Seeing is Believing is unlikely to find a wide readership, but is indispensable to anyone seriously interested in the films of some of our eminent directors—Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal and Adoor Gopalakrishnan among them. Das Gupta’s study of Satyajit Ray’s films is particularly erudite, perhaps because he knew the man intimately.
The author paints with a wide brush. We have here pieces written over a span of 60 years and they address such diverse subjects as the parallel cinema of the 1960s, the depiction of women in our films and the use of song and dance.
Das Gupta is 87 years young and films are his passion. He started a film society when he was 26, edited several film magazines, directed a number of documentaries, even a feature film. He has also contributed two major talents to Indian cinema, daughter Aparna Sen, one of our best filmmakers, and granddaughter Konkona Sen Sharma, currently making waves for her acting in Bollywood.
One quibble: it would have been helpful if the reader was given the dates on which these essays first appeared and the name of the publication. Some of them seem quite ancient but there is no need to be bashful about it.
