The politics of Hindi cinema in the new millennium : Bollywood and the Anglophone Indian nation / M.K. Raghavendra.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Raghavendra, M. K., author.

Standardized Title:

Essays. Selections

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion pictures--India.

Motion pictures.

India.

Motion picture industry--India.

Motion picture industry.

Motion pictures and language.

Motion pictures, Hindi.

Physical Description:

xl, 264 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New Delhi, India : Oxford University Press, 2014.

Summary:

This book charts out a new direction in scholarship on Indian cinema. It argues that with mainstream Hindi cinema becoming 'Bollywood' and the diaspora becoming a key commercial factor, the constituency addressed by the mainstream Hindi film has significantly changed. Consequently, the audience for Hindi cinema has become more asymmetric. With the emergence of a new knowledge economy in the 1990s and Indian professionals traveling and settling abroad, a new 'Anglophone Indian Nation', the one with the greatest spending power, was born. Where mainstream Hindi cinema had been regarded as a pariah by the Indian state, the commercial success of Bollywood globally gave it immense respectability in the government. This work expresses the hope that understanding such an asymmetry will help us appreciate some of the alignments in India and the political forces which often masquerade as 'opinion'. Apart from bringing out the transformation of the mainstream Hindi film after it became 'Bollywood', the book provides fresh insights into political developments in India in the past decade outside cinema.

Contents:

1 The Global and the Pre-modern Raaz (2002) 1

2 The Adulterous Woman Jism (2003) to Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) 12

3 'Undivided India' Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001) and Veer-Zaara (2004) 27

4 The Youth Film as Dissent Rang De Basanti (2006) and the Political Class 42

5 The Agony Aunt and the Small Illegality Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) and Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) 54

6 Thieves Like Us Enterprise in Bunty Aur Babli (2005), Dhoom 2 (2006), and Guru (2007) 68

7 The 'Hyperreal' and the Narrowing Nation Om Shanti Om (2007) 83

8 The Reservations of Middle-class Concern Page 3 (2005), Corporate (2006), Traffic Signal (2007), and Fashion (2008) 98

9 Dystopia or Entrepreneurial Fantasy Kaminey (2009) 118

10 The Exemplary Citizen Education, Tome Zameen Par (2007), and 3 Idiots (2009) 129

11 Politics and Enterprise Raajneeti (2010) 145

12 The Anthropological Gaze Agrarian Issues and Peepli (Live) (2010) 160

13 Resisting the Anglophone Nation Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008) and Dabangg (2010) 170

14 Transactions Friendships in Dil Chahta Hai (2001) and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) 193

15 The Sporting Nation after Lagaan Iqbal (2005), Chak De India (2007), and Paan Singh Tomar (2012) 209.

ISBN:

9780199450565

0199450560

OCLC:

884743508

Publisher Number:

9780199450565

Online:

Inhaltsverzeichnis