Omar Ahmed
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781906733681
- eISBN:
- 9781800342088
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781906733681.003.0009
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter addresses how, unlike Hollywood, which has seen the rise of high-concept cinema overshadow the power a film star once possessed at the box office, Indian cinema, especially mainstream ...
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This chapter addresses how, unlike Hollywood, which has seen the rise of high-concept cinema overshadow the power a film star once possessed at the box office, Indian cinema, especially mainstream Hindi films, continues to underline the significance of film stars and views them as paramount to the development and marketing of most feature films. The angry-young-man persona of Indian cinema's biggest film star, Amitabh Bachchan, forged in an era of widespread political disillusionment, found its greatest expression in the 1975 super-hit Deewaar (The Wall), directed by Yash Chopra. The chapter moves away from Indian art cinema to the attractions of the mainstream film Deewaar. It engages with a range of key areas, such as the wider political context of the 1975 Indian Emergency and the angry young man as a sociopolitical symbol. It also looks at representations encompassing matriarchy, religion and poverty; Amitabh Bachchan's star image; and the lasting legacy of Deewaar for today's cinema.Less
This chapter addresses how, unlike Hollywood, which has seen the rise of high-concept cinema overshadow the power a film star once possessed at the box office, Indian cinema, especially mainstream Hindi films, continues to underline the significance of film stars and views them as paramount to the development and marketing of most feature films. The angry-young-man persona of Indian cinema's biggest film star, Amitabh Bachchan, forged in an era of widespread political disillusionment, found its greatest expression in the 1975 super-hit Deewaar (The Wall), directed by Yash Chopra. The chapter moves away from Indian art cinema to the attractions of the mainstream film Deewaar. It engages with a range of key areas, such as the wider political context of the 1975 Indian Emergency and the angry young man as a sociopolitical symbol. It also looks at representations encompassing matriarchy, religion and poverty; Amitabh Bachchan's star image; and the lasting legacy of Deewaar for today's cinema.
Priya Joshi
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231169615
- eISBN:
- 9780231539074
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231169615.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book analyzes the role of popular blockbuster films made by Bollywood in the making, unmaking and remaking of modern India. It explains that Bollywood films are India’s most popular ...
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This book analyzes the role of popular blockbuster films made by Bollywood in the making, unmaking and remaking of modern India. It explains that Bollywood films are India’s most popular entertainment and one of its most powerful social forces. It argues that Bollywood’s blockbusters contest ideas about state formation, capture the nation’s dispersed anxieties and fabricate public fantasies of what constitutes “India.” The book provides an interdisciplinary account of popular cinema as a space that filters politics and modernity for its viewers. It covers themes such as crime and punishment, family and individuality, vigilante and community, and shows how these capture the diffuse aspirations of an evolving nation. It reveals the cinema’s social impact across decades that saw the decline of studios, the rise of the multi-star genre, and the arrival of corporate capital and new media platforms. It includes studies of iconic and less familiar films, including Awara (1951), Ab Dilli Dur Nahin (1957), Deewaar (1975), Sholay (1975), Dil Se (1998), A Wednesday (2008), and 3 Idiots (2009). Overall it conveys the pleasures and politics of Bollywood blockbusters.Less
This book analyzes the role of popular blockbuster films made by Bollywood in the making, unmaking and remaking of modern India. It explains that Bollywood films are India’s most popular entertainment and one of its most powerful social forces. It argues that Bollywood’s blockbusters contest ideas about state formation, capture the nation’s dispersed anxieties and fabricate public fantasies of what constitutes “India.” The book provides an interdisciplinary account of popular cinema as a space that filters politics and modernity for its viewers. It covers themes such as crime and punishment, family and individuality, vigilante and community, and shows how these capture the diffuse aspirations of an evolving nation. It reveals the cinema’s social impact across decades that saw the decline of studios, the rise of the multi-star genre, and the arrival of corporate capital and new media platforms. It includes studies of iconic and less familiar films, including Awara (1951), Ab Dilli Dur Nahin (1957), Deewaar (1975), Sholay (1975), Dil Se (1998), A Wednesday (2008), and 3 Idiots (2009). Overall it conveys the pleasures and politics of Bollywood blockbusters.
Priya Joshi (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231169615
- eISBN:
- 9780231539074
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231169615.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter explores the extent to which the traumas of the 1970s were displaced onto the family and crisis in the political culture of popular Hindi cinema. It considers the blockbuster trilogy: ...
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This chapter explores the extent to which the traumas of the 1970s were displaced onto the family and crisis in the political culture of popular Hindi cinema. It considers the blockbuster trilogy: Deewaar (1975), Trishul (1978), and Shakti (1982). The narrative of Deewaar, which focuses on child violence, is widely understood to symbolize the States upon its citizens. The narratives of Trishul and Shakti exposed both the cinemas social work in India and the social work it did for the nation. The chapter proposes the social function of cinema as Family Romance, where India’s nation plays the role of the mother and the family plays the role of the India’s nation.Less
This chapter explores the extent to which the traumas of the 1970s were displaced onto the family and crisis in the political culture of popular Hindi cinema. It considers the blockbuster trilogy: Deewaar (1975), Trishul (1978), and Shakti (1982). The narrative of Deewaar, which focuses on child violence, is widely understood to symbolize the States upon its citizens. The narratives of Trishul and Shakti exposed both the cinemas social work in India and the social work it did for the nation. The chapter proposes the social function of cinema as Family Romance, where India’s nation plays the role of the mother and the family plays the role of the India’s nation.
