Experts praise Jesuit’s Indian film theory book

A Jesuit priest has made a “significant contribution” to the film industry with a new book on Indian film theory.
Father Gaston Roberge was praised by film makers, critics and scholars at the launch of his book The Indian Film Theory: Flames of Sholay, Notes and Beyond, on June 15.
“Father Roberge shows us there is an Indian film theory that can form the cornerstone of our film ethos,” said Ashok Vishwanathan, a Bengali film maker and scholar.
“I had been asking myself since the 1980s why we do not have a new theory of popular film,” said Father Roberge. “It was only recently that I got an answer after studying a 2000-year old Indian treatise of drama and dance, Natya Sastra - The Science Of Drama.”
The result is a 100 page book that offers a new perspective on the theories underlying Indian commercial cinema. It has been described as “easily readable” and “radical in its content.”
Father Roberge is author of more than 25 books on cinema and spirituality and founder of Chitrabani the first media center in eastern India. Although he admits some decline in the first decade of the century, Father Roberge has said that cinema will continue to be relevant even in the age of the iPod.