1.
"Ankur" (The Seedling) was Shyam Benegal's first
feature film as a writer and director. It was also Shabana Azmi,
the first lady of Hindi art cinema's debut as a film actress.
"Ankur" is also considered the founding film of the
Indian art cinema movement that blossomed in the 1970s and came
to be known as, 'Middle Cinema', Parallel Film', the 'Indian New
Wave', and 'New Indian Cinema'. For fans of Bollywood movies who
has heard of Middle Cinema or Parallel Film but have never actually
seen one, "Ankur" is definitely the first place to start
your viewing.
From the mid 1970s to the first years of the 1980s the New
Indian Cinema gained prominence within India and on the international
stage with an array of stunning films that focused on themes of
social significance particular to Indian culture. It was a flowering
point where intellectual cinema met popular favor, 'art' and entertainment
coexisted side by side, parallel so to speak.
Today there exists a sort of romantic nostalgia for these
films and that time, within the Indian film industry. The Impact
of Middle Cinema is so great in the minds of the Indian public,
critics, and film makers that nearly 30 years after the movement's
apex references and comparisons are still made to it's oeuvre.
