Aruna Vasudev: She took Asian cinema to the world

Aruna Vasudev, a woman of many hues, was fondly called the “Mother of Asian Cinema”. And with good reason. She nurtured the cinematic culture of this continent and over the years became its torch-bearer. She focused on it spiritedly at a time when it was little known to the world. Some forty years ago she decided to bring Asian films to the fore and give them the status they deserved. Towards this end, she started the magazine Cinemaya: The Asian Film Quarterly in 1988 and “Cinefan: The Festival of Asian Cinema” in 1999.

Aruna passed away early in the morning on September 5 in New Delhi after a protracted illness. She was 87, and is survived by her daughter Yamini, son-in-law Varun and granddaughter Anasuya.

Whatever Aruna did, she did with conviction. Once possessed of an idea she didn’t let go, discussing it with colleagues, honing it, searching for a myriad ways of putting it into action and getting it off the ground. This is how her pet projects -- the Asian film magazine, the festival and NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) were born. Always, the idea came first. The rest -- money, publication, publicity -- would follow. Her persistence, personality, persuasive powers and her never-say-die attitude helped her to make Asian cinema known internationally. Her efforts began yielding fruit in the early 1990s, as an increasing number of international festivals turned their gaze on Asian cinema. For many festivals, these films opened up new horizons. And so began a spotlight on Asian countries and special sections devoted to Asian directors.

NETPAC -- of which she was the founder-president -- has widened and diversified its scope since it was launched in 1991. The NETPAC Award is today given away to an Asian film at over thirty festivals worldwide. A year later, she also started the India chapter of the Federation of International Film Critics (FIPRESCI) together with eminent scholar and writer Chidananda Das Gupta. The chapter has also broadened its activity over the years to include awards to Indian films, film appreciation courses film festivals, lectures and the publication of a magazine.

A Ph.D. from the University of Paris, Aruna’s thesis was published as a book entitled Liberty and Licence in Indian Cinema in 1979. She has written, edited and translated other books too, taught at different institutes, been on many national bodies, on festival juries and won innumerable awards, both Indian and international. She was the recipient of the first Satyajit Ray Memorial Award conferred by FIPRESCI in 2021.

But few know that she had another side to her. A maker of documentaries when she was young, Aruna was also a keen photographer and a sensitive painter. And more recently she had turned towards clay sculpture too.

But above all else, her boundless hospitality and open-heartedness were what gave her a wide circle of loyal and all-weather friends.

I travelled with her on much of her journey. An enjoyable one, a loving one, a journey of laughter and discovery.