Documentary on Chetan Anand to be screened at Stuttgart film fest

Mumbai, June 27 (UNI) 'Chetan Anand - The Poetics of Film', a 90 minute documentary on noted filmmaker Chetan Anand, will be screened at the Stuttgart Film Festival in Germany on July 11.

The documentary will be shown in the Bollywood and beyond section. It is directed by the late filmmaker's son Ketan Anand and written by himself and writer Uma Anand, the former wife of Chetan Anand. Tom Alter is the anchor. Its associate producer is Vani Tripathi and produced by Himalaya Films. It was completed in a period of six months.

It is among the first documentary to be shot on high definition (HD) video format.

The documentary is a filmmaker son's tribute to filmmaker father.

It spans the entire career graph of late Chetan Anand, which spanned a little over 50 years (1945-1997), a release said here today.

'Chetan Anand - The Poetics of Film' is an account of the work of the least known but arguably the most intellectual and creative member of the clan.

The film was adapted from a book of the same name 'Chetan Anand - The Poetics of Film', which will be released in August. It is told in two parts. In the first part, Uma Anand talks about the background, individuals, interests and events that shaped her husband's life and influenced his decisions, while the second is recounted by Ketan Anand.

This is a seminal work as it pertains not only to a unique individual but also as a contribution to an important period in the history of film in India.

The documentary starts with his first feature film 'Neecha Nagar', which won a grand prix at Cannes in 1946, to his last major release. It also shows how Chetan was a pioneer and a major influence in the Indian film industry, with his highly individualistic style of film making. It also tries to examine his field of work both from his outer and his inner life.

'Neecha Nagar' was a story about the freedom struggle of the Gandhian Satyagraha movement. By the time it should have been released, the country was partitioned and had plunged into the tragic events that followed. No one was prepared to take the risk of releasing it.

The documenatary has interviews of a cross-section of people like Amita Malik (noted film critic), Krishan Khanna (artist and brother- in-law), Shekhar Kapur (nephew and filmmaker), actors Zohra Sehgal and Hema Malini and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, who emphasise his point of view.

The Anand family belonged to Gurdaspur in Punjab. The father was a leading criminal lawyer and a prominent freedom fighter.

Chetan, the elder son, was first educated at Gurukul Kangri near Hardwar, imbibing the best of traditional ascetic system and later at Government College, Lahore, the premiere institution of the Punjab University. Here, he came under the tutelage of some of the best educationists in the western manner, which developed his talent for theatre and arts.

After a spell at City College, London, he returned to India to work first in All India Radio and then at the prestigious Doon School, Dehradun.

He migrated to Bombay, along with his brothers Dev and Vijay (Goldie), to explore the possibilities of the film world, where as everyone knows they established themselves as one of the foremost families in the industry.

UNI