Bala (1976 film)
Bala | |
---|---|
Directed by | Satyajit Ray |
Written by | Satyajit Ray |
Produced by | National Centre for the Performing Arts, Government of Tamil Nadu |
Starring | Balasaraswati V. Raghavan Uday Shankar V. K. Narayana Menon |
Narrated by | Satyajit Ray |
Cinematography | Soumendu Roy |
Edited by | Dulal Dutta |
Music by | Satyajit Ray |
Distributed by | National Centre for the Performing Arts, Government of Tamil Nadu |
Release date |
|
Running time | 33 Minutes |
Country | India |
Language | English |
Bala is a 1976 documentary film made by Satyajit Ray, about a Bharatanatyam dancer, Balasaraswati, fondly known as "Bala".[1] The film was jointly produced by National Centre for the Performing Arts and Government of Tamil Nadu. The thirty-three-minute documentary features the life and some of the works by Balasaraswati in the form of narration and dance, starring herself. At the age of fourteen, Ray had seen a performance of Balasaraswati in Kolkata, then known as "Calcutta", in 1935, when she was seventeen years old.[2]
Ray had initially planned to make a film on Bala in 1966, when she was in her prime, however he could not start filming until 1976. Though Bala was often called "a revolutionary Bharatanatyam dancer",[3] she had never been filmed till she was 58 years old, in spite of having a career spanned over four decades.[2] Ray decided to make the film on Bala, "the greatest Bharatanatyam dancer ever" according to him,[4] to document her art for future generations with the "main value as archival".[2] When Ray filmed the then 58-year-old Bala for the documentary, she wore the same pair of anklets which she had worn more than fifty years before for her debut performance, at the age of seven.[5] Ray is reported to have said about the delayed filming of the documentary that "Bala filmed at 58 was better than Bala not being filmed at all."[6]
The film's script was included in a book named Original English Film Scripts Satyajit Ray, put together by Ray's son Sandip Ray along with an ex-CEO of Ray Society, Aditinath Sarkar, which also included original scripts of Ray's other films.[7][8]
Background
Tanjore Balasaraswati, fondly known as Balasaraswati or Bala, was born on 13 May 1918 in
Synopsis
The film begins with the introduction of
The film then showcases Bala's "one of the most acclaimed" performance
The final segment of the film showcases Bala's solo performance of a pada varnam, which is based on Carnatic music, known as "raagamaalika" (garland of ragas). For this performance, Bala uses the same pair of anklets she had used for her debut performance at the age of seven.
Credits
Cast
Crew
- Sound designer: S. P. Ramanathan, Sujit Sarkar, David
- Production designer: Anil Chowdhury, Bhanu Ghosh, R. Ramasi
- Laboratory Processing: Prasad Studios
- Eastmancolor: Gemini Color Lab
- Mixing: Mangesh Desai
Music
- K. Ramaiah (Nattuvanar)
- M. S. Ramadas (Vocal)
- T. Viswanathan (Flute)
- T. R. Murthy (Flute)
- V. Tyagarajan (Violin)
- T. Kuppuswamy (Mridangam)
- T. Janardan (Tambura)
- T. Ranganathan (Mridangam)
Restoration
After the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Satyajit Ray an honorary Academy Award in 1992 for his lifetime achievements,[12] the Academy Film Archive, part of the Academy Foundation which mainly works with the objectives as "preservation, restoration, documentation, exhibition and study of motion pictures", took an initiative to restore and preserve Ray's films.[13] Josef Lindner was appointed as a preservation officer and as of October 2010[update] the Academy has successfully restored 19 titles. However, the Academy could not restore Bala yet as the negative of the film was not found.[14]
References
- ^ "[email protected]". Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
- ^ a b c "[email protected]". Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
- ^ a b Knight, Douglas M. (20 November 2011). "Balasaraswati vs Rukmini Arundale: The grand Bharatanatyam controversy". First Post. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
- ISBN 1860649653. Archivedfrom the original on 28 September 2017.
- DearCinema.com. Archived from the originalon 6 January 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
- ^ "The Bootleg Files: Bala". Archived from the original on 22 May 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
- ^ Nag, Ashoke (9 April 2011). "Satyajit Ray: Saluting the auteur". The Economic Times. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
- ISBN 978-8180280016.
- ^ "balasaraswati timeline". Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
- ^ "Balasaraswati (1918-1984)". Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
- ^ "Padma Awards Directory (1954-2007)" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. 30 May 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
- ^ "The 64th Academy Awards (1992)". oscars.org. 30 March 1992. Archived from the original on 23 September 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
- ^ "About the Academy Film Archive". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
- ^ "Saving a legacy". Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2013.