There is no history, when no one remembers. The history of cinema has more difficult situation as cinema is only a vision.
From 1947 to mid 1950s, Indian and Filipino directors made Malay films in Singapore for Chinese productions. Why and how? After 40 years, the author tries to solve the jigsaw puzzle scattered all over Asia. Although some pieces of the puzzle have already lost, the vision of the past gradually appears through interviews and wide research of literature.
1st chapter of this book describes the history of Hong Kong cinema and the role of Shaw Brothers and Cathay Keris productions in Malay peninsula. 2nd chapter tells the history of Indian cinema and the Malay studio's atmosphere through the interviews with Indian directors. 3rd chapter highlights the situation of Indian films in Thailand, and more research in Malaysia, Singapore and Philippine. It also outlines the influence of Parsi theater in South-East Asia. Finally you can see the "movie road" from Hong Kong to India.
The author specializes in Hindi language and is actively involved in introducing the Indian cinema in Japan. She is also fond of Hong Kong cinema and studied Cantonese too in Hong Kong. About her love to Asian cinema she has no superior.
This book has useful indexes, chronological table and many valuable photographs, but it is not written as a research book. As a whole it is a record of the author's travel to Asian cinema. This style of description will give readers the pleasure of treasure hunting. When you will read it completely, you will come to know that treasure hunting itself is a treasure. Travel is not just a transferring in different scenes, but also an exchange and a commitment over the boundary. In the last part of this book, author visited Indian director late Phani Majumdar to show a book named "Kaca permata" in which Malay director Jamil Sulong wrote about the great memories of Indian directors. This is one of the beautiful moments in this book. To meet the directors who cross the border, the author too should cross the border to join the history of cinema. And after crossing the border, there will be happiness equal to viewing the cinema, as viewing cinema is also a travel.
I hope this book could cross the borders to be read all over Asia by translation in English, Malay and other languages.
Jiromaru Akira