Bollywood Cinema: Temples of DesireIndia is home to Bollywood - the largest film industry in the world. Movie theaters are said to be the "temples of modern India," with Bombay producing nearly 800 films per year that are viewed by roughly 11 million people per day. In Bollywood Cinema, Vijay Mishra argues that Indian film production and reception is shaped by the desire for national community and a pan-Indian popular culture. Seeking to understand Bollywood according to its own narrative and aesthetic principles and in relation to a global film industry, he views Indian cinema through the dual methodologies of postcolonial studies and film theory. Mishra discusses classics such as Mother India (1957) and Devdas (1935) and recent films including Ram Lakhan (1989) and Khalnayak (1993), linking their form and content to broader issues of national identity, epic tradition, popular culture, history, and the implications of diaspora. |
Contents
INVENTING BOMBAY CINEMA | 1 |
MELODRAMATIC STAGING | 35 |
THE TEXTS OF MOTHER INDIA | 61 |
AUTEURSHIP AND THE LURE OF ROMANCE | 89 |
THE ACTOR AS PARALLEL TEXT AMITABH BACHCHAN | 125 |
SEGMENTINGANALYZING TWO FOUNDATIONAL TEXTS | 157 |
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Aadmi Achhut Kanya actor aesthetic Amar Akbar Anthony Amitabh Bachchan Anand Aurat auteur Autonomous shot Awara Ayodhya Baiju becomes Bimal Roy Birju Bollywood Bombay Cinema Bombay film camera Chopra classic construction Delhi desire Devdas dharma dharmik Dilip discourse epic fanzines father female figure Fiji Filmfare filmic Gauri gaze genre Ghasit Guru Dutt hero Hindi Hindu homeland ideology Indian Cinema Indian culture Indian diaspora Indian film Indian gothic Jenny Khan's Kishenlal Krishna Kumar lāj Madhumati Manmohan Desai mansion marriage Mehboob Khan melodrama Mother India Movie Muslim Nargis narrative nation-state National Film Archive parallel text political popular postcolonial prod rāga Raj Kapoor Rama Rāmāyaṇa reading representation Robert role romance Salma Scene segment Sequence sexual Shah Rukh Khan singer singing Sita social song text space spectator spectatorial star symbolic Tansen temple theater theory tion tradition video clip villain voice wife woman women Yash Zanjeer