{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}} {{Use Indian English|date=September 2022}} {{Infobox film | name = Cinema Cinema | image = | caption = | director = Krishna Shah | producer = Bhupendra Shah | writer = Krishna Shah<br>Kamleshwar (Hindi version) | narrator = | starring = Dharmendra<br>Amitabh Bachchan<br>Hema Malini<br>Zeenat Aman | music = Vijay Raghav Rao | cinematography = K.K. Mahajan | editing = Amit Bose | distributor = | released = {{film date|df=y|1979|06|27|India}}<br>October 1979 (US) | runtime = 138 minutes | country = India | language = | budget = | gross = }} '''''Cinema Cinema''''' is a 1979 quasi-documentary of the Indian film world (Bollywood), written and directed by Krishna Shah.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-xpm-2013-10-16-sns-201310162122reedbusivarietyn1200732409-20131016-story.html |title=Krishna Shah, Director of ''Hard Rock Zombies,'' Dies at 75 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=16 October 2013 |access-date=11 August 2019}}</ref> The movie was Shah's fourth as feature film director, following the disastrous ''Shalimar''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://thebigindianpicture.com/2014/11/back-to-the-shalimar-i-ii/ |title=Rishi Majumder: Back to the ''Shalimar'' I & II |publisher=The Big Indian Picture |date=November 2014 |access-date=11 August 2019}}</ref>
==Overview== ''Cinema Cinema'' was released on 27 July 1979 in India and in October 1979 in the US. The documentary features original interviews with notable Indian film stars, including Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini and Zeenat Aman.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bobbytalkscinema.com/recentpost/Cinema-Cinema-1979-and-Film--918 |title=Cinema Cinema (1979) and Film Hi Film (1983) - Two Rare, Lesser Known Attempts Made, Using Clippings of Many Released and Unreleased (Hindi) Films. |publisher=Bobby Sing: Bobby Talks Cinema |date=5 June 2012 |access-date=11 August 2019}}</ref> The narrative is staged to present the history of Hindi-language cinema while exploring various political themes of the 20th century, all through the reactions and interactions of a typical Indian theatre audience of the 70s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cuttingthechai.com/2014/01/6636/interval-cinema-hall-screening-hindi-film-1970s/ |title=Watch: Interval At a Cinema Hall in the 1970s, Screening a Hindi Film |publisher=Cutting the Chai |date=29 January 2014 |access-date=11 August 2019}}</ref>
Krishna Shah hired the highly regarded Kamleshwar for the Hindi-language version of the screenplay, while Parallel Cinema veteran K.K. Mahajan provided the cinematography. Sony Music India would later release a ''Cinema Cinema'' soundtrack album, featuring Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam, Sudesh Bhosle, Vanraj Bhatia, and Sonali Bajpayee.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.deezer.com/us/album/63205732|title=''Cinema Cinema'' (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |publisher=Deezer |access-date=11 August 2019}}</ref>
==Reception== Uday Bhatia and Jai Arjun Singh of India's Mint found ''Cinema Cinema'' to have an "excellent Parallel Cinema pedigree,"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/50-years-of-hindi-alternative-cinema-1556870638279.html |title=50 Years of Hindi Alternative Cinema - 1979: Cinema Cinema (Krishna Shah) |newspaper=Mint |date=4 May 2019 |access-date=11 August 2019}}</ref> while Time Out London said the film "is not without interest as a helping of 'Madras Curry' (the staple Bombay diet of lavish melodramas packed to inordinate length with interminable songs, dances and comic interludes)."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/film/cinema-cinema |title=Film: Cinema Cinema |magazine=Time Out |access-date=11 August 2019}}</ref>
In the book ''Journalism, Democracy and Civil Society in India,'' authors Rao and Mudgal singled-out ''Cinema Cinema's'' depiction of a 1970s-era theatre experience as a demonstration of audience abuse by Indian exhibitors of the time.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DjduDwAAQBAJ&q=%22cinema+cinema%22+%22krishna+shah%22 |title=Journalism, Democracy and Civil Society in India, edited by Shakuntala Rao, Vipul Mudgal |publisher=Taylor & Francis Group - Routledge |date=2017 |isbn=9781315293790 |access-date=11 August 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|0214591}} * [https://memsaabstory.com/2009/11/25/cinema-cinema-1979/ Casual analysis of ''Cinema Cinema'']
Category:1979 films Category:Indian documentary films Category:1979 documentary films Category:1979 Indian films
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