Starting March 8, 2025, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is holding an exhibit and screenings that will bring the exuberant colors of Indian cinema to a Western audience in the heart of Hollywood. It is part of the Academy Museum’s Screening Series which will go on till April 19 (academymuseum.org).
“Starting tomorrow, discover the colorful depth of Indian films in our newest screening series, Emotion in Color: A Kaleidoscope of Indian Cinema.,” the Museum says.
“Spanning eras, regions, languages, and genres—from period epics to feminist rebellions, romances to political dramas—this series explores the many hues and emotions of Indian cinema,” the March 7th press release outlines.
The exhibition is guest programmed by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur of the Film Heritage Foundation. It showcases films that demonstrate the importance of color in India cinema.
Dungarpur aptly sums it up with his description of the exhibit in his notes, saying, “This selection of films represents the many hues and emotions of Indian cinema across eras, regions, languages, and genres: from the grandeur of period epics to feminist rebellion in colonial times; from the churning of change and hope of a country newly born to political drama; from romance and escapism to serious contemplations of society in experimental and Parallel Cinema.”
Among the many images it carries is one from the 2002 remake of Devdas, Jodhaa Akbar, the Malayalam new wave film Kummatty (The Bogeyman), Mirch Masala, Iruvar (The Duo), Maya Darpan, to mention just a few. Many of the films will be screened during the exhibition.
Dungarpur says, “Most Western audiences are not aware of the sheer breadth, depth, and diversity of Indian cinema,” noting that the film industry in India has six major geographically and linguistically different film industries making over 2,000 films in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Bengali every year, plus a multitude of films in different languages and dialects “made in virtually every corner of the country.”
Quoting film director and screenwriter Kumar Shahani who once said, “Color is the very fragrance of being,” Dungarpur points to how aptly that description fits Indian cinema.
Shahani’s description, Dungarpur adds, “is so true of India where color is integral to the richness and diversity of our culture.”
But, Dungarpur points out, “…it took awhile for color to seep into the black-and-white world of Indian cinema.”
According to Dungarpur, “India’s first completely color film, Kisan Kanya—released in 1937 and now sadly lost—was shot using the Cine Color process. But it was almost two decades after its release that Indian cinema saw the explosion of color on the silver screen.”
