Mani Kaul’s demise a great loss to film industry: Contemporary fim-makers

Contemporaries of veteran film-maker, Mani Kaul (67), who passed away in Delhi at about 1 am on Wednesday, said his death marked curtains on an era of cinema as a classical art.

He was suffering from cancer. Kaul graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in 1966. His debut film, Uski Roti (1969), is widely believed to have paved the way for the ‘new wave’ Indian cinema.

Suresh Chhabria, former professor of the film appreciation course said, “He (Kaul) was a friend and we lived in south Mumbai together. Along with being a brilliant film-maker, he was a brilliant teacher as well. His classes were eye-opening and life-changing.”

Four years after passing out from the FTII, he made films like Uski Roti and Bhuvan Shome. “His work was very ambitious and different. He was interested in cinema as a pure medium — the way a classical musician approaches music. I hope his films are preserved,” Chhabria added.

Film-maker Girish Kasaravalli, who describes Kaul as a “very warm person and keen observer” said, “Kaul’s clarity of cinema, style of film-making, form and expression was very unique. Indian cinema had become very stagnant in the terms of methods of expressions. Mani Kaul changed the scenario. Indian cinema should be grateful to him. He had a different interpretation of everything.”

Senior film-maker Basu Chatterjee, who regarded Kaul as the pioneer of parallel cinema, told DNA over the phone, “Mani Kaul made very different films. He even acted in my film, Sara Akash. Few know that he used to sing classical songs too.”