- Mani Kaul
-
Mani Kaul 
Born 25 December 1944
Jodhpur, RajasthanDied 6 July 2011 (aged 66)
Gurgaon, HaryanaNationality Indian Mani Kaul (25 December 1944 – 6 July 2011) was an Indian film director of Hindi films. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) where he was a student of Ritwik Ghatak and later became a teacher. Started his career with Uski Roti (1969), which won him the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie, he went on to win four of them in all. He won the National Film Award for Best Direction in 1974 for Duvidha and later the National Film Award for his documentary film, Siddheshwari in 1989.[1]
Contents
Early life and education
Born as Rabindranath Kaul in Jodhpur, Rajasthan into a Kashmiri Kaul family, he first joined Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune as an acting student and later shifted to the direction course, graduating in 1966.[2]
He was the nephew of actor-director Mahesh Kaul. Initially studying acting at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, he changed over to directing. He is a 1966 graduate of the FTII.[2]
Professional life
His first film Uski Roti (1969) has been described as "one of the key films of the New Indian Cinema or the Indian New Wave".[2] It marked a drastic departure from earlier Indian cinema techique, form and narrative. It was one of the early formal experimental films in Indian cinema.
Asad ka Ek Din (1971), his next film, was based on a play by Mohan Rakesh.
Duvidha (1973), his third, was his first in colour. It grew out of a short story by Vijayan Detha and tells the story of a merchant's son, who returns with his new bride to have to depart on family business. A ghost falls in love with the bride... It was widely shown across Europe.
Mani Kaul was one of the co-founders of the Yukt Film Co-operative (Union of Kinematograph Technicians) in 1976, leading to avantgarde films. Critics[2] suggest that in "Mani Kaul's cinematic conception, fiction and documentary films have no clear demarcated dividing line." He also taught music in the Netherlands, and was Creative Director of the film house at Osian's Connoisseurs of Art, Mumbai.
Career
In 1971, he was a member of the jury at the 21st Berlin International Film Festival.[3]
He was a visiting lecturer at Harvard University for the 2000–2001 school year.[4] Currently he was the Creative Director of the Film House at Osian's Connoisseurs of Art, Mumbai.
Personal life and death
He was a nephew of the noted Hindi film director Mahesh Kaul, who made films like Raj Kapoor starrer Sapnon Ka Saudagar (1968). Mani Kaul died on 6 July 2011 at his home in Gurgaon, near Delhi. He had been ailing for sometime.[5][6]
According to a tribute[6] from Prabha Mahajan on the Indian documentary film discussion network Docuwallahs2[1], Mani Kaul's significant body of work included both feature films and documentaries. In an interview Mani stated: "The dividing line from my films and documentaries is thin. Some of my films like "Siddheshwari" are like poetic documentaries." Mani Kaul's fellow alumni from FTII intend to put together a collective tribute to Mani Kaul and his work, and interested persons were invited to send in their thoughts on Mani as a film maker, teacher/ mentor, colleague, and as a person.
Indian film critic Khalid Mohamed commented,[7] " As a film director, he discussed the status of women (Uski Roti, Duvidha), crafted visually seductive documentaries (Arrival, Before My Eyes, A Desert of a Thousand Lines) and went through a spell of interpreting Fyodor Dostoevsky’s masterworks. The Russian writer’s short story A Gentle Creature inspired Nazar, shot in low, chiaroscuro lighting."
Awards
National Film Awards
- 1974: Best Direction: Duvidha
- 1989: Best Documentary Film: Siddheshwari[8]
Filmfare Awards
Mani Kaul won Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie four times.
- 1971: Uski Roti (1970)
- 1972: Ashad Ka Ek Din (1971)
- 1974: Duvidha (1973)
- 1993: Idiot (1992)
Filmography
- Uski Roti (1969)
- Ashadh Ka Ek Din (1971)
- Duvidha (1973)
- Ghashiram Kotwal (1979)
- Satah Se Uthata Admi (1980)[9]
- Dhrupad (1982)
- Mati Manas (1984)
- Siddheshwari (1989)
- Nazar (1989)
- Idiot (1992)
- The Cloud Door (1995)
- Naukar Ki Kameez (The Servant's Shirt) (1999)[10]
- Bojh (Burden)(2000)
- Ik Ben Geen Ander (I Am No Other) Nederland 2002
- A Monkey's Raincoat Nederland (2005)
- 'Signature Film' for Osian Cinefan Festival of Asian Cinema (2006)
References
- ^ "Noted filmmaker Mani Kaul dead". CNN-IBN. 6 Jul 2011. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/noted-filmmaker-mani-kaul-dead/165336-8-66.html.
- ^ a b c d "Profile". upperstall.com. http://www.upperstall.com/people/mani-kaul.
- ^ "Berlinale 1971: Juries". berlinale.de. http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1971/04_jury_1971/04_Jury_1971.html. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
- ^ "The Harvard Crimson:: Indie Film Director to Teach VES Course". http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=103655.
- ^ "Filmmaker Mani Kaul dead". The Hindu (India). 6 July 2011. http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article2163928.ece.
- ^ a b "Mani Kaul no more". Docuwallahs2. 6 July 2011. http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/docuwallahs2/message/9878. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
- ^ "The determined outsider". Deccan Chronicle (India). 7 July 2011. http://www.deccanchronicle.com/editorial/dc-comment/determined-outsider-183. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
- ^ Interview with Mani Kaul UNESCO Courier, July–August 1995.
- ^ Satah Se Uthata Admi at Cannes Cannes Film Festival.
- ^ Mani Kaul Filmography New York Times.
11. Times of India, Avijit Ghosh, "He was, by far, our most original filmmaker; http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-06/news-interviews/29742602_1_indian-cinema-original-filmmaker-impatience-with-conventional-narrative
External links
- Mani Kaul at the Internet Movie Database
- Mani Kaul on Cinematography and Time at Indian Auteur
- The Films of Mani Kaul
- Mani kaul in Hindi
- Mani kaul in BBC Hindi
- FTII remembers its illustrious alumnus Mani Kaul
- Mani Kaul was like a God to us
- 'Kaul delved into world of traditional philosophy'
- Mani Kaul, pioneer of new age cinema dead
- Friends say his films reflected the way society functioned
- His visuals talked
- 'Mani Kaul was, by far, our most original
- Mani Kaul (1944–2011) – A different filmmaker, a different man
- Indiase regisseur Mani Kaul (66) overleden
- Indian filmmaker Mani Kaul dies after long illness
- Loss of the radical
- The determined outsider, by Khalid Mohamed
- Bollywood condoles the death of Mani Kaul
- Indian Director Mani Kaul Dies at 66
National Film Award for Best Direction 1968–1980 Satyajit Ray (1968) · Satyajit Ray (1969) · Mrinal Sen (1970) · Satyajit Ray (1971) · Girish Karnad and B. V. Karanth (1972) · Adoor Gopalakrishnan (1973) · Mani Kaul (1974) · Satyajit Ray (1975) · Satyajit Ray (1976) · P. Lankesh (1977) · G. Aravindan (1978) · G. Aravindan (1979) · Mrinal Sen (1980)
1981–2000 Mrinal Sen (1981) · Aparna Sen (1982) · Utpalendu Chakrabarty (1983) · Mrinal Sen (1984) · Adoor Gopalakrishnan (1985) · Shyam Benegal (1986) · G. Aravindan (1987) · Adoor Gopalakrishnan (1988) · Shaji N. Karun (1989) · Adoor Gopalakrishnan (1990) · Tapan Sinha (1991) · Satyajit Ray (1992) · Gautam Ghose (1993) · T. V. Chandran (1994) · Jahnu Barua (1995) · Saeed Akhtar Mirza (1996) · Agathiyan (1997) · Jayaraj (1998) · Rajivnath (1999) · Buddhadeb Dasgupta (2000)
2001–present Rituparno Ghosh (2001) · B. Lenin (2002) · Aparna Sen (2003) · Gautam Ghose (2004) · Buddhadeb Dasgupta (2005) · Rahul Dholakia (2006) · Madhur Bhandarkar (2007) · Adoor Gopalakrishnan (2008) · Bala (2009) · Rituparno Ghosh (2010) · Vetrimaaran (2011)
Categories:- Indian film directors
- 1944 births
- 2011 deaths
- People from Jodhpur
- Kashmiri people
- Hindi-language film directors
- Film and Television Institute of India alumni
- Indian documentary filmmakers
- Filmfare Awards winners
- National Film Award winners
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