Jaya Bachchan’s aarti song in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham sung by Lata Mangeshkar, greets you at the entrance of Bollywood Superstars : A short story of Indian cinema. This is juxtaposed with the story telling tradition in India – be it art, folk lore, the advent of the bioscope, silent movies, mythological series, colour cinema to a simulated screen where you can shake a leg with an onscreen Deepika Padukone.
Featuring extracts from some 40 films and more than 80 artworks, Bollywood Superstars investigates the diverse origins of Indian cinema. From 19th century traditional shadow theatre and early silent movies to the 21st century gods of the screen, the exhibition presents the richness of the India’s image-making traditions alongside the influence of popular arts such as storytelling, dance, and theatre, and its close relationship with mythology and religion.
Organised by the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Louvre Abu Dhabi, and France Museums, Bollywood Superstars is co-curated by Julien Rousseau, Head of the Asian Collection at the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac with Hélène Kessous, Anthropologist, and specialist of South Asian cinema. The exhibition includes a wide range of loans, highlighting early storyteller’s props, shadow puppets, photography, Mughal armours, daggers, mythological, and religious lithographs.
It is understandably impossible to encapsulate Indian cinema spanning over a 100 years into a few select displays but the exhibition does try its best to cover important eras including a dedicated space for Southern cinema. The biggies such as Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi have won pride of place at the exhibition and so have films such as Lagaan, Sholay etc.
What is missing though is the mention of Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar, though Raj Kapoor has a poster dedicated to him and Nargis too. Also the huge contribution of parallel cinema that included the works of stalwarts such as Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, Farooq Shaikh, Irrfan could be a defined section. While Dadasabheb Phalke and Satyajit Ray hold pride of place, AR Rahman and technicians such as Resul Pookutty who have been internationally recognized, need a mention too.
True enough, that the exhibition is a westerner’s view into the Bollywood film industry and the popular such as the work of Karan Johar and Sanjay Leela Bhansali is depicted. However, we would have also liked to see superstar Rajesh Khanna or the villains, vamps, comedians, music composers, editors, cinematographers and lyricists that the film industry is made of – and each has a superstar in its own space.
The exhibition is on till June 4th 2023, do visit it and post your views.
