Nagesh Kukunoor?s Iqbal being screened at Sujata in Ranchi. Picture by Ashok Karan

Ranchi, March 21: Who is interested in watching a Gujarati film, a documentary or an ?arty? film for that matter?

The sleazy stuff on display at all cinema halls, said most residents here 20 years ago, would serve our need, thank you very much.

Despite such indifference, Cine Society, Ranchi, did come up. It managed to get itself registered, after paying a bribe at the Patna secretariat. It got itself affiliated to the Federation of Film Societies, headquartered at Calcutta. It coerced, cajoled and took off.

Films were screened and film directors invited for interaction. Two names that come readily to mind are that of Buddhadev Dasgupta, the well-known Bengali film director, and Ain Rashid Khan, an IPS officer who made a moving documentary, The Seventh Man, on the Muslims of Calcutta.

Dasgupta had already made a mark with two films Duratwa and Neem Annapurna but was not yet a member of the hall of fame though.

Raju Saraogi, who owned Vasundhara cinema, situated right behind Firayalal, came to the society?s rescue. He offered the use of the hall for Cine Society to screen serious cinema.

If memory serves us right, he did not watch a single screening. He had good reasons for not doing so because the screenings had to start at 8 am on Sundays and finish before 10.30 am so that the usual morning shows could start.

He offered the hall free of course, and enabled 40 to 50 film buffs to leave home every Sunday morning at 7.30 am for the adventure of watching ?good films?.

The suspense was killing, because, occasionally, the society would get a film it had not asked for. So sometimes, members would arrive to watch a Bergman and end up seeing a Chinese film.

Yet, the society managed to introduce many members to both regional films like Kanku (Gujarati) and international films like Bergman?s Autumn Sonata. But it was an exhilarating experience for members to watch the works of great masters such as Eisenstein, Fellini, Truffaut, Godard, Antonioni, De Sica, Wajda, Kurosawa, Polanski and even Zoltan Fabri.

The film festival being held in the state capital has revived hopes for a new film society movement here.

In the audience were several members of the now-defunct Cine Society of Ranchi. The society functioned for about five years in the mid-eighties before folding up.

Lack of interest, patronage, poor finances and transfer of several members to other cities speeded up the inevitable.

But on Monday, the members spoke animatedly of the prospect of reviving the culture of healthy cinema.