Kalpana (1948) by Uday Shankar

Kalpana (transl. Imagination) is a 1948 Indian Hindi-language dance film written and directed by dancer Uday Shankar. It is his only film. The story revolves around a young dancer's dream of setting up a dance academy, a reflection of Shankar's own academy, which he founded at Almora.[1] It starred Uday Shankar and his wife Amala Shankar as leads.

Kalpana was the first film to present an Indian classical dancer in the leading role, and was entirely shot as a dance ballet and a fantasy.[2][3]

It was shown at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI-Goa) (2008), as a part of the section "Treasures from NFAI" (National Film Archive of India), with other "rare gems" from the archives.[4]

Cast

Songs

The music was composed by Vishnudas Shirali, and the lyrics were penned by Sumitranandan Pant. The Bhil folk songs were written by Devilal Samar.[5]

Song Title Singer(s) Lyricist Length
"Bharat Jai Jan Bharat" Everyone Devilal Samar 03:48
"Behti Ja Behti Ja Sarite" Devilal Samar 03:21
"Kya Kahoon" Devilal Samar 02:15
"Bhil Folk Song" Devilal Samar, Sumitranandan Pant
"Deep Jalao" Devilal Samar 03:19
"Hindustan Ka Bal Hai Hal" Devilal Samar 02:55
"Sadiyo Ki Behoshi" Devilal Samar 02:57

Notable dancers

Comments

A still featuring Uday and Amala Shankar

Well known Tamil actress and dancer, Lakshmikantham, credited in the film as "Lakshmi Kanta" plays Kamini. 16-year-old actress Padmini and along with her sister Lalitha.[6][7] Tamil dancer and actress Yoga of the Yoga-Mangalam sisters makes an appearance as a dancer credited as "Yogam". Small role actress P. K. Saraswathi credited as "Saraswathi" also appears as a dancer. Gopal Rao, who played a small role in Thyaga Bhoomi (1939 film), also plays a small role. Finally, Usha Kiran made her debut into films in this movie, credited as "Usha".

Satyajit Ray was said to have watched this film 16 times.[8]

Restoration

In 2009, the film process of digital restoration was taken up by NFAI in collaboration with France-based Thomson Foundation.[9] In 2010, it was being restored by the World Cinema Foundation (director Martin Scorsese is a founding member).[10][11] The restored film was released in home video format by the Criterion Collection.[12]

References

  1. ^ Synopsis, British Film Institute.
  2. ^ "Films featuring dance". Screen. 8 April 2005.[dead link‍]
  3. ^ "East/west musicals: Play That Back". Outlook. 26 June 2006.
  4. ^ "NFAI brings its treasures to IFFI-Goa". Ministry of Information and Broadcasting PIB. 25 November 2008.
  5. ^ "Kalpana : Lyrics and video of Songs from the Movie Kalpana (1948 film)". HindiGeetMala. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  6. ^ "Beauty, charm, charisma". The Hindu. 29 September 2006. Archived from the original on 28 February 2008.
  7. ^ Subhash K Jha (24 September 2004). "What happened to the classical heritage in our films?". Sify. Archived from the original on 12 October 2004.
  8. ^ Heredia, Shai. "Kalpana: Dreaming the Impossible Dream". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  9. ^ "French embassy donates 230 films to NFAI". The Times of India. 3 May 2009. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.
  10. ^ "Uday Shankar dance ballet, Kalpana to be on celluloid". Indiatimes Movies. 3 February 2010. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
  11. ^ Subhash K Jha (4 February 2010). "Martin Scorsese to reviving Kalpana". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.
  12. ^ "Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project No. 4". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpana_(1948_film)
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