To say that writer/filmmaker Nasreen Munni Kabir is passionate about cinema is stating the obvious. She is one of the few who has travelled that extra mile to document dialogues of unforgettable films for posterity.
After bringing out the dialogues of Awaara, Mughal-e-Azam, Mother India and Pyaasa in book format, Nasreen's latest book The Dialogue of Devdas is an ode to Bimal Roy's classic. But do we need to read the dialogues when we can watch the film, you may ask. During the launch of her book at Secunderabad Club, organised by Moving Images last weekend, Nasreen puts to rest any such thoughts. “Cinema is a medium that draws us into its fold through the use of long shots, close-ups, acting and sound. When you read, nothing else distracts you from the written word,” she emphasised.
Nasreen's books are used as teaching material in universities in Britain and Europe for students of cinema, serving as a window to Indian cinema. It's for this reason that The Dialogue of Devdas has the dialogues written in English, Hindi, Urdu and Roman. “I am proud to say that in some universities, students read the dialogues in English and then the meaning in Hindi through the translation,” she said with a smile.
Nasreen took the audience back in time when Dilip Kumar immortalised the part of Devdas, Suchitra Sen breathed life into Paro and Vyjayanthimala charmed her way as Chandramukhi. “Dilip saab, unlike many other actors, did not believe in shouting out his dialogues. He was aware of the power of the microphone. He delivered his dialogues softly, sometimes in whispers and believed that an actor is heard better this way than when he screams,” mentioned Nasreen.
Nasreen's talk was peppered with anecdotes on Bimal Roy's style of filmmaking and punctuated with excerpts from the book, read by Shankar Melkote (as Devdas), Chandana Chakrabarti (as Parvati) and Sheela Naidu (as Chandramukhi).
