The Department of English, Women’s Christian College and Boi-Boibhav Foundation are jointly organising a dynamic Value-Added Course, ”Transitions: From Text to Film” on film adaptations of literary texts, from March 15 to April 5.
During the inaugural programme on March 15, Ajanta Paul, principal and secretary of the college, described the initiative as “an excellent initiative which encourages the participants to explore the interrelationships between literature and the other arts, notably the cinema, broadening the disciplinary focus of the multifaceted discourse being addressed.”
The chief guest, Samik Bandopadhyay eminent literateur, writer-editor, art/film/drama critic who is also chairman of the Boi-Boibhav Foundation delivered the key-note address of the entire course enriching the students with important facts and ideas: “When cinema begins in 1895 the cinema was an extension of popular culture there were five-minute pieces, ten-minute pieces of what they called 'Attractions'. The cinema needed a text”. He mentioned how the cinema found its own locality…discovered the literary text, and started adapting it.
He also read out from a typed lecture delivered by Satyajit Ray on September 22, 1982 that Ray himself had handed it over to him.
Sainjuti Ghosh, a Semester 6 student of the English Department who has registered for the course commented, “Samik Bandopadhyay related the journey of cinema like an entire story! His narration was so captivating throughout the session that it left me wanting to learn more and more about the language of cinema. We hope that the course will be a great success.”