Bollywood and Globalization: Indian Popular Cinema, Nation, and Diaspora (Anthem South Asian Studies) - Softcover

Rini Bhattacharya Mehta

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0857287826 ISBN 13: 9780857287823

Publisher: Anthem Press, 2011

Synopsis

Commercial cinema has always been one of the biggest indigenous industries in India, and remains so in the post-globalization era, when Indian economy has entered a new phase of global participation, liberalization and expansion. Issues of community, gender, society, social and economic justice, bourgeois-liberal individualism, secular nationhood and ethnic identity are nowhere more explored in the Indian cultural mainstream than in commercial cinema. As Indian economy and policy have gone through a sea-change after the end of the Cold War and the commencement of the Global Capital, the largest cultural industry has followed suit. This book is a significant addition to the study of post-Global Indian culture. The articles represent a variety of theoretical and pedagogical approaches, and the collection will be appreciated by beginners and scholars alike.

About this title

Review:

‘As the [book suggests], “global Bollywood” has become an important site for assessing (and projecting notions of) complex changes taking place in Indian society since the early 1990s. And like the phenomenon itself, the perspectives on offer are as often perplexing as illuminating. The signifiers of globalization—the corporatization of culture, the ubiquity of consumption, the mediatization of everyday life, the technologization of the economy—have found in Bollywood their prime symbolic real estate, and herein lies both its relevance and its attraction for the foreseeable future.’ —Sumita S. Chakravarty in ‘TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies’

'In this book, global India has moved on from postcolonial India and through economic liberalization, and new forms of cultural nationalism stand poised to leave its borders. Recommended.' —A. Hirsh, emeritus, Central Connecticut State University, ‘Choice’

'Bhattacharya’s introduction underscores the salient role of economic liberalisation in shaping the Bombay film industry and its narratives... The contributions [draw] our attention to changes in genre and industrial contexts, the (re)production of the new on-screen patriarch, the dominance of Bhangra and the Punjabi body in Hindi films, screen patriotism and violence, the emergence of assertive female desire and queer sexuality as well as the rise of a ‘new ethics of individualism, enjoyment and freedom’... As a whole, ‘Bollywood and Globalization’ increases our understanding of post-liberalisation Hindi film.' —Monika Mehta, Binghamton University, in the ‘Journal of Intercultural Studies’

'An informative discourse on the impact of globalization on Bollywood cinema and its implications. Scholars of film and cultural studies will find it useful for the range of topics it encompasses.' —‘South Asian Diaspora’

Book Description:

A significant contribution to the current debate on Indian cinema, nationhood and Global Culture.

About this edition

• Publisher: Anthem Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0857287826
• ISBN 13: 9780857287823
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 210
• Editor: Rini Bhattacharya Mehta, Rajeshwari Pandharipande