Another email discussion worth migrating to here in case anyone else has comments on this.
Bishakha:
John
Bishakha:
Hello John,John:
I have thought of doing my work on gender roles in Indian cinema, especially in Bollywood movies. I am interested to see the transitions replicated through celluloid over a couple of decades or a little more. The reinforcement of gender stereotypes or challenging it entirely through a mass media of communication can have significant implications, I guess. Invite your suggestions on it.
Regards, Bishakha
Hi. super interesting topic.I am keen to talk about this in the class in the coming days.I cannot immediately think of readings specifically on it - though there are classics, I would mine the bibliography in books on Bollywood by Amit Rai, and Virdi - and ask Abhijit who will be able to rattle off half a dozen things - also check the Films Studies dept at jadavpur, whose journal is brilliant - Journal of the Moving Image. Also see M. Madhava Prasad's books Ideology of the Hindi Film and his latest Cine-politics: Film Stars and Political Existence in South India. I reviewed the latter for South Asia journal and that will be out in a few months - it has a small section on Jayalitha, but actually not enough. Also I was just preparing an abstract on the changes over time in Bollywood films, especially regarding men and women as personifications of national aspiration - though I have not developed the gender roles as the only focus, they really apply when we think of the different eras and styles presented by Nargis, Mumtaz and Twinkle Kapadia. What do you think of this for a possible talk (its a talk that probably won't happen, besides in our class, but hey):
Mela – three steps towards Global South Asia This paper considers the social mediation of market and nation in Indian cinema since independence, using three different editions of the film Mela, each from a different historical moment (Mela 1948, dir., S.U. Sunny and starring Nargis and Dilip Kumar, music by Naushad; Mela 1971, dir., Prakash Mehra, and starring Mumtaz, Feros and Sanjay Khan, music by R.D. Burman; and Mela 2000, dir., Dharmesh Darshan, starring Twinkle Khanna, Aamir and Faisal Khan, music varies [in style and quality]). Adorno, in a letter to Benjamin, understands social mediation to be lacking in the latter’s Arcade’s presentation. To return to this discourse, alongside mediation of nation and economic pressures, revives a critical heritage with a salient contemporary charge for media studies. It also frames this social mediation in relation to world perspectives on Indian cinema and media representation more widely, through music, diaspora, terror and in relation to an emergent concept of Global South Asia. John Hutnyk
Bishakha
Hi John,
Thanks a ton, you added to a whole new perception. As I'm keen to do my PhD on women criminals-their post release conditions determining social acceptance and incidences contributing to the increasing rate of recidivism, gender is something that interests me a lot. We can surely have a talk on this. I think there are other group of actresses too- Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil to Tabu, Rani Mukherjee, Vidya Balan. They all have wrecked havoc to break the stereotypes in their respective eras.
The suggestions that you made are fantastic. Especially, the one relating to the three Melas. Although, I have only watched the latest one amongst the all three. I would try getting resources from those books and journals you mentioned. But then, the time is short. I fear I won't get access to the most of them by this. I also thought once about working on terrorism as endorsed in the Bollywood mainstream movies. Gadar (2001) is one such example.
Thanks
Bishakha
This is going to be of immense help. I will look for the online versions and try accordingly incorporating some of these into my work. Have a good day:)
Great stuff. Now I've put the references in the comments. It is by no means an exhaustive list, but one I had handy.. Blogger could not cope with it in one comment. Cheers.
Apologies - This is way too long to send to anyone really, but if you read through something might grab you as crucial and you can track it down online:
ReplyDeleteBibliography for Film and South Asia/ diaspora
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