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And now, we must also add to the discourse the burgeoning local film industry, CineGuyana, which was birthed from the President’s Film Endowment Project 2011. CineGuyana produced eight films in 2011, and three more in 2012.
But even before the foregoing developments occurred, there were venues in Georgetown that kept the cinematographic art alive, an indication that the big-screen would one day return to Guyana.
Such discerning venues include The National Art Gallery, Castellani House, offering its monthly prescription of classic films from around the world; and the Indian Cultural Centre, selecting exceptionally crafted Indian films for viewing; films far removed and different from the Bollywood trend. The Sidewalk Café also offers film shows, but intermittently).
INDIA is celebrating 100 years of cinema this year. The first full-length motion picture ever produced in India was ‘Raja Harishchandra’. The ground-breaking producer was Dadasaheb Phalke, and the film was such a commercial success that it paved the way for the development of the film industry in India. Today, that industry, labelled ‘Bollywood’, is among the leading film producing industries.
The development in Asia followed soon after the development of the cinema industry in Europe at the turn of the 19th Century. This meant there was rapid growth in the film industry; as rapid as the reeling action of motion pictures.
Cinema in Guyana started in the late 1920s. The exact date the first cinema, ‘Gaiety’, was opened is not known, but there is knowledge that it was burnt down in 1926.
All of the above followed shortly on the heels of the birth of the cinema industry as we have come to know it today.
However, there was a slight twist to the story of cinema in Guyana. The script was like the script written for a short reel: After a rapid growth in cinema houses, there was a rapid decline. But this article will not focus on that rise and fall; rather, this article will focus more on the influence of Indian films on Guyanese in general, and Guyanese of Indian ancestry in particular.
Indian movies arrived very late in the Caribbean. The first Indian movie, ‘BALA JOGAN’, was shown in Trinidad & Tobago in 1937. ‘Bala Jogan’, many oral sources suggested, was also shown in Guyana around the same time.
What is peculiar about this timing, however, is the fact that by 1934, there were 16 cinema houses in Guyana. So, in less than fifteen years, there was a rapid expansion of the cinema industry in Guyana.
What is also strange of the late arrival of Indian motion pictures in Guyana was that most of the cinemas were erected in areas of the country that were composed of either a large or predominantly Indian population, which meant that the importers had to be aware of that large market.
By this time, there was a host of communication between Guyana and India. Many Guyanese of Indian ancestry kept abreast of developments in India, and many were influenced by the exploits of Gandhi and shared in the joy of Tagore’s winning the Noble Prize for Literature.
In fact, many of the early Indian writers were influenced by the writings of Tagore.
However, when Indian movies like ‘MOTHER INDIA’ were shown in Guyana, another connection was made between India and Guyana; a connection that continues to support and nurture Indian culture as it evolved in Guyana.
Apart from ‘Mother India’, there were other outstanding Indian films that captured the imagination of non-Indian Guyanese. Such films include ‘KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI’, ‘SHOLAY’, ‘DEEWAR’, ‘DOSTI’, ‘MERA NAAM JOKER’, ‘BOBBY’, ‘CHUPKE CHUPKE’ and ‘KABHI KABHI’.
Now, local Indian film producers (and other producers) are making movies set in Guyana, mostly historical in nature, and with the sugar industry as backdrop.
The most recent such production was ‘BROWN SUGAR TOO BITTER FOR ME’, which is an all-Guyanese production dedicated to the Enmore Martyrs, and released to mark the 175th Anniversary of the Arrival of Indians in Guyana. This movie was produced by Mahadeo Shivraj.
Other locally produced Indian films dealt with other subjects, like love, as in the case of ‘ANMOL BANDAN (The Precious Knot)’.
So, Guyana has developed from viewing movies about Indians in India, to making movies about Indians in Guyana. This is a fledging movement, and I am aware that there is more to come. (To respond to this author, either call him on (592) 226-0065 or send him an email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)
