Moving images, fast and slow

Mani Kaul and Kumar Shahani are 'scholar filmmakers'. The scholarly aspect is as important as the film in which the visuals are embedded. Satyajit Ray was a scholar too but he wore it lightly and didn't burden his films with academic tedium. This could explain why the films of the former are so heavy and laden with semaphores, references and visual leitmotifs, oozing with symbols and pregnant with meaning. Ray's ouevre on the other hand is lighter in texture, more accessible and direct in its overtures to the viewer. Pather Panchali [Ray, 1955] remains perhaps the greatest debut of all time. (And if you want to extend the list, other pretenders to the throne ought to include Uski Roti [Kaul, 1969] and Court [Tamhane, 2014].) 

Silent Spring

He never disclosed his opinions, fearing people would think him mad and foolish. And after all, what was more distateful than sharing dear-held ideas to an unreceptive crowd? He donated to Greenpeace but thought it absurd that the best they thought possible was no growth, which in his view would only be the first step. He worried about the future and thought hard about which candidate to vote for, but the range of opinions considered mainstream in his society was too narrow for his top choices to ever manifest. He once considered but rejected an idea to join the Al Qaeda or ISIS because while they spoke a lot about eschatology, it was only meant as rhetoric, and they would abandon paths towards it once the caliphate was established. This, seemed to him a most tedious and roundabout way to his ends. Yet, he could use them in the future for his purposes if needed, he mused.