A few years back (in the good old days!), returning from Rohtak was all about returning from the back-of-beyond place-in-the-Hindi-hinterland, with some of your 'modern' sensibility intact. Someone decided to do something about it and set up the magnificent Raj Rawal designed integrated campus of the major visual culture institutions of Haryana state under one roof.
I was stunned when I saw the campus and its structure the first time, the sheer ambition of the place is breathtaking.
Then came the opportunity to hold a workshop in screenplay writing at the Film Institute of this campus and I was thrilled at the offer. Worked out a syllabus of what to me were basics of scriptwriting that I could introduce to the second semester students. And then just went across, hoping to get all this across to the student no matter where they were.
Teaching to the students turned out to be a lot tougher than I thought, they were bright and curious but had had very little exposure to cinema, leave alone to international cinema. But with the movies the students knew, the current Hindi blockbusters, their knowledge was impeccable. We saw a bit of 'Raanjahana' and the reactions of the students were simply amazing. I changed my opinion of them completely after those reactions.
At a personal level, this was the second time I was getting into teaching cinema in Hindi. Technically, I'm bi-lingual: I've always studied in English but my mother tongue is Hindi, so I'm equally fluent in both, but have never been comfortable translating from one language to another. But here I was having to teach in Hindi to make sure the students understood something, and struggling not to 'talk down' to the students, but rather to pull them up to the level expected of international film students at the first year level. Did I manage to achieve my aims? Don't really know, maybe the students can answer this better.
In a sense my life and work have been divided between Hindi and English, between Meerut and the other places that I've lived in. I guess its trips like this one to Rohtak that are helping me integrate the divisions of myself. Maybe, just like my parents and grandparents in their time, I too am trying to pull up standards and sensibilities out of our typical small town North Indian parameters into something more 'modern' and more 'international'.
There's a big 'maybe' in all this!
I was stunned when I saw the campus and its structure the first time, the sheer ambition of the place is breathtaking.
Then came the opportunity to hold a workshop in screenplay writing at the Film Institute of this campus and I was thrilled at the offer. Worked out a syllabus of what to me were basics of scriptwriting that I could introduce to the second semester students. And then just went across, hoping to get all this across to the student no matter where they were.
Teaching to the students turned out to be a lot tougher than I thought, they were bright and curious but had had very little exposure to cinema, leave alone to international cinema. But with the movies the students knew, the current Hindi blockbusters, their knowledge was impeccable. We saw a bit of 'Raanjahana' and the reactions of the students were simply amazing. I changed my opinion of them completely after those reactions.
At a personal level, this was the second time I was getting into teaching cinema in Hindi. Technically, I'm bi-lingual: I've always studied in English but my mother tongue is Hindi, so I'm equally fluent in both, but have never been comfortable translating from one language to another. But here I was having to teach in Hindi to make sure the students understood something, and struggling not to 'talk down' to the students, but rather to pull them up to the level expected of international film students at the first year level. Did I manage to achieve my aims? Don't really know, maybe the students can answer this better.
In a sense my life and work have been divided between Hindi and English, between Meerut and the other places that I've lived in. I guess its trips like this one to Rohtak that are helping me integrate the divisions of myself. Maybe, just like my parents and grandparents in their time, I too am trying to pull up standards and sensibilities out of our typical small town North Indian parameters into something more 'modern' and more 'international'.
There's a big 'maybe' in all this!
It really helped us Sir! :)
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ReplyDeleteyou are excellent for us! oh yes! it's surprise for me in the first class that you are speaking hindi because what we heard that you have background work experience is out of india so it is in some student minds that English image..but you surprise us all with your introduction to class by speaking in hindi language that not most but all students understood.More than this you have crossed the boundary of language and become friend in just a week and share your valueable knowledge & guide us on the path of filmmaking. so your class is memorable for all of us and hope we will soon meet again...
ReplyDeleteSorry I never saw this earlier. thanks for your comments Ashwani and Shashank. Good to know that i was of use to you guys.
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