Abstract This article contrasts two seminal Malayalam films from the 1980s to understand the fraught relations between the Left politics and cinema in Kerala. The first part of the article argues that Mukhamukham ('Face to face', 1984) is a film in which its auteur director Adoor Gopalakrishnan identifies the Left political discourse and the medium of cinema as two powerful-popular epistemic tools at disposal in the region, but ultimately elevating cinema's resources as superior in taking us closer to truth. In the second part, I look at John Abraham's iconic Amma Ariyan ('Report to mother', 1986), to argue that the film came to be accepted widely and undisputedly as a political film mainly due to its (symbolic) privileging of the energies of collective affect ‐ inalienable to both the Left politics and cinema ‐ over contemplation and endevours of distanced intellectual knowledge production.
{"title":"Cinema and the political in Kerala: On Mukhamukham and Amma Ariyan","authors":"Jenson Joseph","doi":"10.1386/safm_00011_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/safm_00011_1","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article contrasts two seminal Malayalam films from the 1980s to understand the fraught relations between the Left politics and cinema in Kerala. The first part of the article argues that Mukhamukham ('Face to face', 1984) is a film in which its auteur\u0000 director Adoor Gopalakrishnan identifies the Left political discourse and the medium of cinema as two powerful-popular epistemic tools at disposal in the region, but ultimately elevating cinema's resources as superior in taking us closer to truth. In the second part, I look at John Abraham's\u0000 iconic Amma Ariyan ('Report to mother', 1986), to argue that the film came to be accepted widely and undisputedly as a political film mainly due to its (symbolic) privileging of the energies of collective affect ‐ inalienable to both the Left politics and cinema ‐ over\u0000 contemplation and endevours of distanced intellectual knowledge production.","PeriodicalId":38659,"journal":{"name":"Studies in South Asian Film and Media","volume":"156 1-2","pages":"149-161"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41303573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article unpacks a particular gendered vision of nation that we term muscular nationalism. Briefly put, muscular nationalism is an intersection of a specific vision of masculinity with the political doctrine of nationalism. This idea of nation is animated by an idea of manhood associated with martial prowess, muscular strength and toughness. A particular interpretation of muscular nationalism has unfolded in India within a cultural milieu shaped by an assertive self-confidence fuelled by 'liberalization', a process by which India has been integrated into the global political economy, coupled with the prominence of Hindu nationalist politics. India's prolific commercial film industry centred in Mumbai has used images of manhood to express and valorize these cultural changes. We use the popular and critically acclaimed film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013), directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, to illustrate how athleticism and India's desire for regional dominance in South Asia shape muscular nationalism.
{"title":"Making the nation manly: The case of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) and India's search for regional dominance in an era of neo-liberal globalization","authors":"Sikata Banerjee, R. Williams","doi":"10.1386/safm_00013_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/safm_00013_1","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article unpacks a particular gendered vision of nation that we term muscular nationalism. Briefly put, muscular nationalism is an intersection of a specific vision of masculinity with the political doctrine of nationalism. This idea of nation is animated by\u0000 an idea of manhood associated with martial prowess, muscular strength and toughness. A particular interpretation of muscular nationalism has unfolded in India within a cultural milieu shaped by an assertive self-confidence fuelled by 'liberalization', a process by which India has been integrated\u0000 into the global political economy, coupled with the prominence of Hindu nationalist politics. India's prolific commercial film industry centred in Mumbai has used images of manhood to express and valorize these cultural changes. We use the popular and critically acclaimed film Bhaag Milkha\u0000 Bhaag (2013), directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, to illustrate how athleticism and India's desire for regional dominance in South Asia shape muscular nationalism.","PeriodicalId":38659,"journal":{"name":"Studies in South Asian Film and Media","volume":"10 1","pages":"179-193"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41401215","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article presents criticism on Tamil-language films starring the iconic Indian actor Rajinikanth, focusing on the development of female characters as battlegrounds between tradition and modernity. Within the framework of Rajinikanth films as nationalistic projects in which the gendered portrayals of characters are tied up with notions of patriotism and duty, female characters in Rajinikanth films almost always conform to four stereotypes: the goddess mother, the traditional good woman, the modern virgin, and the angry modern feminist. Using close reading and a broad chronological survey of Rajinikanth's filmography, this article highlights the modern virgin stereotype as a mediating force between tradition and modernity, and argues that the predictable reconstitution of modern virgins into traditional good wives betrays growing fears of modernity and globalization within Tamil culture.
{"title":"Women vs modernity in Rajinikanth's Tamil-language films: The mother, the good woman, the modern virgin and the angry feminist","authors":"S. Sathiyaseelan","doi":"10.1386/safm_00012_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/safm_00012_1","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article presents criticism on Tamil-language films starring the iconic Indian actor Rajinikanth, focusing on the development of female characters as battlegrounds between tradition and modernity. Within the framework of Rajinikanth films as nationalistic projects\u0000 in which the gendered portrayals of characters are tied up with notions of patriotism and duty, female characters in Rajinikanth films almost always conform to four stereotypes: the goddess mother, the traditional good woman, the modern virgin, and the angry modern feminist. Using close reading\u0000 and a broad chronological survey of Rajinikanth's filmography, this article highlights the modern virgin stereotype as a mediating force between tradition and modernity, and argues that the predictable reconstitution of modern virgins into traditional good wives betrays growing fears of modernity\u0000 and globalization within Tamil culture.","PeriodicalId":38659,"journal":{"name":"Studies in South Asian Film and Media","volume":"10 1","pages":"163-178"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1386/safm_00012_1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46361478","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract In this article, I explore the dramatic substance of Hindi film songs through an approach based in performance studies, which presents performance as the very stuff of social life, social identities and social power. Given this, the enactment of song sequences in the Hindi film narrative cannot be dramatically benign, or just excess, or just pleasure (however intense). I describe how song sequences perform and thereby manifest and reify love and romance in the film narrative. Using work on public spectacle and power by Foucault and the public sphere by Vasudevan, I further analyse how they connect the public, emotions of love, and social or familial struggle in various ways, embodying key nodes of melodrama. I then reflect, in these terms, on the recent curtailment of performed songs in Hindi films. I thereby present a new method for analysing the dramatic agency of screened or background songs in films.
{"title":"Performance, performativity and melodrama as dramatic substance in Hindi film song sequences","authors":"A. Morcom","doi":"10.1386/safm_00010_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/safm_00010_1","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In this article, I explore the dramatic substance of Hindi film songs through an approach based in performance studies, which presents performance as the very stuff of social life, social identities and social power. Given this, the enactment of song sequences in the Hindi film narrative cannot be dramatically benign, or just excess, or just pleasure (however intense). I describe how song sequences perform and thereby manifest and reify love and romance in the film narrative. Using work on public spectacle and power by Foucault and the public sphere by Vasudevan, I further analyse how they connect the public, emotions of love, and social or familial struggle in various ways, embodying key nodes of melodrama. I then reflect, in these terms, on the recent curtailment of performed songs in Hindi films. I thereby present a new method for analysing the dramatic agency of screened or background songs in films.","PeriodicalId":38659,"journal":{"name":"Studies in South Asian Film and Media","volume":"10 1","pages":"129-147"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48994930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article attempts to delineate the cartography of alternative cinematic productions in the region of Kolkata, which, being a nodal juncture that shapes the cultural milieu of Bengal, offers the technological and cultural infrastructures and the scope for cinephilic engagement crucial to the production of non-mainstream cinemas. To explore the gradual development of independent and amateur films in Kolkata, this article emphasizes the cinephilic tradition of the city that not only triggered cinematic movements (such as the film society movement and the Super-8 movement) but also ushered in the institution of film festivals in the region. Despite the mutations due to technological shifts, both film societies (in altered forms) and film festivals occupy central positions in the contemporary city's cinephilic culture. This article analyses the cinephilic legacies of the film society and the Super-8 movements that have historically fostered the contemporary cinephilic ecology of Kolkata, spurring peripheral media products.
{"title":"Tracing Kolkata's cinephilic encounters: An analysis of alternative cinema in the city","authors":"Amrit Biswas","doi":"10.1386/safm_00009_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/safm_00009_1","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article attempts to delineate the cartography of alternative cinematic productions in the region of Kolkata, which, being a nodal juncture that shapes the cultural milieu of Bengal, offers the technological and cultural infrastructures and the scope for cinephilic\u0000 engagement crucial to the production of non-mainstream cinemas. To explore the gradual development of independent and amateur films in Kolkata, this article emphasizes the cinephilic tradition of the city that not only triggered cinematic movements (such as the film society movement and the\u0000 Super-8 movement) but also ushered in the institution of film festivals in the region. Despite the mutations due to technological shifts, both film societies (in altered forms) and film festivals occupy central positions in the contemporary city's cinephilic culture. This article analyses\u0000 the cinephilic legacies of the film society and the Super-8 movements that have historically fostered the contemporary cinephilic ecology of Kolkata, spurring peripheral media products.","PeriodicalId":38659,"journal":{"name":"Studies in South Asian Film and Media","volume":"10 1","pages":"113-128"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45476830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editorial","authors":"M. Acciari, H. Ingle","doi":"10.1386/safm_00001_2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/safm_00001_2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38659,"journal":{"name":"Studies in South Asian Film and Media","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47685143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interview with Meenakshi Shedde","authors":"M. Acciari, H. Ingle","doi":"10.1386/safm_00007_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/safm_00007_7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38659,"journal":{"name":"Studies in South Asian Film and Media","volume":"47 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66753015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interview with Aparajita Roy Sinha","authors":"M. Acciari, Gauri Nori","doi":"10.1386/safm_00006_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/safm_00006_7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38659,"journal":{"name":"Studies in South Asian Film and Media","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49555495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article elaborates on the discursive role and mediations of local contexts in non-fiction film festivals that are organised in small-town settings in India. It argues that apart from the ideological imperative of forging an alternative discourse, local film festivals that are focused on non-fiction films and documentary cinema are also instrumental in producing an exuberant spatiality for re-articulating resistance as a function of filmmaking. Although this corresponds with the practices of Third Cinema of the 1970s, the temporality of the 2000s has provided a newfound relevance for locality, and its social spatial dimensions. The article develops this argument by undertaking a detailed case analysis of the Ankur Film Festival, conducted in Nashik since 2012. Identifying the numerous negotiations embedded in the trajectory of the film festival, the article also conceptualises a festival mode of cinema for contemporary social conditions.
{"title":"Film festivals and the mediations of locality","authors":"H. Ingle","doi":"10.1386/safm_00005_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/safm_00005_1","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article elaborates on the discursive role and mediations of local contexts in non-fiction film festivals that are organised in small-town settings in India. It argues that apart from the ideological imperative of forging an alternative discourse, local film\u0000 festivals that are focused on non-fiction films and documentary cinema are also instrumental in producing an exuberant spatiality for re-articulating resistance as a function of filmmaking. Although this corresponds with the practices of Third Cinema of the 1970s, the temporality of the 2000s\u0000 has provided a newfound relevance for locality, and its social spatial dimensions. The article develops this argument by undertaking a detailed case analysis of the Ankur Film Festival, conducted in Nashik since 2012. Identifying the numerous negotiations embedded in the trajectory of the\u0000 film festival, the article also conceptualises a festival mode of cinema for contemporary social conditions.","PeriodicalId":38659,"journal":{"name":"Studies in South Asian Film and Media","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45821791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article will examine the emergence of independent platforms to screen radical and alternative cinema in India by tracing two case-studies: Experimenta, a biannual festival curated by Shai Heredia, and The New Medium section curated by Shaina Anand. While Experimenta has remained largely independent, relying on the support of established artists and cultural organizations, The New Medium section has managed to secure its place within the programme of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival (MFF). Although their approach may differ, both curators are committed to promoting a culture of moving image experimentation in the country. Drawing on first-hand observations, interviews and scrutinizing festival ephemera, this article aims to identify the curatorial practices and strategies that have established these alternative film festivals both within the international film festival network and the larger film community in the country.
{"title":"The rise of experimental film festivals in India","authors":"Gauri Nori","doi":"10.1386/safm_00002_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/safm_00002_1","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article will examine the emergence of independent platforms to screen radical and alternative cinema in India by tracing two case-studies: Experimenta, a biannual festival curated by Shai Heredia, and The New Medium section curated by Shaina Anand. While Experimenta\u0000 has remained largely independent, relying on the support of established artists and cultural organizations, The New Medium section has managed to secure its place within the programme of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival (MFF). Although their approach may differ, both curators are committed to\u0000 promoting a culture of moving image experimentation in the country. Drawing on first-hand observations, interviews and scrutinizing festival ephemera, this article aims to identify the curatorial practices and strategies that have established these alternative film festivals both within the\u0000 international film festival network and the larger film community in the country.","PeriodicalId":38659,"journal":{"name":"Studies in South Asian Film and Media","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47013492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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