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Lalit RaoMr. Lalit Rao is a veteran film critic as well as a French technical translator and interpreter from Jaipur, India. He is currently writing a book on 25 best French films (1990-2015). Since April 2013, he is the member of the prestigious film critics’ organization FIPRESCI. Apart from ‘‘World Cinema’’, he is interested in chess, foreign languages, linguistics and philosophy. As a film critic, he regularly posts about cinema on social networks namely Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. He is also the associate editor of the quarterly magazine ‘‘Cinematography Art’’ published from New Delhi, India. Mr. Lalit Rao has reported extensively on French language, philosophy and film festivals especially ‘‘World Cinema’’ through more than 40 blogs and 8 video channels. In 2008, he launched Cinema-poet 2008, his first YouTube channel about ‘‘World Cinema’’. In 2013, Mr. Lalit Rao launched his second YouTube channel called ‘Indian talkies 1913’ (Videos about Indian Cinema) to promote Indian cinema. It is on these two channels that he regularly uploads videos related to ‘‘Indian Cinema’’ and ‘‘World Cinema’’. https://www.youtube.com/@cinemapoet2008/videos https://www.youtube.com/@indiantalkies1913/videos One of India’s famous cinema journals ‘‘Deep Focus’’, and ‘‘Bangalore Film Society’’ were represented by him as their correspondent in Paris, France for 2005-2006. He also presented a paper on Canadian cinema entitled ‘‘A brief overview of Francophone cinema in Québec’’ during 20th International Conference on Canadian Studies, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, 27-29 February, 2004. Apart from writing 1000 reviews on IMDB, it was in 1996 that Mr. Lalit Rao created ‘‘KINEMA’’, a database with information on 25,000 films from all over the world. His articles in French and English have appeared in magazines and websites such as Deep Focus, Filmfestivals.com Blog, Kinoglaz, Objectif-Cinema, Sancho Does Asia and Séquences. As a film critic, Mr. Lalit Rao has participated thrice in BBC polls to determine : a) 100 greatest foreign language films, b) 100 greatest films directed by women and c) 100 greatest comedies of all time. In April 2022, Mr. Lalit Rao was nominated as a jury member (short films) by Italian cinema and theater critic Ms.Paola Dei for 4th edition of Bulli Ed Eroi Concorsco Bellezza 2022 held in Sienna, Italy. In March 2022, Mr. Lalit Rao participated in 13th Bangalore International Film Festival 2022 (3-10th March, 2022) as a member of the prestigious FIPRESCI jury. His assignment included watching 12 Asian films in order to give the award to the best film. On 30/09/2021, Mr.Lalit Rao gave a message of congratulations to Iranian children on the occasion of National Children’s Week held in Iran from October 8 to 14, 2021. In February 2017, he participated as a jury member (Kannada Cinema) during 9th Bangalore International Film Festival 2017.In 2014, he attended 19th International Film Festival of Kerala 2014 as a member of FIPRESCI jury (Malayalam Cinema). Mr. Lalit Rao studied Master 2 at Université de Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris where he worked on ‘Distribution of Indian cinema’ in France. As a film critic, Mr. Lalit Rao has attended numerous film festivals in France and India !!
 Review of Vijay Anand film ‘Guide’ by film critic Lalit Rao (FIPRESCI) dated 30/10/2023Vijay Anand's film ‘‘Guide’’ (1965) remains one of the most admirable classics of Hindi cinema that promoted secular values, emancipation of women and a philosophical approach to songs.
Hindi film ‘‘Guide’’ (1965) can be hailed as the first major, effective collaboration between an Indian writer writing in English and Hindi film industry. It is based on the novel by RK Narayan that won the prestigious Sahitya Academy Award in 1961 and achieved tremendous popularity. In many ways, it can be said that it is with the success of the film ‘‘Guide’’ that Hindi cinema saw a substantial increase in adaptations of books for the big screen. For example: Basu Bhattacharya film ‘Teesri Kasam’ (1966) was written by famous Hindi writer Phanishwar Nath Renu.
‘‘Guide’’ turned out to be an instant success as it has all the successful ingredients of a hit film such as melodrama, beautiful locales, catchy philosophical songs and charming actors. In this film, lead actors Dev Anand and Wahida Rehman are ably supported by character artists such as Kishore Sahu, Leela Chitnis and Gajanan Jagirdar. Guide’s relevance as a serious film can be understood purely in the context of it being one of Hindi cinema’s supreme example of a poignant film that showed secularism in full force with a Hindu tourist guide Raju, two Christians; a dancer Rosie and an archaeologist Marco and a Muslim taxi driver Gafoor. This is the true essence of India that was popular even at time of this film of this film’s release in 1965 and continues to uphold secular values even in 2023; both on the screen as well as in the real lives of the people.
As ‘‘Guide’’ turned out to be a popular, bestselling novel, two different films were shot based on it. Its English language version didn’t succeed in getting viewers’ attention in India even after having names of Nobel laureate Pearl S Buck and director Ted Danielewski tied to the project. Guide’s Hindi version directed by Vijay Anand was an instant success.
In many ways, ‘‘Guide’’ emerged as a modern film that was absolutely ahead of the times in which it was set. Nobody in 1965 could have imagined to see a Hindi film with usual songs and dance that would manage to talk about serious topics such as the love life of a courtesan’s daughter and adultery. This film shows how a strong willed woman like Rosie is determined to bring about necessary changes in her mundane existence. The portrayal of adultery remains one of the most challenging themes of cinema. It is nice to note that it has been handled in a very poised, subtle manner by the writer RK Narayan and director Vijay Anand. In modern times, live-in relationship in India is accepted without any fuss by society. However, when RK Narayan was writing his book 70 years ago, it was absolutely hard to imagine that an ordinary couple like Raju and Rosie could manage to live in a house without having tied the knot.
Religion is considered to be one the major elements of spiritual solace in India. There are plenty of sequences in ‘‘Guide’’ that highlight how religion plays a major role in the lives of ordinary people with different connotations in rural areas and urban milieu. In one of the funny scenes of the film, one can see how by dint of his fluent English Raju as a holy man defeats two Sanskrit speaking Hindu priests in a verbal duel. There is another lugubrious scene that shows how Raju’s fasting for the rain is transformed into a spectacle by people from cities. It shows two foreign journalists asking Raju about the fasting and how will it help in getting the rains? To conclude, Vijay Anand’s film ‘Guide’ depicts the strength of Hindu religion as it enables even an ordinary man to become a saint in order to work for the well-being and prosperity of commonplace villagers. It is an assault on greedy godmen who exploit ordinary people for their selfish gains and self-promotion.
© Lalit Rao (FIPRESCI)
30.10.2023 | Lalit Rao's blog Cat. : Dev Anand guide Pearl S Buck RK Narayan Shailendra Vijay Anand Waheeda Rehman Independent FILM
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+ SUBSCRIBE to the weekly Newsletter DealsUser imagesAbout Lalit Rao RAO Lalit Mr. Lalit Rao (member-FIPRESCI) writes for this website on a regular basis as a film critic publishing reviews on his profile. In February 2017, he participated as jury member during 9th Bangalore International Film Festival 2017. In 2014, he attended 19th International Film Festival of Kerala 2014 as a member of film critics’ jury. As a film critic, Mr.Lalit Rao has attended film festivals in India as well as France namely International Film Festival of India (IFFI), International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), Festival International de Films de Femmes de Créteil, Paris : Cinéma du Réel-Festival International de films documentaires, Est-ce ainsi que les hommes vivent? Saint-Denis, Rencontres Internationales du Cinéma de Patrimoine, Vincennes & Festival International des Cinémas d'Asie, Vesoul. View my profile Send me a message The EditorUser contributions |
