It has been argued that art cinema abruptly disappeared from the Indian film scene in the mid-1980s, but the writing had been on the wall s...
It has been argued that art cinema abruptly disappeared from the Indian film scene in the mid-1980s, but the writing had been on the wall since the late seventies. The first blow to art cinema came with the restructuring of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) at the end of the decade. As already noted, Indian art cinema never received sustained support from the state like in Europe, where post-World War II recovery and competition from Hollywood impelled governments to extend support to their respective film industries. The most consistent period of national funding came during the activist phase of the Film Finance Corporation by way of small loans given to a number of filmmakers.
That ended in July 1979. Under L. K. Advani, the minister of information and broadcasting, the Indian Motion Picture Export Corporation (IMPEC) and the Directorate of Film Festivals were merged into the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) – now envisioned as “a single integrated body to cover various aspects of cinema.” Thereafter, a few state governments in Karnataka, West Bengal, and Kerala continued to support art films, but these efforts were not systematic.
The revamped NFDC noted that its main goal was not “to finance movies” but...
