Cinema Bhojpuri

A joy to read and informative; the footnotes are as interesting as the narrative itself

Cinema Bhojpuri
Avijit Ghosh
Penguin; Rs 399; Pp 297

I learnt to speak Bhojpuri before I could speak Gujarati. It was one of three languages of Fiji. Officially called Hindustani, it was Bhojpuri mixed with other languages of UP and Bihar, and spoken by the indentured labourers on the sugar plantations.

So I am partial to Bhojpuri films but in Delhi you have to go to a flea pit in the walled city to see them. They are not meant for the multiplexes and are not available on DVD. The films are popular with male migrant workers in places like Ludhiana and Malegaon, where they are screened for a few weeks. In the cow belt itself, they have been known to run for twenty-five weeks and more.

Avijit Ghosh’s Cinema Bhojpuri is a joy to read and informative; the footnotes are as interesting as the narrative itself. He has taken the trouble of listing every Bhojpuri film made since the first, Ganga Maiya Tohe Piyari Chahaibo (1962), to the end of 2008 when 69 Bhojpuri films were produced.

Full review here Outlook

No time-frame for inclusion of Bhojpuri in 8th Schedule: Govt

Government today said it was considering inclusion of Bhojpuri and Rajasthani languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution thereby granting it the status as the official language but could not give any time-frame to do so.

A Calling Attention motion on inclusion of Bhojpuri and Rajasthani in the Eighth Schedule of Constitution, moved by Sanjay Nirupam (Cong), saw uproarious scenes in the Lok Sabha as more members wanted to participate in the debate and SP and RJD members even trooped to the Well of the House.

Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee intervened at this stage and suggested that since the scope of the Calling Attention Motion was limited members can have a Short Duration Discussion in the next session.
In a statement in the House, Minister of State for Home Ajay Maken said that government could not give a time-frame for for consideration of the demands for inclusion of more languages in Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India.

Full report here MSN

Why India's first prez is biggest Bhojpuri hero

A dainty dusk descends on Cinema Bhojpuri author Avijit Ghosh's office, but being a journalist is no joy at that hour. His tone is terse, his words wandering into the work realm. "Sorry, you might have to hold if I get another call." But there's none. Instead, it's his calling that keeps us busy. "If a journalist wants to be a good author, he must discipline himself strictly," he emphasises, sharing his pre and post office writing regime. Ghosh rouses the author in him in the week, mostly, if not weekends. Much removed in manner and style, from his almost namesake Amitav Ghosh. There's a curious connection, though: Amitav watched Bhojpuri films like Mai Jaisan Bhauji Hamaar while researching for Sea of Poppies, Avijit delved into the cinema itself.

The rest of the conversation unfolds in heady Hinglish, with so much to say in such little time. "India's first president Dr Rajendra Prasad (in his meeting with character actor Nasir Hussain) was a sure-shot inspiration for Bhojpuri cinema," he begins, "but an inspiration, not a pioneer. That certainly spurred the phenomenon, but the films would have come about anyway. It was mainly a question of time and money." Beyond the 1950s, no politician can take credit for the success of Bhojpuri-wood, he clears. Laloo, the least. "He took charge in 1990, and the years of his reign, and Rabri's, were the worst for Bhojpuri cinema. It was Sasura Bada Paisewala which changed the tide in 2004."

This compelled Ghosh to get going on his book. He dedicates it to Rupam, Mohan, Sapna and Moti Mahal -- the cinema halls of Arrah, an administrative town in Bihar where he fell in love with these films. Without regret.

Full report here Mid-day

Bhojpuri - Not merely a spoken language like creole

CREOLE WAS the spoken language of Black slaves. Even though the slaves may have had their own mother tongues, such as Swahili, Bantu and Malagasy, the fact that they spoke creole, whether it be based on Spanish, Portuguese, French or English, depending who the slave masters were, the slave masters referred to them as « Creoles », meaning those who speak creole. The creole spoken language is necessarily based on a European language of the slave masters, hence, French creole, English creole. Although one often speaks of patois créole, which it is, a patois may evolve from any language and does not necessarily have a slave connotation. A patois too is a spoken language of communication and, like creole, it can only be written phonetically. But usage wants it that a person who speaks patois is not identified as a ‘Patois’ like in the case of Creole. The slave masters invented the term « Creole », as in the person, in order to steal the African identities of slaves. Creole is a by-product of slavery. The Mauritian Constitution protects us against any form of slavery. Hence, it is out of question for ‘Creole’ to be recognized in our Constitution either as a language or as a person, although people are free to call themselves what they like.

Bhojpuri
On the other hand, Bhojpuri is neither a language born in slavery nor a patois. Bhojpuri is often referred to as a dialect of Hindi, which is a language of civilization for over a millennium. In the 1960’s, Bhojpuri was the mother tongue of around 60% of Mauritians while many Mauritians spoke patois, which is a mixture of languages spoken differently in different regions of the country. The damage came with the political invention of French-based militant creole imported from the then French colonies and with an equally invented way of writing (which is still being invented) which infringes the pronunciation, spelling, grammar and rules of the mother language and imposed on the people through a complicit media. To make it more acceptable, the protagonists of this form of creole, which they wrongly spell ‘Kreol’, have been trying to compare Bhojpuri with creole, and several Mauritians of Bhojpuri origin seem to fall into this trap and used by Créolistes to foster their political ambition.

Full report here Defi Media