Trending
I am back now in Mumbai having returned from representing my film, “An American in Madras,” at the recently concluded New York Indian Film Festival, where it was nominated for best documentary film.
But this is not really an article on my thoughts on my first visit to the United States or the festival; it is more specifically about May 13, 2014, the day I spent at Wheeling in Ohio County, W.Va.
Before I go further, just to put things in perspective, why Wheeling? Well, my film primarily traces American-born filmmaker Ellis R. Dungan’s years in India from 1935-50 where he became a celebrated director in the Tamil film industry based in South India. During this period, he worked with some of the biggest stars there, made many popular films and brought various technical innovations to the then-developing Tamil film industry of the 1930s and ’40s. All this, without understanding the language! After Dungan left India and returned to America, he lived in Wheeling from 1958 until his death in 2001. It was but natural that I wanted to have a showing of the film in Wheeling in front of the people of his hometown.
Especially so, since all the write-ups on Dungan in that side of the world have hardly delved into his Indian years saying little more than that he lived in India for 15 years, made a name for himself directing Indian films and came back. I wanted to let them know exactly what Dungan, regarded as an extremely respected and distinguished citizen of Wheeling, achieved here in India and it has to be said his achievements were tremendous. And not just in the world of Tamil films, but even in the work he did in official capacity as a photographer for the Madras Government during World War II besides photographing important historic events occurring around the time of Indian Independence.
To be honest, Wheeling was also more than just about the screening. Dungan was born in nearby Barton in what used to be the Post Office building on May 11, 1909, graduated from St. Clairsville High School in 1927, lived at 37 Brentwood Ave. in Wheeling and was buried in the town after he passed away on Dec. 1, 2001 at the age of 92. Thanks to Dungan’s stepson, Chris Bowie, who took time off from work, I was able to visit each of these places.
I have to thank the Ohio County Public Library’s Sean Duffy and Richard Fauss from the West Virginia State Archives, USA (who gave me most of the archival material I needed for the film) to help organize the screening. In India, our record of archiving our history is dismal. It took us 51 years after our first feature film, “Raja Harishchandra,” in 1913, to create our National Film Archive and by 1950, we had already lost more than three-quarters of our cinema. Fortunately for me (and the film) Dungan came from a culture where archiving was inherent in its blood. Otherwise, to put it honestly, there would have been no film. Most of my archival material barring the clips from his Tamil films has come from America. In fact, a couple of his documentary films about life in India whose extracts I have used, exist not in India but in the United States as part of his collection.
While I have had various film festival screenings and other screenings around India, I admit I was never as nervous before any screening than the one in Wheeling. This was by far the most personal screening for the film, in front of an audience who largely knew Dungan, had interacted with him and had their own memories of the man. Also, I was unsure how much they really knew about Indian cinema and would I succeed in getting the context of what I was showing through to them? Sure, I’ve tried keeping the film universally simple but there are certain quirks only a person familiar with Indian (and Tamil) cinema would get. And the film was a good 80 minutes long. But I have to say the screening overcame any fears I might had. The audience of 70 was actually one of the most responsive and enthusiastic group I’ve ever had. They reacted at all the right places and I can never forget a woman heartily clapping during the clip of “Manthiri Kumari” (1950) when the minister’s daughter pushes her evil husband off the cliff!
The interaction and the Q & A post the showing was one of the best and most stimulating ones I’ve had and I’m grateful to all those who came. Many of them had their own little stories of Dungan that made the entire evening come alive and that much more personal. Perhaps the one comment that stood out for me was one that came from Barbara Smik, the co-author of Dungan’s autobiography, “A Guide to Adventure.”
“Ellis Dungan would have loved this film!” she told me. That one sentence made every bit of the two years taken to make this film and finally bring it to Wheeling worthwhile.
About the filmmaker:
Karan Bali graduated in direction from the Film & Television Institute of India, Pune, in 1993. With Mumbai as his base, he has been making mainly documentaries besides being first assistant director on two feature films, “Everybody Says I’m Fine” and “Matrubhoomi – A Nation Without Women.” He teaches filmmaking and is also the co-founder and content-in-charge of Upperstall.com, an analytical portal on cinema of the sub-continent. “An American in Madras” is his first feature-length documentary.