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IN THE MIRROR OF THE 'SIXTIES: GOA AS DEPICTED IN THREE FILMS
By Frederick Noronha
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
TIME WAS when technology was costly, difficult to access, and
mainly in the hands of big players. Just one generation back, it
was the government which had a near-monopoly over film-making,
something which the digital camera has put in the hands of the
millions today. In this background, finding three decades-old
films from the Government of India's monolith Films Divisions
was quite a discovery in itself.
For a princely Rs 104, the Films Division today sells three of
its documentary films -- on a single CD.
These were created in the ideologically-charged times of the
'sixties and thereafter. It was a crucial time. A time when Goa
was not getting used to moving out of the Portuguese colonial
era. When different segments of the population were jostling for
a greater share of the small region's resources, and finding the
ideological justifications for the same. One old elite was being
ousted, and a new one set in its place.
Mumbai-based Films Division -- www.filmsdivision.org
or contactable via email at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-- packages the three Goa-related films. These were,
in fact, out on sale at the 2004 International Film
Festival of India held at Goa, and its damp-squib film
bazaar, which was out of bounds for all but IFFI
festival pass-holders.
This inexpensively priced product is indeed a treasure trove in
the cultural wealth of a small community. One which otherwise
hardly has sufficient media products that help it understand
itself. Or, if they are there, the books and films and cassettes
and VCDs of this small region are so scattered around -- across
space, language and time -- that they often get inaccessible.
Films Division has three films here: 'Heritage of Goa', 'Goa,
Yesterday and Today' and 'On To Goa'. Given the timeless nature
of the Indian civilization, a trend sometimes continued with
unintended consequences, the dates when these films were
produced isn't quite clear. But all obviously came between the
1960s and the early 1980s, though there's scope to be corrected
on this.
First things first: these films contain a lot of propaganda.
Four decades back, the times were rather different. Portugal had
just been ejected after 451 years of uninterrupted colonial rule
in Goa. Unlike the British and French, their parting from South
Asia was shrouded in considerable bitterness and controversy. It
was the height of the Cold War. Supporting European colonialism
was out of question at that point of time. But one only needs to
read the front pages of the 'New York Times' to appreciate the
manner in which the West put India on the defensive over her
military action in Goa.
Clearly, these films struggle to shrug off the 'Goa Portuguesa'
image built up over the centuries. In its place, they go about
building (what anthropologist Caroline Ifeka calls) the 'Goa
Indica' image. Goa Goana, if one could call it that, doesn't
seem to matter much. In hind-sight, we can look back and laugh
at all the propaganda and image building that comes across. But,
for viewers watching these films in the 'sixties or 'seventies,
things were obviously very different.
Take these images: Ashok lions and the chakra on
pillar. Goa's beaches (subsequently, Goa's tourism
'success' became a self-fulfilling prophecy, but then
it was just in the stage of being repeatedly talked
about). Canoes moving past placid rivers. Cashew-tree
clad hillsides. Forests. The Dudhsagar waterfalls.
This is one of the few centuries old monuments to
survive, even in areas where the Portuguese didn't
rule and ravage. Hero-stones and deities carved in
stone. These are the visuals of 'The Heritage of Goa'.
Temple deities. Palkhi festivals. Women praying with a fidgity
kid in arms. Temples. Images of the Goa that was in the
'sixties, with lot of trees, few roads and an even fewer
vehicles.
A little after half-way, the focus shifts to Christianity. It
reminds one of anthropologists Robert S Newman's critique of Goa
being depicted as a series of religious communities, somehow
separate and unconnected with each other. So, there are
paintings in churches, altars, the Virgin Mary and other
statues. Jesus on the Cross, and more. These were times which
still had a very Portu
