The Tuli Research Centre for India Studies (T.R.I.S.) is proud to present a visionary exhibition, “The World’s Greatest Mela – Respecting India’s Cinematic Heritage”, curated by our Founder & President, Neville Tuli, an eminent author-curator-archivist & pioneering cultural institution-builder.
The show encapsulates three decades of Tuli’s dedication to researching, archiving, preserving, and transforming over four hundred thousand unique objects of the Indian & Asian fine and popular arts and craft, and the world cinemas, into a uniquely integrated knowledge base for India Studies which becomes freely available to the world next month.
This exhibition is open to the public from August 13-25 2024, at the Visual Arts Gallery & Open Palm Court, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
Tuli’s vision to establish cinema and its related art forms as a critical visual-textual knowledge and educational resource is the key driving force behind this exhibition and his wider vision of helping to create the first three-year undergraduate programme curricula for India Studies.
Cinema as a knowledge base has been traditionally confined to the realms of film and cultural studies, but also holds untapped potential as a vast pedagogical resource beyond its conventional boundaries.
In the coming months, T.R.I.S. will present a practical and comprehensive system for utilizing the art of cinema as a primary and secondary source of knowledge, with a special focus on India Studies.
This exhibition underscores the cultural, intellectual, and emotional journey of India which cinema reveals, with an unparalleled power to capture minds, command attention, and forge connections, uniting entertainment, art, and education like few other cultural disciplines.
Commenting on the Exhibition, Tuli states, “However comprehensive an exhibition, it can only capture a minor fraction of its subject, in this case, the vast world of Indian Cinema. So, the main objective is to capture the essence, its unique cinematic energy, its historical context, and most importantly here - the high aesthetic and intellectual standard of the art objects which make a film and its impact. Hopefully the exhibition will inspire the public and academia to re-examine and reassess the educational possibilities of the subject matter, while delivering a deep dose of joy; for it is joy which our educational system truly lacks, hence the motivation and our ability to excel at the highest levels, still deeply lags compared to our potential.”
In conjunction with the exhibition, Neville Tuli will deliver an illustrated lecture at the Stein Auditorium on August 16, starting at 7.30 pm on “Cinema as a Critical Educational Resource”. This will be followed by a Conversation between Rinki Roy (d/o Bimal Roy), Tajdar Amrohi (s/o Kamal Amrohi) & Tuli on the “Life and Cinema of Kamal Amrohi & Meena Kumari”.
