Seeing is Believing : Selected Writings on Cinema/Chidananda Das Gupta. New Delhi, Penguin, 2008, viii, 296 p., ISBN 0-670-08206-3.

    Contents: Introduction. 1. Of Margi and Desi: the traditional divide. 2. Seeing is believing. 3. Why the films sing. 4. Cinema: the realist imperative. 5. Woman, non-violence and Indian cinema. 6. Precursors of unpopular cinema: a parallel view of Indian film history. 7. A word on awards. 8. Film as visual anthropology. 9. The crisis in film studies. 10. How Indian is Indian cinema? 11. Cinema takes over the state. Notes on five directors. 12. Satyajit Ray: i. The first ten years. ii. Modernism and mythicality. 12. Ritwik Ghatak: Cinema, Marxism and the mother Goddess. 14. Adoor Gopalakrishnan: the Kerala coconut. 15. Mrinal Sen: Loose cannon. 16. Shyam Benegal: Official biographies, personal cinema. Notes. Copyright acknowledgements. Index.

    "One of India's most influential film critics and film historians, Chidananda Das Gupta has been writing on cinema since 1946. He has been witness to and has written about almost every development in Indian cinema since independence, including the film society movement which he initiated, the establishment of various institutions to facilitate film-making like the FTII, the NFAI and the NFDC, the popularity of mainstream cinema and the rise of the New Indian cinema, among others.

    Seeing is Believing brings together some of Chidananda Das Gupta's finest writings on the subject of cinema over the last sixty years. In these highly informed and thought-provoking essays he addresses diverse themes like the origins and history of the parallel cinema in our country; the national film awards; the unique interface between politics and film in India; the portrayal of women, sex and violence in our films; and the quintessentially Indian contributions to movies--the song. The collection also includes definitive studies of the work of five of the nation's finest film makers--Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Shyam Benegal.

    Consistently erudite and engaging, Seeing Is Believing is a fascinating window to the journey of Indian cinema over the last six decades." (jacket)

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