The Cinematic Imagination: Indian Popular Films as Social History

278 Pages·2003·8.21 MB·English

by  Jyotika Virdi

Preface i
The Cinematic ImagiNation
ii Preface
Preface iii
The Cinematic
ImagiNation
Indian Popular Films
as Social History
J V
YOTIKA IRDI
RUTGERSUNIVERSITY PRESS
New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London
iv Preface
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Virdi, Jyotika, 1962–
The cinematic ImagiNation [sic] : Indian popular films as social history / by
Jyotika Virdi.
p. cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8135-3190-X (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8135-3191-8 (pbk. : alk.
paper)
1. Motion pictures—India. 2. Motion pictures—Social aspects—India. I.
Title.
PN1993.5.I8 V57 2003
791.43'0954—dc21 2002024836
British Cataloging-in-Publication information is available from the British
Library.
Copyright © 2003 by Jyotika Virdi
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University
Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854–8099. The only exception
to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Preface v
For Julia and Jogin
my teachers in the academy. .. in politics
vi Preface
Preface vii
Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Nation and Its Discontents 26
The Nation, in Theory. The Creative ImagiNation. Theorizing
National Cinema. Nation and Its Embodiments. Pleasure
and Terror of the Feminine.
Chapter 2 The Idealized Woman 60
Fixing the Figure of the Woman. Woman, Community, Nation.
The “Social Butterfly.”
Chapter 3 Heroes and Villains: Narrating the Nation 87
Masculinity. Heroes and Villains. Sons and Mothers.
Chapter 4 Heroines, Romance, and Social History 121
Reading Resistance. Contesting the Laxman Rekha.
Film/Star Text: Reading Social Change.
Chapter 5 The Sexed Body 145
Filmic Love. Victims to Vigilantes. Rape and the Rape Threat.
The Sexed Body and Specular Pleasure. Double-Speak about
the Body. Unsettled Scores.
Chapter 6 Re-reading Romance 178
Transgressions of “True Love.” Reinstating “Family Values.”
Romantic Love and the Culture of Consumption. The End
of the Nehruvian Era.
vii
vviiiiii CPorneftaencets
Conclusion 205
Notes 215
Index 245
Preface ix
Preface
A
SCANDALIN cinema studies of the last few decades has been the lack
of attention paid to Indian popular cinema, the world’s largest film in-
dustry. At a recent Society for Cinema Studies’ plenary a panelist’s
speculations about the vanishing 1970s’ style energy in film studies ini-
tiated an animated debate.1 The discussion failed to acknowledge that
underlying this stagnation is the field’s saturation with Hollywood and
western cinema—that film studies stands at the brink of a sea change
if we “unthink” Eurocentricism, decenter Hollywood/western cinema,
and explore nonwestern film cultures, and that multicultural compara-
tive film studies curricula will provide the sorely needed disciplinary
reinvigoration.2 Though attention to national cinema is an index of
growing interest in “other” cinema literatures, it is still light years from
dislodging Hollywood’s centrality in film studies.
It is therefore appropriate to caution against the current rush to de-
clare the internationalization of cultural studies still under Euro-Anglian
hegemony. Such premature proclamations at best signal a desire to in-
clude diverse cultural economies in media studies.3 However, demand-
ing an international approach to cultural studies and a place for Indian
national cinema is not meant to invoke a simple-minded national-
imperial opposition, indict the west’s homogenizing influence, or valo-
rize a national claim to cultural sovereignty.
ix