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
Chapter one INVENTING BOMBAY CINEMA | 1 |
Chapter two MELODRAMATIC STAGING | 35 |
Chapter Three THE TEXTS OF MOTHER INDIA | 61 |
Chapter Four AUTEURSHIP AND THE LURE OF ROMANCE | 89 |
AMITABH BACHCHAN | 125 |
Chapter Six SEGMENTINGANALYZING TWO FOUNDATIONAL TEXTS | 157 |
THE SUBLIME OBJECT OF FUNDAMENTALISM | 203 |
Chapter Eight BOMBAY CINEMA AND DIASPORIC DESIRE | 235 |
Filmography | 271 |
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Common terms and phrases
Aadmi Achhut Kanya actor aesthetic Amar Akbar Anthony Amitabh Bachchan Aurat auteur Autonomous Awara Ayodhya Baiju becomes Bimal Roy Birju Bollywood Bombay Cinema Bombay film camera Chopra classic construction Dacoit desire Devdas dharma dharmik discourse dominant epic fanzines father female figure Fiji Filmfare filmic Gandhi 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 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 Rāmāyana reading representation Robert role romance Salma Scene segment sense Sequence sexual Shah Rukh Khan shots singer singing Sita social song text space spectator spectatorial star symbolic Tansen temple theater theme tion tradition villain voice wife woman women Yash Zanjeer