This volume brings together some of the most distinguished film theorists working in India today, to examine the phenomenon of popular Indian cinema from the silent films of the 1930s to contemporary blockbusters. The essays egage in the political implications of Indian popular cinema, exploring through formal and narrative analysis, archival resources and oral testimony, how it provides an arena for contests around political identity, social regulation and aesthetic hierarchies. How does the imaginative world conjured up by film narratives invite audiences to reflect on their relationship to social and political power? How do institutions and practices such as censorship, civic administration, public lobbies, film criticism and fan clubs shape the context in which we see films and the values we give them? These issues are addressed across a range of key films including the DMK film Parasakthi, the Bengali film Harana Sur, Mehboob Khan’s Andaz, Raj Kapoor’s Awara, the classic Amitabh Bachchan vehicle Deewar and more recent films like Mani Ratnam’s Roja, Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Damini, Shankar’s Kadaalan/Hum se bai muqabla and Abbas-Mustan’s Baazigar. Given the interest in serious studies on Indian film and the relative dearth of accessible critical material in this field, this is an extremely important volume.
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