiated by the India Foundation for the Arts and the Katha Centre for Film Studies, Mumbai. # 125th Birth Anniversary of Charlie Chaplin and the Chaplin Town, Adipur, Kachchh, 2014. # Five Devdas Films and One Novella, National Book Fair, Ahmedabad, 2014. # Indian Cinema: One Hundred Years of Fortitude, Hyderabad Literary Festival, 2014. # Indian Cinema: One Hundred Years of Fortitude, Whistling Woods International Film School, Mumbai, 2013. # Indian Cinema: One Hundred Years of Fortitude, as part of the Key-Note Address, International Seminar on Cinema, St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, 2013. # Cinematographic Symbiosis: Germany and India, Excellence on Tour, DWIH, Kolkata, 2014, Ahmedabad 2013, Mumbai 2013. # Cinematographic Symbiosis: Germany and India, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, Mumbai 2013. # Cinematographic Symbiosis: Germany and India, Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai, 2013. # Cinema of Prayoga: Contemplating a Cinematographic Moment, York University, Toronto, Canada, 2013. # Cinema of Prayoga, No Cultural Boundaries, York University and SAVAC, Toronto, Canada, 2013. # The Moving Image Looped to be Mukt! – the Cinema of Prayoga conscience, the University of the Arts, London, 2011.

Film Workshops in India and Elsewhere

* Over the years, conducted film appreciation and film and literature related workshops in Surat, Palanpur, Bharuch, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Sadra, Bombay and other places. * Several other such workshops are underway. National seminar ‘Roopantar’ (Literature to Cinema) organized in Nadiad was the outcome of the ‘Roopantar’ series in the journal Pratyaksha. Delivered the key-note address at the Nadiad conference. Was invited to Asmita Parva-14 (14 – 18 April 2011) at Mahua by Morari Bapu to present a talk on film kala nu anubhavan with reference to cinematographic experience. The program was televised internationally on Astha channel. Conducted several Indian film workshops in different gymnasiums (schools) and institutions in Denmark.

Program Consultant

* Goethe Institute, Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai. * Cultural Centre of Russia, Mumbai. * 2012: One of the active members of the organizing group on ‘Classic Incantations: The German Film Orchestra Babelberg performs A.R. Rahman,’ a massive musical that showcased over a hundred orchestral musicians from the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg and KM Music Conservatory, Chennai and travelled across five Indian metros. It was exclusively presented by Lapp Group; conceived and coordinated by Goethe Institute, Mumbai.

Awards

* 2007: A trophy from Naval Dockyard Mumbai for discovering and preserving the documentary film �
India’s Struggle for National Shipping
”

Film Festival Juries and Committees

Nomination on several film festival juries and selection committees in India and abroad. Select list: * 2020 Jury member, 16th Mumbai International Film Festival * 2017 Chairperson, SiGNS Film Festival, Kochi, Kerala. * 2017 Selection, International Cinema, IFFK, Trivandrum, Kerala * 2017 Member, National, Indian Documentary Producers’ Association. * 2014:

Cinema Verite ''Cinema Verite'' is a 2011 HBO drama film directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. The film's main ensemble cast starred Diane Lane, Tim Robbins, James Gandolfini and Patrick Fugit. The film follows a fictionalized account of ...

, Tehran, Iran. * 2010: Chairperson, Int. Jury of the International Film Festival of Ahmedabad. * 2009: Member, International Jury, Oberhausen Short Film Festival, Germany. * 2008: Member National Jury, Indian Documentary Producers’ Association. * 2007: Member, Indian Documentary Producers’ Association, National Jury. * 2007: Member, International Jury, International Short Film Fest, Tehran, Iran. * 2006: Chairperson, Int. Jury, International Short Film Fest, Tehran, Iran. * 2005: Member, Indian Documentary Producers’ Association, National Jury. * 2005: Member, International Jury, Three-Continent Film Festival * 2008: Member, Advisory Committee, NCPA, Mumbai. * 1990-1995: Various national committees of the Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short & Animation Films. * 1989: Member, National Short Film Jury, National Film Festival, India.

Academic - Lectures / Conferences

* John Abraham Memorial Lecture, SiGNS Film Festival, Kochi, Kerala.
Cinema of Prayoga:
The Rigour of Austerity, Junoon, Kitabkhana, Mumbai. * Students’ Centre, Zagreb, Croatia �
Cinema of Prayoga
and Indian Experimental Films. * Royal College of Art, Copenhagen, Denmark; Yale University, New Haven, USA; Columbia University, New York, USA. * Shri Rajmohan Gandhi’s Asia Plateau, Panchgani, Maharashtra – lectured on Indian cinema to students from various North American universities. * Asmita Parva – 14, Mahua, Gujarat, a presentation on anubhāvan of cinema. * Goethe Institute (Max Mueller Bhavan), Mumbai. * University of the Arts London, June 2011. Georges Pompidou Centre, Paris, June 2011 Kalabhavana, Santiniketan, August 2011. * Several conferences and seminars in India and abroad, including in Australia, Sri Lanka, Iran, etc.

Archiving / Databasing

* Was responsible for discovering and restoring the historic and rare documentary India’s Struggle for National Shipping by Paul Zils * Conceived, developed and set up a comprehensive easy-to-retrieve database of the Films Division’s library of documentary films, etc. from 1948 to 1993, about 9000 documentary, short and animation films (with Subhash Chheda).

Film Directorship

* Mumbai and the Informal City, presented at the International Conference of Architects and Town Planners, Mumbai, 2010. * Harbour Line Stories, Etc., for Cell – Initiators of Incidents, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. About the city of Mumbai – including some historic episodes, e.g. explosion in a steamer in 1944 in Bombay harbour. * Temples in Trains, produced and directed, a documentary about Mumbai’s local trains and commuters ingeniously create temples inside compartments and sing songs every morning. (contd.) * Kandivli: A River Saga, produced and directed this 6-minute film about how a pure-water river has turned into a filthy nullah. * Bandra in Bollywood. Compiling film excerpts from films that show Bandra as location as a historic document – for the Bandra Festival. * Representation of Bombay in Films: An hour-long compilation of films recording and representing the city of Bombay, for the Urban Research & Development Institute.

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gangar, Amrit Living people Indian film critics 21st-century Indian historians Indian curators Year of birth missing (living people)