THE explosion of the Bollywood film genre may seem like a recent phenomenon in the west, but Bollywood has been a success story since its very first movie – a black and white silent film called King Harischandra, released in 1913.

Bollywood – a term coined to describe the multi-billion dollar Hindi-language film industry in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India – now rivals the profile and output of Hollywood, often surpassing the glamour of its American cousin.

Bollywood Stills, the latest exhibition at Contact Theatre, takes a new look at the story of the studios by highlighting one of the forgotten legacies of the industry.

Until the advent of digital photography, the films were promoted on hand-painted billboards using stills images of the stars taken by photographers during movie shoots.

Iconic

The exhibition brings together over 30 of these iconic photographs from the Kamat Foto Flash archives, charting the history of action stills production since the 1930s.

Dr Rajinder Dudrah, curator and senior lecture in film and media studies at Manchester University, said Kamat has thousands of images dating back to Bollywood’s beginnings.

But, because the images served no purpose once the billboards were painted, they were never catalogued and are now in need of urgent organisation.

“This show is part of that task,” says Dr Dudrah, “It’s painstaking and daunting because some of the pictures have been kept well while others have become dilapidated, but we wanted to tell the story of these images.”

Key images in the show include a still from the filming of Pakeezah (The Pure Heart) (pictured left) which captures the film’s star, Meena Kumari – a tragic Marlene Deitrich-type character who was an alcoholic, had many love affairs and died virtually penniless weeks after the release of the movie – and the film studio’s first stills photographer, Kamat Senior, at work.

'Worshipped'

“Bollywood has been an international cinema from conception. It has a visual literacy – everyone is able to tap into it, irrespective of status, money or literacy.

“Some of the first audiences were British colonialists. Awaara, translated as The Tramp, travelled to the USSR and the Russians loved it, The stars went to Russia and were treated like Elvis – the themes of the film chimed with India, but also the Russians.

“Some of these stars have temples named after them and they’re worshipped like demi-gods.

“When Amitabh Bachchan (one of the most prominent figures in the history of Indian cinema) was taken ill to hospital, the country came to a standstill. They were lighting candles and praying for him.”

Visitors to Bollywood Stills have a chance to get up close and personal with the stars by walking the red carpet and posing alongside life-sized cardboard cut-outs.

But the show is also an informative journey through the history of Indian cinema, with themed fact panels alongside the images and complementary workshops.

Published: Thu, 20 November, 2008