Rochona Majumdar's book Art Cinema and India's Forgotten Futures: Film and History in the Postcolony meticulously explores the global reach of “art film” and its relationship with the Indian state and Indian filmmakers. Majumdar demonstrates how within the creative horizon of “art cinema”, a host of Indian films, film societies and publications created a polemical space for a new cinematic culture. The book is crucially nuanced by a detailed discussion of how art cinema exhibited certain disillusionment with film's liaison with the statist project of national development and captured some of the major contradictions of our postcolonial present. Though the book focuses primarily on film practice and film discourse in Bengal, it raises a number of provocative questions on art cinema's functioning in India as a whole. Offering fresh perspectives on 'doing history through cinema', the book contributes significantly to studies in Indian history and Indian cinema. Chidananda Dasgupta Memorial Trust is honoured to bestow the Chidananda Dasgupta Memorial Award for Best Writing on Cinema, 2023, to Art Cinema and India's Forgotten Futures: Film and History in the Postcolony by Rochona Majumdar.

Reels, Romance and Retakes: Social Narratives of Cinema in Odisha by Sanjoy Patnaik is a pioneering work on the history of Odia cinema with reference to the interconnected social, political and cultural journeys of the region. The book carefully chronicles modernity's complex relationship with Odia cultural identity and its implications in Odia cinema. Detailed discussion on the trajectories of 'regional cinema', 'parallel cinema', 'middle-of-the-road films' and on the debates around “good films, bad films” have enriched the book. The book's analysis of issues concerning demographics, class, gender, language, cultural identity, taste, ethics and values in the context of Odisha's chequered film history is insightful. The effort to engage in a “political sociology of national awards” is commendable, as is the discussion on the expanding market of regional cinema. The analysis of current challenges to Odia cinema posed by Hindi as a major language of entertainment and the social trend of regional cultural assertion as a key to commercial success, is timely and succinct. As a whole, the book makes an original contribution to studies in Odia cinema, regional cinema, Indian cinema, and broadly to the trend of writing film history in the form of 'social narratives'. Chidananda Dasgupta Memorial Trust proudly confers the Chidananda Dasgupta Memorial Award for Best Writing on Cinema, 2023, to Reels, Romance and Retakes: Socal Narratives of Cinema in Odisha by Sanjoy Patnaik.