Category: Biography
Publisher: Penguin Random House India (forthcoming)
Rights: Translation rights available (excluding Hindi); Dramatisation rights available
This is the riveting story of how Jagat Murari, the film pioneer, and audacious visionary, built the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII) into a powerhouse of talent, turning out the likes of Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Subhash Ghai, KK Mahajan and Mani Kaul, and other cinema legends as a matter of routine. FTII’s impact was transformative – his alumni became the leading names of Bollywood, they spearheaded the Indian New Wave, kickstarted regional language cinema, and shepherded television into the country.
Told in vivid detail, this book goes behind the scenes at FTII and into the mind of Jagat Murari –FTII’s Principal in its formative first decade and a celebrated documentary filmmaker himself – and unpacks his unique formula for making pathbreaking filmmakers.
Jagat’s own journey into cinema played out against the backdrop of momentous historic events – from a US troop ship at the end of World War II transporting him to study cinema at the University of Southern California, to a Hollywood internship with the legendary Orson Welles, to filming a newly independent India as it made its first strides into nationhood, and more.
Based on newly discovered diaries and personal papers, Radha Chadha, his daughter and a writer herself, brings to life a hidden chapter of cinematic history and a richly textured portrait of this extraordinary “maker of filmmakers”.
The author: Radha Chadha