Picture abhi baaki hai, mere dost” (the film isn’t over yet, my friend). When Shah Rukh Khan delivered this iconic line in Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om, it resonated far beyond the screen — it became a reminder to view life itself through the lens of cinema.
India’s cinematic visual culture is incredibly rich, extending well beyond the projection screens of cinema halls, permeating our daily lives in ways we might never have imagined. “As a nation, we have not been cultivating visual literacy. No country in the world has the visual energy that India does, yet we haven’t been asking the right questions. Every answer could lead us to deeper inquiries,” says Neville Tuli, curator, collector, and founder of the Tuli Research Centre for India Studies.
‘World’s Greatest Mela: Respecting India’s Cinematic Heritage,’ a recently concluded exhibition at the India Habitat Centre, sought to awaken us to the wealth of knowledge embedded in cinema’s visual archives. Curated by Tuli, the exhibition was the culmination of three decades of work in collecting, classifying, archiving, and curating images from India. It offers just a glimpse into the vast, open-access archive that Tuli plans to gift to the public, with the hope of reigniting what he calls the “lost joy of learning.”
A Nation’s Visual Identity
The exhibition was structured into 20 sections, each seamlessly blending into the next and creating interconnections across different eras of cinematic history. It begins with archival photographic stills from the early cinema of Dadasaheb Phalke and the legacy of Parsi theatre, with a special focus on Light of Asia, a 1925 silent film.
The sensual portrayal of women, adorned in rich ornamentation, leaves a lasting impression. For the younger generation, these stills are particularly striking, revealing a meticulous grace and a fearless portrayal of the female body — qualities often thought of as modern phenomena. While the colonial gaze inherent in early cinema is evident, the exhibition encouraged visitors to look beyond it and engage with these artefacts for a deeper understanding of India’s history, especially its visual memory.
Placed throughout the exhibit were various film journals, such as Film Land from the early era, inviting visitors to explore the broader landscape of cinema.
“None of the artefacts here is cinema itself, but they embody the energy of cinema and its by-products,” explains Tuli, highlighting the idea that cinema has its own ecosystem, offering insights into history, politics, economics, religion, ecology, and even urban planning.
The section on Art Deco architecture, pioneered by cinema halls like Regal, Eros, New Empire, Metro, and Liberty, highlighted how these strategically placed cinemas played a crucial role in shaping the city’s future faric. A special section was dedicated to Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s 1917 novel Devdas and its various renditions in Indian cinema — from Pramathesh Barua’s 1935 rendition to Bimal Roy’s 1955 adaptation and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2002 interpretation — all displayed together on the same wall. Stills of legendary artists like Kamal Amrohi, Meena Kumari, Prithviraj Kapoor and his sons, comic icon Mehmood, filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, and the renowned photographer Nemai Ghosh were given individual sections.
The past came alive through the materiality of the images on display, with playfully written letters exchanged between actors, award trophies, and full-size hand-painted posters, all recreating a long-vanished cinematic universe for modern viewers.
Cultural DNA
Tuli, an idealist who believes in the creative spirit, points to one of Nemai Ghosh’s images capturing Satyajit Ray at work. “Look at how Ray himself is cutting the hair and styling his actor,” he says. “It’s this kind of work ethic and dedication to craft and purpose that I hope visitors take away.” Speaking to students at the exhibition, he remarked, “It took K Asif 15 years to make Mughal-E-Azam after many ups and downs. Each of us has our own Mughal-E-Azam inside, and it’s all about holding on to it and working on it.”
Disappointed by the lack of learning ecosystems in India, Tuli found the visual medium to be a fervent subject for reading and life education. “These visuals are untouched — they bring joy and a positive ambiguity that is necessary to learn and grow without feeling insecure,” he adds.
This exhibition was just a small part of the online archive set to launch in beta on October 7, marking the beginning of 16 planned exhibitions.
These exhibitions will span a wide range of themes, including modern and contemporary fine arts, photography, architecture, justice and political integrity, erotic disciplines, the history of scholarship, and more — all of which will be accessible to everyone for research, learning, and the dissemination of knowledge by the end of this year.
