Reading city through cinema

SK. INTEKHAB ALAM

M. A

RCH

[UR]

CITIES AND CINEMA

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The association to a city through daily experiences is true for the inhabitants of the city as shown through various forms of media; cinema, books, television, newspapers, advertisements, billboards, etc, have the strongest impact on people’s mind.

Aim Understanding Cinema and the city and the relation between both.Objective: To analyze and comprehend the image ability of a city through the lens of cinema.

Need1.Visual communication has the strongest impact on the minds of people.2.Access of wider cross section of people and the popularity of cinema in India.3.Provides a mediating pedagogy between the reality of the metropolis and its imaginary place in mental life.

Primary Case Study: New Delhi Secondary Case Study: Mumbai (Bombay)

Source :Cinema as a tool for structuring the city of Mumbai Divya Vishwanathan, Department of Urban Design, 2009, Thesis

PORTRAYAL OF THE CITY

IMAGIBLITY

URBAN ISSUES

TRANSFORMATION OF URBAN SPACES AND CINEMA OVER FOUR DECADE

The films selected were all produced between 1968 and 2014. They represent a variety of genres (drama, thriller, romantic comedy, docudrama, etc.), but are consistently effective in their depiction of cities and the manners in which people inhabit them. As are all the films shown in urban design studio, they were selected for reasons: they were shot primarily, if not entirely on location they portray people actively engaged in claiming and using urban space,

INTRODUCTIONAn outsider to the city perceives a city through medium that represents them. Among all forms of media the idea of city as represented through cinema especially popular cinema influences and shapes peoples imagination of a ‘city’. most.

1.MAPPING As a medium of representation it allows a person to move through the city where there is a limitation in other medium.a.Cultureb.Buildingc.Cityscaped.Transportatione.Urban form

2.STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF ALL THE ASPECTS MAPPED

3.IMAGINATING CITYSCAPES AND ENVIRONMENTThe intersection of physical, social and mental space gives rise to the imagined city. Cinema has allowed one to imagine cities.

Background into Foreground: Film as a Medium for Teaching Urban Design by Roy Strickland

PRIMARY CASE STUDY DELHI

1970-1980 Maasoom1980-1990 Chashme buddor ,Special 261990-2000 Dil se 2000-2010 Oye Lucky lucky oye, Rang de basanti2010-2014 Vickhy donor, Rockstar, Delhi-Belly

Refugee colonyYouth centricGreen CapitalMonumentsFarm House PatriotismMedia CityDemocracyPowerSecularismRebellious natureFreedom of expressionProtestPedestrian Vs VehicularUnauthorized coloniesGourmetFlyoversMetroHigh Class society

Building up of a national capital

Era of Habib Rehman

And Raj Rewal

City designed for Vehicles Wider road

Monuments

Green Capital

1970

-198

0

Wider road

City for vehicles

Monuments

Old city

Youth centric

Green Capital

1980

-199

0

Migration

Politics

Power

Democracy

Green Capital

1990

-200

0

Refugee colony

Relation of metro rail

Flyover

BRT Corridor

Bengali Colony

Street side hawker

Gourmet

1984 riot

Secular spaces

Green Capital

1980

-199

0

Unauthorized colonies

Urban villages

Youth

Parking issues

Society

2000

-201

0

Youth

Power

Political city

Defense

Secular state

Democracy

Media city

Education city

Protest

Historic city

2000

-201

0

Youth

Media city

Education city

Protest

Historical city

Sufism

Unauthorized colony

2000

-201

4

Youth culture

Flyover

Old city condition

Rental chaos

Traffic congestion

Old city vs new city

CASE STUDYMUMBAI

The research aims to explore the landscape of Bombay through cinema from the 1970s to the present and to identify elements or themes that are employed by the cinema to paint an (realistic or otherwise) image of the city. The selected movies are the biggest hits or trend-setters of Hindi cinema that have Bombay (Mumbai) as the backdrop for the narrative. The chapter will help in recognizing the vocabulary of the cinematic city of Bombay (Mumbai).

1970-1980 Anand, 1980-1990 Salim Langde pe mat ro, 1990-2000 Satya2000-2010 Slumdog millionaire, Sathiya 2010-2014 Dhobi Ghat,

Industrial cityCity of extremesSurvivalUrban migrationUnderworldRelation to the seaSkylineFinancial CapitalConcept of ChawlDharavi (Slum)City of dreamsTrafickingRiot24 X 7 cityGlobal cityImpact of colonialism

1970

-198

0

1970

-198

0

Old city condition

Impact of colonial

Past

Old Mumbai

First Urban City of India

Economic Capital

City of dreams

The film is set in the period of the Hindutva mobilization of the 1980s, the consequent explosive communal conflict, and its impact on the lives of the young men of the minority Muslim community, represented by a working class Muslim family in Mumbai. Salim Pasha (Langda or Lame) is a small-time thief and goonda and lives with his parents and sister in a shady neighborhood where crime and illegal activities are accepted professions.

1980

-199

0

Effect of mills on the life of people

Muslim spaces

Gentrification

Ghetto Population

Unemployment

Relation of industry and the city

Riot

Satya 1998, The first film of the Indian Gangster Trilogy, tells the story of Satya, an immigrant who comes to Mumbai seeking his fortune but instead gets sucked into the Mumbai underworld.

1990

-200

0

Importance of Festivals

Chawls

Urbanscape

Relation to the sea

Underworld

2000

-201

0

Dependency on local train

Relation of the city to the city network

Importance of local train in the city

Rental chaos

Youth

2010-2014

Survival

Living condition (slum)

Trafficking

Real estate

Migration

Riot

City of extremes

City of dreams

Underworld

2010

-201

4

Urban migration

Muslim spaces

City of dream

Influence of Bollywood

Importance of monsoon

City that never sleeps

Multiple job profile

Relation of city and seaSurvival

PEOPLE

CONCLUSION1. Provide an international survey of cities that enables both comparison and contrast of urban form and social life. 2. They depict cities from the metropolitan to the building scales, clarifying the relationships among the constituentparts of urbanism.

3. The image formed by cinema can be both hypothetical and real, so it is becoming important that utmost care should be taken when portraying a city in time.

4. Give hints to the transformation happened over the year to better understand the urban morphology.

5. Provide a rich resource to a glimpse of the spatial, cultural, economical, social, political aspect of a city

6. Helps in formulating/change the collective image ability of a city.

7. Highlights urban issues in a more entertaining way as compared to other mediums

8. Create a sense of belongingness to the city

9. Help archive a city.

10. An alternative virtual image of both the cities have been formed through these movies.