Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan : the politics and legacies of new wave movement in contemporary Indian cinema

Abstract

Written and directed by Gurvinder Singh, Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan (Alms for the Blind Horse, 2011) is based on a novel of the same name by Punjabi writer Gurdial Singh. Significantly, the creative producer of the film is late Indian filmmaker Mani Kaul, often hailed as the pioneer of the new Indian cinema. The film in its form and narrative is in fact a tribute to Kaul who was Singh’s long-standing mentor, and vividly evokes Kaul's landmark Uski Roti(A Day’s Bread, 1970) both in its cinematic form and language. Saturated with almost chromatic images and use of diegetic sound, the film narrates a day in the lives of a family in rural Punjab, and is a haunting portrayal of the lives of people in a village as they battle poverty, feudalism and industrial development. Analysing closely the form and style of the film, this chapter interrogates the politics and legacies of the ‘new wave movement’ in Indian cinema during the 1970s and 80s in contemporary Indian cinema.