ANJALI GERA ROY and CHUA BENG HUAT
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198075981
- eISBN:
- 9780199081523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198075981.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter first sets out the purpose of the book, which is to examine the historical and spatial flows of Indian popular cinema from Bombay (Mumbai) and other production centres in the Indian ...
More
This chapter first sets out the purpose of the book, which is to examine the historical and spatial flows of Indian popular cinema from Bombay (Mumbai) and other production centres in the Indian subcontinent to different spaces of consumption for nearly a century, culminating in the Bollywood-inspired-Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. It then discusses the origins and travels of Bollywood cinema and how the rubric of national cinema, under which Indian cinema has been examined, is problematized by the transnationalized production, distribution, and consumption of South Asian cinematic texts in the present and its failure to account for cinematic flows. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This chapter first sets out the purpose of the book, which is to examine the historical and spatial flows of Indian popular cinema from Bombay (Mumbai) and other production centres in the Indian subcontinent to different spaces of consumption for nearly a century, culminating in the Bollywood-inspired-Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. It then discusses the origins and travels of Bollywood cinema and how the rubric of national cinema, under which Indian cinema has been examined, is problematized by the transnationalized production, distribution, and consumption of South Asian cinematic texts in the present and its failure to account for cinematic flows. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
M.K. Raghavendra
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198071587
- eISBN:
- 9780199080793
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198071587.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter discusses Kannada cinema in the 1970s, covering both popular and art films. It explores the first Kannada art film —Samskara (1970), based on a 1965 novel by U. R. Ananthamurthy, about a ...
More
This chapter discusses Kannada cinema in the 1970s, covering both popular and art films. It explores the first Kannada art film —Samskara (1970), based on a 1965 novel by U. R. Ananthamurthy, about a Brahmin scholar driven into moral crisis and forced to question the tenets he has lived by. It describes how the years beginning with 1972 represent a new era for Mysore because of happenings at the national level influencing the local arena. It considers the roles played by Rajkumar in the 1970s, which always included a characteristic bit of moral rhetoric not usually found when other actors play the lead. It highlights three art films made in the 1970s — Girish Karnad’s Kaadu (1973), B.V. Karanth’s Chomana Dudi (1975), and Girish Kasaravalli’s Ghatashraddha (1977) — after Indira Gandhi’s Congress came to power in Karnataka under Devaraj Urs to illustrate how later Kannada art cinema differs from Samskara in its implications.Less
This chapter discusses Kannada cinema in the 1970s, covering both popular and art films. It explores the first Kannada art film —Samskara (1970), based on a 1965 novel by U. R. Ananthamurthy, about a Brahmin scholar driven into moral crisis and forced to question the tenets he has lived by. It describes how the years beginning with 1972 represent a new era for Mysore because of happenings at the national level influencing the local arena. It considers the roles played by Rajkumar in the 1970s, which always included a characteristic bit of moral rhetoric not usually found when other actors play the lead. It highlights three art films made in the 1970s — Girish Karnad’s Kaadu (1973), B.V. Karanth’s Chomana Dudi (1975), and Girish Kasaravalli’s Ghatashraddha (1977) — after Indira Gandhi’s Congress came to power in Karnataka under Devaraj Urs to illustrate how later Kannada art cinema differs from Samskara in its implications.
M.K. Raghavendra
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195696547
- eISBN:
- 9780199080281
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195696547.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Indian popular cinema is marked by many transformations. It has been subjected to the ‘constants’ found within the beliefs and worldview of the people of the Indian society and to the ‘variables’ ...
More
Indian popular cinema is marked by many transformations. It has been subjected to the ‘constants’ found within the beliefs and worldview of the people of the Indian society and to the ‘variables’ associated with the changing social and cultural climate in India. This chapter traces the history of Indian popular cinema from the 1930s, particularly the approaches and methods employed. Also discussed are the critical approaches in the academic study of popular cinema and the drawbacks in the theoretical approach in examining and understanding the phenomena of a film. Later sections discuss the aims and goals of the book. Here, the narrative approach to Indian films and other means of codifying the methods of popular Indian cinema are discussed and detailed.Less
Indian popular cinema is marked by many transformations. It has been subjected to the ‘constants’ found within the beliefs and worldview of the people of the Indian society and to the ‘variables’ associated with the changing social and cultural climate in India. This chapter traces the history of Indian popular cinema from the 1930s, particularly the approaches and methods employed. Also discussed are the critical approaches in the academic study of popular cinema and the drawbacks in the theoretical approach in examining and understanding the phenomena of a film. Later sections discuss the aims and goals of the book. Here, the narrative approach to Indian films and other means of codifying the methods of popular Indian cinema are discussed and detailed.
Neelam Sidhar Wright
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780748696345
- eISBN:
- 9781474412155
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748696345.003.0002
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter discusses Indian film criticism, with a particular focus on traditional modes of studying Indian cinema. It first traces the history of the development of the Bombay film industry from ...
More
This chapter discusses Indian film criticism, with a particular focus on traditional modes of studying Indian cinema. It first traces the history of the development of the Bombay film industry from the 1910s to the 2000s, arguing that the 1960s and 1980s are decades from which we can best study Indian cinema's most popular form of filmmaking: the masala genre. It then considers traditional approaches to Indian film and some popular themes in Indian film studies, including nationalism, diaspora, postcolonialism and cultural identity. It also examines introductory guidebooks and other literary sources that it accuses of having misled readers towards restrictive (if not outmoded and derogatory) definitions of the cinema they seek to understand. The chapter concludes with an overview of categories used to explore Bollywood's current manifestation, namely, third cinema, world cinema, Asian cinema, global contemporary Indian cinema and transnational cinema.Less
This chapter discusses Indian film criticism, with a particular focus on traditional modes of studying Indian cinema. It first traces the history of the development of the Bombay film industry from the 1910s to the 2000s, arguing that the 1960s and 1980s are decades from which we can best study Indian cinema's most popular form of filmmaking: the masala genre. It then considers traditional approaches to Indian film and some popular themes in Indian film studies, including nationalism, diaspora, postcolonialism and cultural identity. It also examines introductory guidebooks and other literary sources that it accuses of having misled readers towards restrictive (if not outmoded and derogatory) definitions of the cinema they seek to understand. The chapter concludes with an overview of categories used to explore Bollywood's current manifestation, namely, third cinema, world cinema, Asian cinema, global contemporary Indian cinema and transnational cinema.
Anjali Gera Roy and Chua Beng Huat (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198075981
- eISBN:
- 9780199081523
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198075981.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
From Bombay (Mumbai) and other production centres on the Indian subcontinent, Indian popular cinema has travelled globally for nearly a century, culminating in the Bollywood-inspired, Oscar-winning ...
More
From Bombay (Mumbai) and other production centres on the Indian subcontinent, Indian popular cinema has travelled globally for nearly a century, culminating in the Bollywood-inspired, Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. This volume brings together perspectives on Indian popular cinema, universally known as Bollywood now, from different disciplinary and geographical locations to look afresh at national cinemas. It shows how Bollywood cinema has always crossed borders and boundaries: from the British Malaya, Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad, Mauritius, and East and South Africa to the former USSR, West Asia, the UK, the USA, Canada, and Australia. While looking at the meanings of nation, diaspora, home, and identity in cinematic texts and contexts, the essays also examine how localities are produced in the new global process by broadly addressing nationalism, regionalism, and transnationalism, politics and aesthetics, as well as spectatorship and viewing contexts.Less
From Bombay (Mumbai) and other production centres on the Indian subcontinent, Indian popular cinema has travelled globally for nearly a century, culminating in the Bollywood-inspired, Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. This volume brings together perspectives on Indian popular cinema, universally known as Bollywood now, from different disciplinary and geographical locations to look afresh at national cinemas. It shows how Bollywood cinema has always crossed borders and boundaries: from the British Malaya, Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad, Mauritius, and East and South Africa to the former USSR, West Asia, the UK, the USA, Canada, and Australia. While looking at the meanings of nation, diaspora, home, and identity in cinematic texts and contexts, the essays also examine how localities are produced in the new global process by broadly addressing nationalism, regionalism, and transnationalism, politics and aesthetics, as well as spectatorship and viewing contexts.
M.K. Raghavendra
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198071587
- eISBN:
- 9780199080793
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198071587.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter examines Kannada films of the 1980s, a period in which some genres in Kannada cinema — the mythological film, the historical film — died out and new genres like the youth film appeared. ...
More
This chapter examines Kannada films of the 1980s, a period in which some genres in Kannada cinema — the mythological film, the historical film — died out and new genres like the youth film appeared. These new genres were, however, not ‘stable’ like the mythological film, the historical drama, and the family melodrama, and faded away almost immediately. While most films of the late 1980s abandon the traditional signifiers associated with Mysore, there is still evidence in the Kannada films of the late 1980s that it once existed.Less
This chapter examines Kannada films of the 1980s, a period in which some genres in Kannada cinema — the mythological film, the historical film — died out and new genres like the youth film appeared. These new genres were, however, not ‘stable’ like the mythological film, the historical drama, and the family melodrama, and faded away almost immediately. While most films of the late 1980s abandon the traditional signifiers associated with Mysore, there is still evidence in the Kannada films of the late 1980s that it once existed.
M.K. RAGHAVENDRA
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198075981
- eISBN:
- 9780199081523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198075981.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter suggests that the discourse formulated in relation to the dominant south Indian cinemas in Tamil or Telugu can prove to be homogenizing when used to analyse other regions, such as ...
More
This chapter suggests that the discourse formulated in relation to the dominant south Indian cinemas in Tamil or Telugu can prove to be homogenizing when used to analyse other regions, such as Kannada, which emerged before the linguistic organization of the states. It argues that Kannada films of the 1950s — which trace a separate trajectory by displaying a preference for the mythological, folklore, or saint films abandoned in Hindi cinema in the early 1940s — did not address a Kannada identity but one belonging exclusively to ‘old Mysore’.Less
This chapter suggests that the discourse formulated in relation to the dominant south Indian cinemas in Tamil or Telugu can prove to be homogenizing when used to analyse other regions, such as Kannada, which emerged before the linguistic organization of the states. It argues that Kannada films of the 1950s — which trace a separate trajectory by displaying a preference for the mythological, folklore, or saint films abandoned in Hindi cinema in the early 1940s — did not address a Kannada identity but one belonging exclusively to ‘old Mysore’.
M.K. Raghavendra
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198071587
- eISBN:
- 9780199080793
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198071587.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter examines Kannada films from the 1990s. It discusses how from the late 1980s onwards, Kannada cinema becomes depleted because of a lack of signifiers — the cinema does not ‘mean’ in the ...
More
This chapter examines Kannada films from the 1990s. It discusses how from the late 1980s onwards, Kannada cinema becomes depleted because of a lack of signifiers — the cinema does not ‘mean’ in the way it had done hitherto. The region is absent as an imagined community in these Kannada films and this perhaps accounts for them being unable to ‘mean’. It considers one aspect of Kannada cinema that has distressed its avid followers — the vulgarity that appears to overwhelm it in the early 1990s. It also looks at the treatment of women in these films, specifically the notion of feminine promiscuity. It discusses the attitude of Kannada cinema towards Bangalore and how a large number of films are either ‘framed’ as stories being related by filmmakers or involve the process of filmmaking in some way.Less
This chapter examines Kannada films from the 1990s. It discusses how from the late 1980s onwards, Kannada cinema becomes depleted because of a lack of signifiers — the cinema does not ‘mean’ in the way it had done hitherto. The region is absent as an imagined community in these Kannada films and this perhaps accounts for them being unable to ‘mean’. It considers one aspect of Kannada cinema that has distressed its avid followers — the vulgarity that appears to overwhelm it in the early 1990s. It also looks at the treatment of women in these films, specifically the notion of feminine promiscuity. It discusses the attitude of Kannada cinema towards Bangalore and how a large number of films are either ‘framed’ as stories being related by filmmakers or involve the process of filmmaking in some way.
M.K. Raghavendra
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195696547
- eISBN:
- 9780199080281
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195696547.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Discussing the gradual transformation of Indian popular cinema into a ‘global entertainment’, this book examines the direction, the existing codes, the system employed, and the meaning that emerges ...
More
Discussing the gradual transformation of Indian popular cinema into a ‘global entertainment’, this book examines the direction, the existing codes, the system employed, and the meaning that emerges from the examination of several Indian films. Comparing the method employed by Indian popular cinema with those of Hollywood classical films, the book identifies the divergences and the traditional methods that make Bollywood unique. In particular, this book examines the narrative conventions prevalent in Indian popular cinema in relation with classical Hollywood cinema to gain a better understanding of the narratives in Indian films. It traces the narrative strategies employed by popular cinema in contrast to the traditional ones employed by the arts in India to determine the underlying logic. The book examines a significant body of films to understand how popular cinema narrativizes the dominant social discourse throughout specific historical periods.Less
Discussing the gradual transformation of Indian popular cinema into a ‘global entertainment’, this book examines the direction, the existing codes, the system employed, and the meaning that emerges from the examination of several Indian films. Comparing the method employed by Indian popular cinema with those of Hollywood classical films, the book identifies the divergences and the traditional methods that make Bollywood unique. In particular, this book examines the narrative conventions prevalent in Indian popular cinema in relation with classical Hollywood cinema to gain a better understanding of the narratives in Indian films. It traces the narrative strategies employed by popular cinema in contrast to the traditional ones employed by the arts in India to determine the underlying logic. The book examines a significant body of films to understand how popular cinema narrativizes the dominant social discourse throughout specific historical periods.
M.K. Raghavendra
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198071587
- eISBN:
- 9780199080793
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198071587.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter examines Kannada cinema in the first decade of the twenty-first century. It begins by reviewing the author’s findings with regard to the shape taken by Kannada narrative from the 1930s ...
More
This chapter examines Kannada cinema in the first decade of the twenty-first century. It begins by reviewing the author’s findings with regard to the shape taken by Kannada narrative from the 1930s onwards, up till the new millennium. It then discusses how Bangalore played a greater role in the Kannada film after 2000, including how the motif of the migrant in Bangalore became stronger in the new millennium. It analyses two remakes in Kannada of films made in another language: Sanjeevi’s Swetha Naga, about a researcher in zoology who is skeptical about the mythology around the cobra who ventures into a forest; and P. Vasu’s Apthamitra, a ghost story about a road construction engineer who acquires a palace rumoured to be haunted.Less
This chapter examines Kannada cinema in the first decade of the twenty-first century. It begins by reviewing the author’s findings with regard to the shape taken by Kannada narrative from the 1930s onwards, up till the new millennium. It then discusses how Bangalore played a greater role in the Kannada film after 2000, including how the motif of the migrant in Bangalore became stronger in the new millennium. It analyses two remakes in Kannada of films made in another language: Sanjeevi’s Swetha Naga, about a researcher in zoology who is skeptical about the mythology around the cobra who ventures into a forest; and P. Vasu’s Apthamitra, a ghost story about a road construction engineer who acquires a palace rumoured to be haunted.
Neelam Sidhar Wright
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780748696345
- eISBN:
- 9781474412155
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748696345.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter focuses on pedagogic practices and newer approaches to contemporary Bollywood cinema. It begins with a discussion of Satyajit Ray's views on popular Indian cinema and the reasons for ...
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This chapter focuses on pedagogic practices and newer approaches to contemporary Bollywood cinema. It begins with a discussion of Satyajit Ray's views on popular Indian cinema and the reasons for Indian cinema's cursory appearance in film studies courses. It then considers student responses to studying popular Indian films, the current status of Indian film education and academia's alleged failure to do much good for popular Indian cinema. It also examines postmodern practices in contemporary Bollywood cinema and outlines new directions in Indian film research. The chapter argues that many of the academic approaches towards, and much critical journalistic writing on, Bollywood have worked against Bollywood's interests in securing international appeal.Less
This chapter focuses on pedagogic practices and newer approaches to contemporary Bollywood cinema. It begins with a discussion of Satyajit Ray's views on popular Indian cinema and the reasons for Indian cinema's cursory appearance in film studies courses. It then considers student responses to studying popular Indian films, the current status of Indian film education and academia's alleged failure to do much good for popular Indian cinema. It also examines postmodern practices in contemporary Bollywood cinema and outlines new directions in Indian film research. The chapter argues that many of the academic approaches towards, and much critical journalistic writing on, Bollywood have worked against Bollywood's interests in securing international appeal.
Neelam Sidhar Wright and Neelam Sidhar Wright
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780748696345
- eISBN:
- 9781474412155
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748696345.003.0005
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter examines how the postmodern, as an aesthetic style and fluid cultural practice, manifests in contemporary Bollywood film texts. Drawing upon the various concepts and traits identified by ...
More
This chapter examines how the postmodern, as an aesthetic style and fluid cultural practice, manifests in contemporary Bollywood film texts. Drawing upon the various concepts and traits identified by postmodern theorists such as Fredric Jameson, Jean Baudrillard and Hayden White, as well as postmodern film theorists such as Linda Hutcheon, Peter and Will Brooker, and M. Keith Brooker, the chapter reveals a variety of postmodern strategies and conventions operating within contemporary Bollywood cinema. It also analyses the films Om Shanti Om, Koi...Mil Gaya and Abhay, as well as several features of postmodernism that are present in them, including depthlessness, blank parody, intertextuality, hyperrealism, metahistory, and the sublime. The chapter concludes by explaining how films such as Abhay may help resolve the conflict between art cinema and mainstream popular Indian cinema.Less
This chapter examines how the postmodern, as an aesthetic style and fluid cultural practice, manifests in contemporary Bollywood film texts. Drawing upon the various concepts and traits identified by postmodern theorists such as Fredric Jameson, Jean Baudrillard and Hayden White, as well as postmodern film theorists such as Linda Hutcheon, Peter and Will Brooker, and M. Keith Brooker, the chapter reveals a variety of postmodern strategies and conventions operating within contemporary Bollywood cinema. It also analyses the films Om Shanti Om, Koi...Mil Gaya and Abhay, as well as several features of postmodernism that are present in them, including depthlessness, blank parody, intertextuality, hyperrealism, metahistory, and the sublime. The chapter concludes by explaining how films such as Abhay may help resolve the conflict between art cinema and mainstream popular Indian cinema.
Neelam Sidhar Wright
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780748696345
- eISBN:
- 9781474412155
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748696345.003.0007
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter examines postmodern aesthetics in the contemporary Bollywood remake through an in-depth analysis of one of the genre's earliest, most prominent examples: the Devdas lineage. Two of the ...
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This chapter examines postmodern aesthetics in the contemporary Bollywood remake through an in-depth analysis of one of the genre's earliest, most prominent examples: the Devdas lineage. Two of the most popular and widely regarded versions of Devdas are discussed: Bimal Roy's 1955 classic and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 2002 version. The chapter considers how Bollywood uses figural excess to rework and distinguish itself aesthetically from previous canonical Indian film texts, drawing upon Scott Lash's views on postmodernism as a ‘regime of signification’. It also explores how Bollywood cinema hybridises with Hollywood modes of filmmaking in order to de-authenticate and dismantle both American and its own cinematic codes and conventions. Finally, it describes synaesthesia in Indian cinema and offers a reading of two more films, Dil Chahta Hai and Kaante.Less
This chapter examines postmodern aesthetics in the contemporary Bollywood remake through an in-depth analysis of one of the genre's earliest, most prominent examples: the Devdas lineage. Two of the most popular and widely regarded versions of Devdas are discussed: Bimal Roy's 1955 classic and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 2002 version. The chapter considers how Bollywood uses figural excess to rework and distinguish itself aesthetically from previous canonical Indian film texts, drawing upon Scott Lash's views on postmodernism as a ‘regime of signification’. It also explores how Bollywood cinema hybridises with Hollywood modes of filmmaking in order to de-authenticate and dismantle both American and its own cinematic codes and conventions. Finally, it describes synaesthesia in Indian cinema and offers a reading of two more films, Dil Chahta Hai and Kaante.
Neepa Majumdar
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617031229
- eISBN:
- 9781617031236
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617031229.003.0011
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter explores 1950s discussions of realism in India as catalyzed by what filmmakers and audiences described as the eye-opening experience of watching the three Italian neorealist films that ...
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This chapter explores 1950s discussions of realism in India as catalyzed by what filmmakers and audiences described as the eye-opening experience of watching the three Italian neorealist films that were screened at the first International Film Festival in India, held from January 24—February 1, 1952. Specifically, it considers this festival’s impact, and its echoes in cinematic and journalistic discourse in the early 1950s. Within the discourse of realism, one can find a continuum of films ranging from mainstream studio products such as Footpath (Zia Sarhady, 1953) to hybrid independent and studio films such as Do bigha zamin (Two Acres of Land, Bimol Roy, 1953) to state-supported independent films such as Pather panchali.Less
This chapter explores 1950s discussions of realism in India as catalyzed by what filmmakers and audiences described as the eye-opening experience of watching the three Italian neorealist films that were screened at the first International Film Festival in India, held from January 24—February 1, 1952. Specifically, it considers this festival’s impact, and its echoes in cinematic and journalistic discourse in the early 1950s. Within the discourse of realism, one can find a continuum of films ranging from mainstream studio products such as Footpath (Zia Sarhady, 1953) to hybrid independent and studio films such as Do bigha zamin (Two Acres of Land, Bimol Roy, 1953) to state-supported independent films such as Pather panchali.
Neelam Sidhar Wright
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780748696345
- eISBN:
- 9781474412155
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748696345.003.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book examines changes in Bollywood's film production during the twenty-first century, and particularly after its economic liberalisation, giving rise to a ‘New Bollywood’. It shows how the ...
More
This book examines changes in Bollywood's film production during the twenty-first century, and particularly after its economic liberalisation, giving rise to a ‘New Bollywood’. It shows how the Indian cinema has acquired evidently postmodern qualities and explains what postmodernism means in the context of Bollywood cinema. It also considers what postmodernism tells us about the change and function of Bollywood film language after the twenty-first century. The book describes Bollywood's ‘postmodern turn’ as a form of transformation that reworks or revisits previous aesthetic trends in order to produce a radically different aesthetic. ‘New Bollywood’ refers to contemporary films characterised by a strong postmodern aesthetic style which was not as present in the 1990s. This introductory chapter discusses the meaning of ‘contemporary Bollywood’, postmodernism as a means of reading and interpreting films, and the structure of the book.Less
This book examines changes in Bollywood's film production during the twenty-first century, and particularly after its economic liberalisation, giving rise to a ‘New Bollywood’. It shows how the Indian cinema has acquired evidently postmodern qualities and explains what postmodernism means in the context of Bollywood cinema. It also considers what postmodernism tells us about the change and function of Bollywood film language after the twenty-first century. The book describes Bollywood's ‘postmodern turn’ as a form of transformation that reworks or revisits previous aesthetic trends in order to produce a radically different aesthetic. ‘New Bollywood’ refers to contemporary films characterised by a strong postmodern aesthetic style which was not as present in the 1990s. This introductory chapter discusses the meaning of ‘contemporary Bollywood’, postmodernism as a means of reading and interpreting films, and the structure of the book.
Lakshmi Srinivas
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226361420
- eISBN:
- 9780226361734
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226361734.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
Chapter 1 introduces the field of Indian cinema, its public culture characterized by diversity and the diversity of its audiences. It also introduces Bangalore city, the field setting for the study. ...
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Chapter 1 introduces the field of Indian cinema, its public culture characterized by diversity and the diversity of its audiences. It also introduces Bangalore city, the field setting for the study. The chapter argues that Indian cinema and filmgoing culture as a non-European cinematic tradition provides a strategic site for a 'field-view' and in-depth ethnography that can address much of what has been overlooked in film studies. Where cinema exists as spectacle and cultural performance and draws on the aesthetics of festival, ethnographic study shows that purely filmic or textual analysis misses the complexities of cinema on the ground. The chapter critiques the Eurocentrism of film studies, describes the difficulties of conducting audience research and the challenges of ethnographic fieldwork as it calls for understandings of cinema and its experience that are grounded in the immediate contexts and institutional settings as well as the broader participatory culture in which cinema exists, is made and recast. It proposes new analytical approaches that are located in cinema’s social world and in settings in which films are made, appropriated and elaborated.Less
Chapter 1 introduces the field of Indian cinema, its public culture characterized by diversity and the diversity of its audiences. It also introduces Bangalore city, the field setting for the study. The chapter argues that Indian cinema and filmgoing culture as a non-European cinematic tradition provides a strategic site for a 'field-view' and in-depth ethnography that can address much of what has been overlooked in film studies. Where cinema exists as spectacle and cultural performance and draws on the aesthetics of festival, ethnographic study shows that purely filmic or textual analysis misses the complexities of cinema on the ground. The chapter critiques the Eurocentrism of film studies, describes the difficulties of conducting audience research and the challenges of ethnographic fieldwork as it calls for understandings of cinema and its experience that are grounded in the immediate contexts and institutional settings as well as the broader participatory culture in which cinema exists, is made and recast. It proposes new analytical approaches that are located in cinema’s social world and in settings in which films are made, appropriated and elaborated.
Corey K. Creekmur
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748691104
- eISBN:
- 9781474406437
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748691104.003.0009
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Any responsible claim for the existence of Indian film noir must waver with critical uncertainty. Nevertheless, while crime stories, as elsewhere, have been an unsurprisingly common component of ...
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Any responsible claim for the existence of Indian film noir must waver with critical uncertainty. Nevertheless, while crime stories, as elsewhere, have been an unsurprisingly common component of Indian popular cinema, contemporary critics have, if only in passing, increasingly attributed a ‘darker’ aspect to a portion of India’s vast corpus of films, thereby affiliating these recently retrieved examples with Hollywood and other commercial national cinemas, in effect constructing a comparative perspective that retrospectively ‘corrects’ the absence of popular Indian cinema from most historical accounts of world cinema until the 1990s. A cycle of popular Hindi films, almost all set in (then) contemporary Bombay, regularly featured many of the characteristic elements of Hollywood film noir, including heroes (most consistently embodied throughout the period by the suave star Dev Anand) who skirt the border of legal and illegal activity; like their counterparts in American film noir, these are men who are streetwise but can confidentially negotiate swanky nightclubs featuring alluring femmes fatale (often explicitly Westernized through signifiers such as clothing, smoking, and the use of English) as well as the semi-illicit temptations of alcohol and gambling. Even somewhat earlier, since the mid-1970s, representations of Bombay’s criminal underworld and the glamorous if doomed lives of gangland ‘dons’ and ‘goondas’ (gangsters) had become staples of Hindi cinema. The latter half of the decade was especially dominated by a series of films featuring superstar Amitabh Bachchan in his wildly popular ‘angry young man’ persona.Less
Any responsible claim for the existence of Indian film noir must waver with critical uncertainty. Nevertheless, while crime stories, as elsewhere, have been an unsurprisingly common component of Indian popular cinema, contemporary critics have, if only in passing, increasingly attributed a ‘darker’ aspect to a portion of India’s vast corpus of films, thereby affiliating these recently retrieved examples with Hollywood and other commercial national cinemas, in effect constructing a comparative perspective that retrospectively ‘corrects’ the absence of popular Indian cinema from most historical accounts of world cinema until the 1990s. A cycle of popular Hindi films, almost all set in (then) contemporary Bombay, regularly featured many of the characteristic elements of Hollywood film noir, including heroes (most consistently embodied throughout the period by the suave star Dev Anand) who skirt the border of legal and illegal activity; like their counterparts in American film noir, these are men who are streetwise but can confidentially negotiate swanky nightclubs featuring alluring femmes fatale (often explicitly Westernized through signifiers such as clothing, smoking, and the use of English) as well as the semi-illicit temptations of alcohol and gambling. Even somewhat earlier, since the mid-1970s, representations of Bombay’s criminal underworld and the glamorous if doomed lives of gangland ‘dons’ and ‘goondas’ (gangsters) had become staples of Hindi cinema. The latter half of the decade was especially dominated by a series of films featuring superstar Amitabh Bachchan in his wildly popular ‘angry young man’ persona.
M K Raghavendra
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199450565
- eISBN:
- 9780199083091
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450565.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Mainstream Hindi film, which transformed after the economic liberalization of 1991, is unrecognizable in the new millennium. The rise of the English language to a position of dominance has played a ...
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Mainstream Hindi film, which transformed after the economic liberalization of 1991, is unrecognizable in the new millennium. The rise of the English language to a position of dominance has played a key role here. Hindi cinema, which played a unifying ‘national’ role after 1947 by addressing an undifferentiated public, is now divided. With the multiplex revolution and the rising incomes of the ascendant classes, Hindi cinema is addressing a public which has more in common with Indians in the diaspora than with its compatriots a few hundred miles away. At the same time, there is another kind of cinema addressing a more traditionally oriented populace—although the term ‘traditional’ may not mean what it did. This book is devoted to analyses of important Hindi films in the new millennium, films such as Rang De Basanti, Bunty Aur Babli, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, 3 Idiots, and Dabangg. It is focused on overt and covert political discourse and the detection of tendencies identifiable with India’s transformation in the global age. Popular culture is taken to be transparent, but the mainstream film has political implications which are far from obvious. The book concludes with speculation about the transformation of India’s polity after 2000 based on its reading of Hindi cinema, since popular film audiences represent vocal sections of the public and the films themselves address the public.Less
Mainstream Hindi film, which transformed after the economic liberalization of 1991, is unrecognizable in the new millennium. The rise of the English language to a position of dominance has played a key role here. Hindi cinema, which played a unifying ‘national’ role after 1947 by addressing an undifferentiated public, is now divided. With the multiplex revolution and the rising incomes of the ascendant classes, Hindi cinema is addressing a public which has more in common with Indians in the diaspora than with its compatriots a few hundred miles away. At the same time, there is another kind of cinema addressing a more traditionally oriented populace—although the term ‘traditional’ may not mean what it did. This book is devoted to analyses of important Hindi films in the new millennium, films such as Rang De Basanti, Bunty Aur Babli, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, 3 Idiots, and Dabangg. It is focused on overt and covert political discourse and the detection of tendencies identifiable with India’s transformation in the global age. Popular culture is taken to be transparent, but the mainstream film has political implications which are far from obvious. The book concludes with speculation about the transformation of India’s polity after 2000 based on its reading of Hindi cinema, since popular film audiences represent vocal sections of the public and the films themselves address the public.
Jessica Langer and Dominic Alessio
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9781781380383
- eISBN:
- 9781781381557
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781380383.003.0004
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Big budget Indian productions such as Koi… mil Gaya (I…Found Someone, dir. Rakesh Roshan 2003), its sequel Krissh (dir. Rakesh Roshan 2006), Love Story 2050 (dir. Harry Baweja 2008) and Krissh 3 ...
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Big budget Indian productions such as Koi… mil Gaya (I…Found Someone, dir. Rakesh Roshan 2003), its sequel Krissh (dir. Rakesh Roshan 2006), Love Story 2050 (dir. Harry Baweja 2008) and Krissh 3 (dir. Rakesh Roshan, 2013), all demonstrate that science fiction has become a major box-office draw in India and its diaspora. This chapter traces the literary origins and history of Indian science fiction film. Whilst doing so it also examines the influences, both international and local, which have gone into these productions. The chapter suggests that whilst borrowing heavily from Hollywood and the western science fiction tradition, Indian science fiction cinema is not entirely imitative. As a genre we suggest that it displays a cinematic tradition quite distinct, such as the inclusion of musical numbers, alongside certain significant Indian thematic elements, such as strong religious and Hindu nationalist references. Thus Indian science fiction cinema provides the possibility for not only generating significant revenue for the industry as a whole, but also remonstrating against ‘the homogenising impulses of Hollywood’ (Vasudevan 2000) whilst at the same time imitating its forms and styles.Less
Big budget Indian productions such as Koi… mil Gaya (I…Found Someone, dir. Rakesh Roshan 2003), its sequel Krissh (dir. Rakesh Roshan 2006), Love Story 2050 (dir. Harry Baweja 2008) and Krissh 3 (dir. Rakesh Roshan, 2013), all demonstrate that science fiction has become a major box-office draw in India and its diaspora. This chapter traces the literary origins and history of Indian science fiction film. Whilst doing so it also examines the influences, both international and local, which have gone into these productions. The chapter suggests that whilst borrowing heavily from Hollywood and the western science fiction tradition, Indian science fiction cinema is not entirely imitative. As a genre we suggest that it displays a cinematic tradition quite distinct, such as the inclusion of musical numbers, alongside certain significant Indian thematic elements, such as strong religious and Hindu nationalist references. Thus Indian science fiction cinema provides the possibility for not only generating significant revenue for the industry as a whole, but also remonstrating against ‘the homogenising impulses of Hollywood’ (Vasudevan 2000) whilst at the same time imitating its forms and styles.
Neelam Sidhar Wright
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780748696345
- eISBN:
- 9781474412155
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748696345.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
‘New Bollywood’ has arrived, but its postmodern impulse often leaves film scholars reluctant to theorise its aesthetics. How do we define the style of a contemporary Bollywood film? Are Bollywood ...
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‘New Bollywood’ has arrived, but its postmodern impulse often leaves film scholars reluctant to theorise its aesthetics. How do we define the style of a contemporary Bollywood film? Are Bollywood films just uninspired Hollywood rip-offs, or does their borrowing signal genuine innovation within the industry? Applying postmodern concepts and locating postmodern motifs in key commercial Hindi films, this book reveals how Indian cinema has changed in the twenty-first century. Equipping readers with an alternative method of reading contemporary Indian cinema, the book takes Indian film studies beyond the standard theme of diaspora, and exposes a new decade of aesthetic experimentation and textual appropriation in mainstream Bombay cinema. A bold celebration of contemporary Bollywood texts, this book radically redefines Indian film and persuasively argues for its seriousness as a field of cinematic studies.Less
‘New Bollywood’ has arrived, but its postmodern impulse often leaves film scholars reluctant to theorise its aesthetics. How do we define the style of a contemporary Bollywood film? Are Bollywood films just uninspired Hollywood rip-offs, or does their borrowing signal genuine innovation within the industry? Applying postmodern concepts and locating postmodern motifs in key commercial Hindi films, this book reveals how Indian cinema has changed in the twenty-first century. Equipping readers with an alternative method of reading contemporary Indian cinema, the book takes Indian film studies beyond the standard theme of diaspora, and exposes a new decade of aesthetic experimentation and textual appropriation in mainstream Bombay cinema. A bold celebration of contemporary Bollywood texts, this book radically redefines Indian film and persuasively argues for its seriousness as a field of cinematic studies.
