Politics of Hindi Cinema in the New Millennium

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.

About the Author:
M K Raghavendra, Film Critic, Researcher, and Scholar

M K Raghavendra is a film critic, researcher, and scholar.


Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction 1. The Global and the Pre-Modern Raaz (2002) 1. The Adulterous Woman Jism (2003) to Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (2006) 1. 'Undivided India' Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001) and Veer-Zara (2004) 1. The Youth Film as Dissent Rang de Basanti (2006) and the Political Class 1. The Agony Aunt and the Small Illegality Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) and Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) 1. Thieves like Us Enterprise in Bunty Aur Babli (2005), Dhoom 2 (2006), and Guru (2007) 1. The 'Hyperreal' and the Narrowing Nation Om Shanti Om (2007) 1. The Reservations of Middle-Class Concern Page 3 (2005), Corporate (2006), Traffic Signal (2007), and Fashion (2008) 1. Dystopia or Entrepreneurial Fantasy Kaminey (2009) 1. The Exemplary Citizen Education, Taare Zamin Par (2007) and Three Idiots (2009) 1. Politics and Enterprise Raajneeti (2010) 1. The Anthropological Gaze Agrarian Issues and Peepli (Live) (2010) 1. Resisting the Anglophone Nation Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008) and Dabangg (2010) 1. Transactions Friendships in Dil Chahta Hai (2001) and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) 1. Sport and the Nation Iqbal (2005), Chak De India (2007) and Paan Singh Tomar (2012) Conclusion: Collapsing State, Dissolving Nation Index About the Author