Events of ADRI Patna
Speaker : Amrit Raj
Patna. June 4. Creation of an infrastructure employing the innovative Jugaad technology of CDs and video cameras and players up to the 2000s in Bihar’s villages by local businessmen helped the growth of Bhojpuri films. These businessmen would travel to New Delhi, learn the tricks of the trade and bring it back to the villages. Noted film researcher and movie-maker Shree Amrit Raj expressed this view in a talk titled “Media Technologies, Cinema Habits and the Revival of the Bhojpuri Film Industry”. This talk on the vicissitudes of this film industry was organized by the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) today.
Tracing the inception of the Bhojpuri film industry from 1961 when the first Bhojpuri film “Ganga Maiya Tore Piyari Chadhaibo” was released, he dwelt on how the interaction between Nepalis and Biharis during the British Raj led to the making of Bhojpuri films subsequently. However, Bhojpuri films witnessed a decline in the 1980s as these films were primarily family dramas which did not appeal to the people.
Bollywood movies like “Maine Pyar Kiya” and “Aashiqui” were responsible for the resurgence of the Bhojpuri film industry in the 1990s. They paved the way for the blockbuster Bhojpuri movie “Sasura Bada Paise waalaa.”
Of late, these films have been imitating Bollywood movies by following the same kind of motifs. The villagers of Bihar identify with such themes and watch them regularly. Bhojpuri films have also been taking inspiration from South Indian films recently and the latter are being dubbed in Bhojpuri to make them a resounding success. In fact, the trailer of a blockbuster South Indian film was released in Patna for the first time. Shree Raj pointed out that very few Bhojpuri movies are being released nowadays because of the dominance of multiplexes in malls.
Dr. Ashmita Gupta, Member-Secretary, ADRI welcomed all the guests.