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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 Portuguese twang to it, at times before the de-Lusitanisation of Goa set in, in a big way, thanks to a peculiar form of political correctedness. There are pictures of Portuguese in the court of Moghul emperor Akbar -- Goa's unique role in the history of South Asia is mostly misunderstood, and not placed adequately in context. Then, there are interiors of the Old Goa complex, a decidedly foreign-looking deity, grand paintings, the Viceroy's Arch en route to Divar, and old unkempt monuments at Old Goa. One can see the renovation of the Bom Jesus Basilica in progress. Another Portuguese-era monument, the Se-Cathedral, believed to be the largest cathedral in Asia, gets a paint job and repairs. These are images of how Old Goa looked in the 'sixties, before the authorities at New Delhi took on the job of maintaining or damaging it (depending on one's political point of view). There are paintings of Francis Xavier, the sixteenth century missionary Basque conferred sainthood, who's described as "the man who captured tens of thousands of Goans hearts". There are also images of simple pilgrims at prayer. Script production and direction is by C A Abraham. It seems to have been made in 1968, though the date is not very legible on the old, recently-digitised reels. Says another film, "Goa, Yesterday and Today", "Goa casts an instant spell of romance... it's hills, vales(sic) and rivers.... its eventful march through the corridors of time." This film is in the old-style classic black and white format. Photography M N Kulkarni WICA and S P Shinde. Music is by Hemant Kedar. The recording by T R Madhok, editing by N V Palkar and N D Keluskar, script by Prema Telkar, words by Shridhar Telkar and K S Chari with the voice by V V Menon. Production is by Shridhar Telkar and Mangesh Shirodkar. Direction by Mangesh Shirodkar and S P Shinde. This film is in B&W but has a distracting orange-yellow-green logo of Films Division running at the bottom right across the screen. There are images of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, illustrations of ships, an introduction to Calicut (where the Portuguese first reached), maps of Goa (which, for some reason, gets transcribed into Hindi repeatedly as Gova!), and silhouette of the beach. Mention of the probably overhyped Kadamba rulers, estuaries, canoes, the Vijayanagar and Bahamani empires of the past. A Portuguese coat of arms. More riversides, estuaries and the Ponda-based Muslim religious shrine the Safa Masjid. This is a story about accidents of history: the Portuguese conquests of Goa, churches in the old capital. This is Goa with a definite 'sixties feel about it. There's the Jesuit-controlled Bom Jesu, with Ignatius of Loyola towering over the statue of Infant Jesus. Three-and-half decades later, some of these settings would be used in a controversial video CD, promoted by Goa's recently-ousted BJP government to make a political point, and, as many suspected, show some religions in an unflattering light. But the 'sixties were another time. At least more subtle. In New Delhi, the ruling ideology was secularism. Or some version of it. Of course, communal battles got played out more cautiously, and Goa has suffered first from bigoted Portuguese theocracy with a Catholic hue and then from a dose of intense majoritism imported from the neighbouring regions. Missionary Francis Xavier is quoted saying, "... The Indians must have the same feelings. Why should we do to them what we don't wish to be done to ourselves?..." Is this an accurate quote? Would the people the region be referred to as "the Indians" in times that pre-date the idea of nationalism? We're shown images of historical monuments in poor shape. But has the maintenance improved over the years? Few reporters tracking this issue, such as Paul Fernandes of the Gomantak Times, have been able to keep track of a complex story which says the reality isn't quite so, despite the external spruced-up appearances. Conservation in Goa still remains a much-neglected field, claims notwithstanding. There are temples of Ponda taluka, with the background scenic and green -- of course in sepia. Remember, these were times before local politicians with Delhi's backing, whether of the Congress or the BJP variant, or even of regional parties, were unleashed on the state to decimate the lushness even of talukas like Ponda. There are tall temple towers and temple tanks. Fitting Goa in a then-new form of nationalism, the film talks of "Reverened" Fr Crasto's Revolt of 1654. the Marathas attack on Goa in 1683, the Peshwas attack on Goa of 1739, the Pinto's Revolt of 1787, the Army Revolt of 1870. The Ranes are described as fierce Maratha warriors, who kept a guerrila war of independence for 150 years. Historical facts these may be. But the question that comes up is what is the political spin being given to these events in a new context. How much of these were battles for freedom, and how much an endeavour to retain priviledge? Some of these forces are known to have built strategic alliances with the Portuguese in different times. There's some historic material too: a 'Quit Goa' poster, Portuguese photographs of armymen, the Aguada prison, the riverside, old ships and other forts, footage of 'satyagrahis' entering Goa, and more. The last one-third of the film is set in the post-December 1961 period. These are pictures of broken bridge, Sikh soldiers (isn't it ironic that the Indian state had to deploy a Julio Rebeiro and Gen Sunith F Rodrigues Retd in Punjab in later times?), and Portuguese soldiers in caps. The Indian flag going up on the historic flagpole, which was recently demolished in the Manohar Parrikar-conceived road widening plans.... Posters tell us, "Viva Goa Livre". Students are seen smiling shyly. The Indian flag flutters boldly. Pro-Congress campaigns. Scenes of markets. Girls with skirts, and women in sarees. Vendors seen haggling, with markets filled with local products. We're reminded that Portuguese was little studied at schools. Local work-gangs are seen on road-building work. Field workers are shown bringing in the harvest -- this was in times before the giant, state-subsidised fertilizer companies made their questionable impact on the Goan soil. Power pylons are shown bringing in 'development' to Goa. One can see an antiquated phone exchange, with a line of lady operators taking the calls. From here, we move on to Mormugao Port, where dusty operations continue to this day. Young men and women are seen working in factories. More images of temples. Then some aftermath-of-colonialism dialogue: "India was well known in ancient times.... Long before Portugugal became a nation, Goan enjoyed a great degree of prosperity." We're told the Vijayanagara kings came to Goa, but the Bahamanis "invaded" Goa. So are we making presuppositions about motives based on the ruler's religion? This is a picture the film projects, and perhaps understandably so, in very polarised times: The Portuguese who never had the will to resist, and ran away. They damaged bridges and culverts, and even destroyed a church. Within 36 hours, Goa was liberated. A dream had come through. Things began to change rapidly. Civil liberties had been earlier destroyed. Despite 450 years, Goans still follow the Indian way of life. Vast majority speak Marathi and Konkani, an Indian dialect. Only a small minority speak Portuguese. There were 1600 in Portuguese Lyceum, but many times more in other mediums of education (at lower levels of education). Thousands of hectares of land being brought under the plough. Power is being brought in from Koyna in Maharashtra and Sharavati in Mysore. Under the Portuguese, Goa was a backwater. The benefits of the five year plans have extended to Goa. Pig iron blast furnace licences have been issued. Steel mill planned during the Fourth Plan. (That was in 1966. Goa's still awaiting one, as iron ore gets exported cheap, and a few major houses make a killing everytime the rupee gets devalued against foreign currencies.) Four-and-half decades after 1961, the "achievements" claimed might be treated more skeptically.... But that's another story. 'On To Goa' is the third movie (Hindi title 'Gova ke Aur'). It's edited by KVR Krishna Rao and Bhupendra Mhatre with sound by N Prasad, music by Raghunath Seth, words (basic version) by Nirmala Matthan, production Girish Vaidya and Chandrashekhar Nair, and direction by Raghu Krishna and KVR Krishna Rao. In colour, this film starts with a Goa estuary, ancient rocks off the beach (at Anjuna?), a view from Cabo, the simple and pre-luxury hotel Fort Aguada, sail boats in the background, riverside Goa, the first fishing trawlers (then, still thought off as a boom, and before their devasting impact on traditional fisherpeople became obvious), people at prayer, the St Augustine towner, and some distracting logos. Coconut palms. Hero stones. Temples. Mulsims praying. Franciscans in the Moghul Court. Old Goa scenes. A foreign-looking lady praying. Francis Xavier's remains. The Panjim church, and more. Besides the Governor's "Cabo", there are images of Goa's first hotel, the Mandovi Hotel, old buses, visiting tourists, a young looking former director of tourism VAP Mahajan, the Fort Aguada, foreign sun-worshippers along Goa's shores, overweight Europeans and some clad in bikinis (this too is a 'tourism resource' for Goa), a sailboat, and a bus carrying the logo 'Dept of Information & Tourism; Govt of Goa, Daman & Diu'. (Government subsidies to tourism in Goa, a luxury by any stretch of imagination, has still to be adequately understood.) Mandovi bridge was a showpiece; this was years before it collapsed in 1987. There's the Portuguese dance, the Corredinho. Performers seemed to smile much more then, than in these commercialism-filled days. Sculptor Vaman Zo is seen carving a statue of Francis Xavier, which probably went on to become the subject of a controversy when an antique was sought to be smuggled out of Goa by an industrialist family and passed off as the Zo-created much smaller statue. Journalist Devika Sequeira has written widely on this particular development. There are fishermen with plentiful catches of sardines, the Carnival, and even a King Momo (is this the year when later-to-become CM Francisco Sardinha filled that role?) It reflects a carnival in times before it became big business. There's a fancy dress for kids, dating back to two more more decades. Other cliches of Goa include it being a "land of serenity with miles and miles of beaches", plan trees, temples and churches, the "incorruptible remains" of St Francis Xavier, a "land where different cultures blend together in harmony", and more. There's also Parshuram, the golden period of the Kadambas, Bandodkar, Abbe Faria, and Hanv Saiba Poltodi Vetaum thrown in, for good measure. Whichever side of the political divide you stand on, these films reflect an interesting period of history. Priced at the equivalent of a little over two dollars, it's something worth adding to your collection. These films also underline why it's important to have multiple versions of history being recorded and told. We need also many more media products on Goa, in a way that creates lasting resources for this small region. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Frederick Noronha, or simply FN, is a Goa-based journalist, frequently visible in cyberspace. One of his recent ventures is promoting a mailing-list on documentary films in India http://groups.yahoo.com/group/docuwallahs2 GOANET READER WELCOMES contributions from its readers, by way of essays, reviews, features and think-pieces. 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