#1148: SHANKAR, Uday: Kalpana (1948)

SHANKAR, Uday (India)
Kalpana [1948]

Spine #1148

Blu-ray

A riot of ecstatic imagery, performance, and set design, the only film by the visionary dancer and choreographer Uday Shankar is a revolutionary celebration of Indian dance in its myriad varieties and a utopian vision of cultural renewal. Unfolding as an epic film within a film, Kalpana tells the story of an ambitious dancer (Shankar) determined to open a cultural center devoted to breathing new life into India’s traditional artistic forms; meanwhile, the obvious adoration between him and his lead dancer (Shankar’s wife and collaborator, Amala Uday Shankar) arouses the jealousy of his enterprising companion (Lakshmi Kanta). Swirling surrealist dance spectacles—featuring dance masters and young performers, many of whom would become stars in their own right—are interwoven with anticolonial, anticapitalist commentary for a radical, proto-Bollywood milestone that is one of the most influential works in Indian cinema.

152 minutes
Black and White
Monaural
in Hindi
1:37:1
Criterion Release 2022

Director/Writers

Dialogue by Amrital Nagar.
Uday Shankar was 48 when he wrote and directed Kalpana.

The Film

a

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Seventy-six page booklet featuring an essay by Shai Heredia.

Commentary

None.

Introduction

By The Film Foundation World Cinema Project founder Martin Scorsese.

Program

On Kalpana featuring film historian Suresh Chabria and filmmaker Kumar Shahani.

Extras Rating (0-40):

33

56 + 33 =

89

By Director

By Spine #