syllabus
WEEK 1: ORIENTATIONS
January 12, 2015_______________________________________________________________
Introductions, Themes, Problems, Terms and Definitions
WEEK 1.5: Contemporary Contexts: "India Shining" Ideology, Social Justice, and the Silver Screen in the 2000s
January 19, 2015: NO CLASS - MLK DAY__________________________________________
Required Viewing / Reading:
1) Peepli Live (2010) - 104 minutes - available on reserve at Library.
2) "Is India on the Totalitarian Path?" (April, 2014) - 59 minutes
3) Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - 120 minutes - available on reserve at Library.
4) India Shining
5) Sengupta, Mitu. "A Million Dollar Exit from the Anarchic Slum-world: Slumdog Millionaire's hollow idioms of social justice." Third world quarterly 31.4 (2010): 599-616. Via Moodle.
Optional Reading:
-Dutt, Nidhi "Indians Toil So Children Can Escape Slum Life" (Al-Jazeera, Sept. 2014)
-Baweja, Vandana. "SLUMDOG AND THE CITY: THE UTOPIA OF BOMBAY." Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review (2010): 75-75.
***************************3 page response paper to prompt due on January 20, 2015*******************************
WEEK 2- “Glitter from Abroad”: Unthinking Euro-centrism in Study of Indian Cinema
January 26, 2015______________________________________________________________
View at home: Two Documentaries on film actress and dancer Helen
“Helen: Queen of the Nautch Girls” [1] (1972), (30 minutes)
“Biography of Helen” (in Hindi): (8 minutes) - English Subtitles available on Moodle
2006 Interview with Helen
Dudrah, Rajinder, and Jigna Desai. The Bollywood Reader. McGraw-Hill International, 2008. (p. 1-17)
Mazumdar, Ranjani. Bombay cinema: An archive of the city. U of Minnesota Press, 2007. (p. xvii-xxxvi)
Orsini, Francesca. Love in South Asia: A cultural history. Vol. 62. Cambridge University Press, 2006. (p. 1-42)
****************************Reading Responses due in class on January 26, 2015**********************************
PART II: CITIZENSHIP & BELONGING IN NEHRU’S POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA
WEEK 3- Partition 1947, Dividing India: Historical Memory and Gendered Violence
February 2, 2015__________________________________________________________________
REQUIRED: Screening: Mahal (1949) – The Mansion – Sunday February 1st, 7pm
OPTIONAL: View at home: Earth (1998) - 101 minutes
Required Reading:
Sarkar, Bhaskar. Mourning the nation: Indian cinema in the wake of partition. Duke University Press, 2009. (p. 1-47)
Urvashi Butalia, “State and Gender: On Women's Agency during Partition”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 28, No. 17 (Apr. 24, 1993), p. 12-24
David Cort, "The Biggest Star in the World - And She's Not in Beverly Hills", Theater Arts, August 1952
Jawaharlal Nehru, "Tryst with Destiny" (1947)
Optional Reading:
Sen, Meheli. "Haunted Havelis and Hapless Heroes: Gender, Genre, and the Hindi Gothic Film." Figurations in Indian Film (2013)
Bollywood fan blogposts on Mahal:
Old is Gold
Filmi Geek
*************************Reading Responses due in class on February 2nd, 2015**************************************
WEEK 4 - Bombay as metaphor of the nation: Vagabonds, Villains, and Vamps
February 9, 2015______________________________________________________________
Screening: Shree 420 (1952) – Mr. 420 – Sunday, Feb 8th – 7:00pm
View Film Clips:
“Yeh Hai Bombay Meri Jaan” / “This is Bombay, My Dear”, CID, 1956
“Hai Apna Dil to Awara” / “This Heart is a Vagabond”, Solva Saal 1958 Lyrics/Subtitles are here
Required Readings:
Michel DeCerteau, "Walking in the City" (p. 156-163) De Certeau, Michel. Walking in the City. na, 1993.
Prakash, Gyan. "The Idea of Bombay" The American Scholar (2006): 88-99.
Mehta, Suketu. Maximum city: Bombay lost and found. Random House LLC, 2009. (Personal Geography, p. 3-38)
Chakravarty, Sumita S. National identity in Indian popular cinema, 1947-1987. University of Texas Press, 2011. (“National Identity and Realist Aesthetic” p. 80-118
Ashish Rajadhyaksha, “The Curious Case of Bombay’s Hindi Cinema: The Career of Indigenous ‘Exhibition’ Capital (p.1-24)
Optional Readings:
*Rajadhyaksha and Willeman, Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, entry on Raj Kapoor
*Talat Ahmed, (Lecture) "Becoming an Indian Citizen Through 'Bollywood': The Films of K.A. Abbas"
*The Story of Jazz in India – African-American Musicians in Bombay:
**********************************Reading Responses due in class on February 9, 2015************************************
WEEK 5: Social Films and the Hindi-Urdu Film Song: Case Study Guru Dutt
February 16, 2015______________________________________________________________
Screening: Pyasa (1957) – The Thirsty One – Sun, February 15, 7:00pm
Optional Screening: Sahib, Bibi, Aur Ghulam (Master, Wife, and Servant)
Required Viewings:
View 15 min Documentary on Guru Dutt
Required Readings:
Virdi, Jyotika. The Cinematic ImagiNation [sic]: Indian Popular Films as Social History. Rutgers University Press, 2003. (Introduction, p. 1-25); Chapter 4 (p. 121-144)
Anand Vivek Taneja, "Muslimness in Hindi Cinema" in Seminar 598, “Circuits of Cinema,” edited by Aarti Sethi. Seminar, June 2009.
Optional Viewings:
“Sun Zalima” – “Listen, O Cruel One” from Aar Paar (1958) (with subtitles)
“Ae Lo Mein Hari Piya” – “Oh, I’ve lost to you, beloved” from Aar Paar (1958) (with subtitles)
“Babujee Dheere Chalna” – “Mister, Walk Slowly” from Aar Paar (1958) (with subtitles)
“Mohabbat Karlo” – “Go ahead, Fall in Love” from Aar Paar (1958) (with subtitles turn on cc)
Optional Readings:
*Film Impressions. "Nostalgia"
*Ravi Vasudevan, “Addressing the Spectator of Third World Cinema”, Screen, 36:4 Winter, 1995, p. 305-324.
*Neepa Majumdar, “The Embodied Voice: Song Sequences and Stardom in Popular Hindi Cinema,” in Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Popular Music, eds. Pamela Robertson Wojcik and Arthur Knight (Durham: Duke UP, 2001): 161-181.
*Shikha Jhingan Re-embodying the “Classical”: The Bombay Film Song in the 1950s BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies July 2011 2: 157-179
*Darius Cooper,“The Hindi Film Song & Guru Dutt,” East-West Film Journal 2:2 (1988): 49-65.
*Nasreen Munni Kabir, “Pyaasa,” in Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema (New Delhi: Oxford UP India, 1997): 75-88.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^RESPONSE PAPER DUE^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
WEEK 6 - Nation as Mother: Gender, Village, and Developmental Modernity
February 23, 2015________________________________________________________________
Screening: Mother India (1957): Sun Feb 22nd - 7:00pm
Required Reading:
Mrinalini Sinha. Specters of Mother India: The Global Restructuring of an Empire. Duke University Press, 2006. (Introduction, p. 1-21; Epilogue, p. 248-253)
Mishra, Vijay. Bollywood cinema: Temples of desire. Routledge, 2013. "The Texts of Mother India" (p. 61-87)
Optional Reading:
*Sa’adat Hasan Manto, “Nargis” in Stars From Another Sky (1949-51) – p. vii-xvi; 85-102
*Priya Jha, "Remembering Nargis, Retelling Mother India: Criticism Melodrama and National Myth-Making" (p. 287-297)
***************************SPRING BREAK***********************************
WEEK 6.5 - A Glimpse Into Contemporary Pakistani Cinema
March 2, 2015 ______________________________________________________________
Over spring break, watch the Pakistani film, Josh - Against the Grain (2014) via netflix
and read the following article. Then submit your 3 page response paper due March 8.
See prompt on Moodle.
Lila Abu-Lughod, "Do Muslim Women Need Saving?"
Josh - Against the Grain (2014) - Trailer:
WEEK 7: Cosmopolitanism, “Urban Chic” and Global Flows
March 9, 2015________________________________________________________________
Screening: Jewel Thief (1967) – March 8th at 7:00pm
Optional Screening: Teesri Manzil (The Third Floor) (1966) available online with subtitles
Required Clips to view at home:
“Jaan Pehchaan Ho” from Gumnaam (1965) (with subtitles, turn on CC)
“Jaan Pehchaan Ho” featured in Heineken commercial
“Yahoo – Chahe Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahay” (“So what if they call me wild”) 1961
(with subtitles – starring Shammi Kapoor)
Required Reading:
“The Elvis of India: Realities of a Rock Star”
"My God, That's My Tune" Filmfare essay on R.D. Burman
Eleftheriotis, Dimitris. "‘A Cultural Colony of India’ Indian films in Greece in the 1950s and 1960s." South Asian Popular Culture 4.2 (2006): 101-112.
Novak, David. "Cosmopolitanism, remediation, and the ghost world of Bollywood." Cultural Anthropology 25.1 (2010): 40-72.
Richard Allen, “To Catch a Jewel Thief: Hitchcock and Indian Modernity” (p. 215-241)
Optional Reading
*Corey Creekmur, “Picturizing American Cinema: Hindi Film Songs and the last days of genre” from Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Popular Music, eds. Pamela Robertson Wojcik and Arthur Knight (Durham: Duke UP, 2001): 375-406.
***********************MIDTERM ESSAY DUE – March 21**********************
WEEK 8: The Nation’s “Other”: Muslim Socials and the Courtesan Archetype
March 16, 2015________________________________________________________________
Screening (film also available online with subtitles): Umrao Jaan Ada (1981)
Required Clip:
"Teri Mehfil Mein" ("In Your Assembly"), Mughal-e-Azam (1960)
Optional Clips:
Clip 1: "Inhi Logon Ne" ("These People"), Pakeezah (1972)
and Lyrics/Subtitles
Clip 2: “Sharma Ke Yeh Kyon Sab” (“Why Are They All Shy?”) - Chaudvin Ka Chand (1960)
Clip 3: "Ahein Na Bhare" (“We did not sigh”) - Zeenat 1945
Clip 4: Ishq, Ishq “Love, Love” - Barsaat Ki Raat (1960)
Clip 5: "Nigah e Naaz" (“Proud Gazes”) Barsaat Ki Raat (1960)
Required Reading:
Top Ten Muslim Characters in Bollywood
Oldenburg, Veena Talwar. "Lifestyle as resistance: The case of the courtesans of Lucknow, India." Feminist Studies (1990): 259-287.
Petievich, Carla. When Men Speak as Women: Vocal Masquerade in Indo-Muslim Poetry. Oxford University Press, 2007. (Introduction, p. 1-6; 12-16; 19-25)
Kesavan, Mukul. "Urdu, Awadh and the tawaif: the Islamicate roots of Hindi cinema." Forging Identities: Gender, Communities and the State (1994): 244-57.
Saleem Kidwai, “The Singing Ladies Find a Voice” Kidwai, Salim. "The Singing Ladies Find a Voice." SEMINAR-NEW DELHI-. MALYIKA SINGH, 2004.
PART II: 1970s: INDIRA GANDHI’S INDIA & THE ERA OF POPULISM
WEEK 9: LAND, LAW, and THE INDIAN STATE: Emerging Masculinities
March 23, 2015________________________________________________________________
Screening: Sholay (“Flames”) (1975): Sun, March 22 – 7:00-10:00 PM (TBA)
Banerjea, Koushik. "Fight Club’: Aesthetics, Hybridisation and the Construction of Rogue Masculinities in Sholay and Deewar." Bollyworld: Popular Indian cinema through a transnational lens (2005): 163-185.
Jha, Priya. "Lyrical nationalism: gender, friendship, and excess in 1970s Hindi cinema." The Velvet Light Trap 51.1 (2003): 43-53.
Optional Reading:
*Anupama Chopra, Sholay: The Making of a Classic (selections)
*Madhava Prasad, Ideology of the Hindi Film, Chapter Six
WEEK 10: URBAN DEVELOPMENT and “THE ANGRY YOUNG MAN”
March 30, 2015_________________________________________________________________
Film Screening: Deewar (The Wall) (1975) – March 29th at 7:00pm
Required Film Clips:
Zanjeer (Chains) – fight scene
Roti, Kapda, Aur Makaan (Bread, Clothing, and Shelter) (1974) - first 35 minutes
Required Reading:
Mazumdar, Ranjani. Bombay cinema: An archive of the city. U of Minnesota Press, 2007. (Chapter 1)
Tarlo, Emma. Unsettling memories: Narratives of the emergency in Delhi. Univ of California Press, 2003. (p. 1-93; 178-201)
Thomas, Rosie. "Melodrama and the negotiation of morality in mainstream Hindi film." Consuming modernity: Public culture in a South Asian world (1995): 157-82.
Geeta Ramanathan, “Women in Cinema: Missing Angle”
PART III: 1990s to PRESENT: BOLLYWOOD
WEEK 11: New Middle Class: Liberalization, Consumption, & Rise of Hindutva
April 13, 2015 _________________________________________________________
Screening: Hum Aap ke hain Koun! (Who am I to You) (1994) – Sun, April 12th at 7pm
View online: Ram Ke Naam (In the Name of God) (1991) - Documentary (75 minutes)
Required Film Clips: Dilwale Dulhania Leyjaynge - The Beloved Will Take Away the Bride (1996)
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (A Little Something is Happening) 1998 - "Raghupati Ragav Raja Ram"
Morning After Scene Between Raj and Simran
Elopement Scene DDLJ
Optional Film Clips:
"Let Me Swirl / Stagger Around for a Bit" - Dilwale Dulhania Lejaynge (DDLJ) (1996)
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham - "Bole Churiyan" (2003)
Required Readings:
Menon, Nivedita, and Aditya Nigam. Power and contestation: India since 1989. Zed Books, 2007. ("Politics of Hindutva and the Minorities" p. 36-60)
Malhotra, Sheena, and Tavishi Alagh. "Dreaming the Nation: Domestic dramas in Hindi films post-1990." South Asian Popular Culture 2.1 (2004): 19-37.
Mazumdar, Ranjani, Chapter Four: "The Panoramic Interior" in Bombay Cinema: An Archive of the City (p. 110-126)
India's New Ruling Party to Encourage Films that Promote 'Cultural Values'
M.K. Raghavendra, “Changing Values”
Optional Readings:
Ashish Rajadhyaksha, “The ‘Bollywoodization’ of Indian cinema: cultural nationalism in a global arena”, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Volume 4, Issue 1, 2003 (pg. 25-39)
*Rachel Dwyer “The Rise of the Middle Classes of Bombay” All You Want is Money, All You Need is Love, London; New York: Cassell, 2000
*Patricia Uberoi, “Imagining the Family: An Ethnography of Viewing Hum Aapke Hain Koun...!”, in Rachel Dwyer and Christopher Pinney (eds), Pleasure and the Nation (New Delhi: OUP, 2001), pp. 309-351.
WEEK 12: TERRORISTS AND TERRORISM
April 20, 2014________________________________________________________________
Screening: Dil Se (1998) – (From the Heart) – Sunday April 19th at 7:00pm available online
Screening: Shahid (2013)
Optional Film Clips:
*Roja fight scene
*Dil Se Song: "Chaiyya Chaiyya" (In the Shadow of Love)
*Dil Se Song: "Satrangi Re"
*Fanaa (2006) - (Annihilation)
REQUIRED READINGS:
Daisy Rockwell, “From the Department of Unfinished Business”
Mahmood Mamdani, “Good Muslim, Bad Muslim”
Nivedita Menon, Aditya Nigam, “When was the Nation?” in Power and Contestation: India Since 1989 (p.135-167)
Suketu Mehta, "Powertoni" in Maximum City (p. 39-112)
Optional Readings:
*Pankaj Mishra, “Kashmir: The Unending War,” New York Review of Books. Vol. 47, No. 16. October 19, 2000
*Tejaswini Naranjana, “Integrating Whose Nation: Tourists and Terrorists in ‘Roja’”
WEEK 13: CRIME REDUX: Bombay, the Urban Underworld, and Transnational Flows
April 27, 2015___________________________________________________________________
Screening: Company (2008) – April 26th -- 7:00pm
Optional Screening: Black Friday (2004)
Required Reading:
Suketu Mehta, "Number Two After Scotland Yard" (pg.131-183) and "Distilleries of Pleasure" (pg. 346-430) in Maximum City.
Mazumdar, Ranjani. "Terrorism, conspiracy, and surveillance in Bombay's urban cinema." Social Research: An International Quarterly 78.1 (2011): 143-172.
Optional Reading:
*Tejaswini Ganti, Producing Bollywood: Inside the Contemporary Hindi Film Industry, Chapter 2, “From Slumdogs to Millionaires: The Gentrification of Hindi Cinema”; 4, “A Day in the Life of a Hindi Film Set”
WEEK 14: WOMEN IN BOMBAY CINEMA: REVISITED - FINAL CLASS WRAP-UP
May 4, 2015__________________________________________________________________
Screening: Dedh Ishqiya (2014) Love One and a Half Times: Sun May 3rd at 7:00pm
Ismat Chughtai
Ismat Chughtai, Lihaaf - “The Quilt” (first published in 1942)
Ismat Chughtai, “Excerpts from the Lihaaf Trial”
Ismat Chughtai, “From Bombay to Bhopal”
*Geeta Ramanathan, “Women in Cinema: Missing Angle”
FINAL PAPER DUE MAY 15
[1] nautch girl – colonial era, English corruption of the Hindi-Urdu word ‘naach-na’, which means ‘to dance’; possibly derivative of the term naach-ne-vaali (dancing girl). During British colonial rule, the English categorized women entertainers into the category of ‘dancing girl’ and ‘prostitute’; fears of miscegenation between Indian women and British men led colonial officials to criminalize this class of women.
January 12, 2015_______________________________________________________________
Introductions, Themes, Problems, Terms and Definitions
- Goals of this Course
- Terms & Definitions: “Bollywood”, “Indian cinema”, “Hindi cinema”, “Bombay cinema”
- Centenary of Indian Cinema
- Overview of Indian film studies
- Syllabus Review
- Popular Film Clips
WEEK 1.5: Contemporary Contexts: "India Shining" Ideology, Social Justice, and the Silver Screen in the 2000s
January 19, 2015: NO CLASS - MLK DAY__________________________________________
Required Viewing / Reading:
1) Peepli Live (2010) - 104 minutes - available on reserve at Library.
2) "Is India on the Totalitarian Path?" (April, 2014) - 59 minutes
3) Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - 120 minutes - available on reserve at Library.
4) India Shining
5) Sengupta, Mitu. "A Million Dollar Exit from the Anarchic Slum-world: Slumdog Millionaire's hollow idioms of social justice." Third world quarterly 31.4 (2010): 599-616. Via Moodle.
Optional Reading:
-Dutt, Nidhi "Indians Toil So Children Can Escape Slum Life" (Al-Jazeera, Sept. 2014)
-Baweja, Vandana. "SLUMDOG AND THE CITY: THE UTOPIA OF BOMBAY." Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review (2010): 75-75.
***************************3 page response paper to prompt due on January 20, 2015*******************************
WEEK 2- “Glitter from Abroad”: Unthinking Euro-centrism in Study of Indian Cinema
January 26, 2015______________________________________________________________
View at home: Two Documentaries on film actress and dancer Helen
“Helen: Queen of the Nautch Girls” [1] (1972), (30 minutes)
“Biography of Helen” (in Hindi): (8 minutes) - English Subtitles available on Moodle
2006 Interview with Helen
Dudrah, Rajinder, and Jigna Desai. The Bollywood Reader. McGraw-Hill International, 2008. (p. 1-17)
Mazumdar, Ranjani. Bombay cinema: An archive of the city. U of Minnesota Press, 2007. (p. xvii-xxxvi)
Orsini, Francesca. Love in South Asia: A cultural history. Vol. 62. Cambridge University Press, 2006. (p. 1-42)
****************************Reading Responses due in class on January 26, 2015**********************************
PART II: CITIZENSHIP & BELONGING IN NEHRU’S POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA
WEEK 3- Partition 1947, Dividing India: Historical Memory and Gendered Violence
February 2, 2015__________________________________________________________________
REQUIRED: Screening: Mahal (1949) – The Mansion – Sunday February 1st, 7pm
OPTIONAL: View at home: Earth (1998) - 101 minutes
Required Reading:
Sarkar, Bhaskar. Mourning the nation: Indian cinema in the wake of partition. Duke University Press, 2009. (p. 1-47)
Urvashi Butalia, “State and Gender: On Women's Agency during Partition”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 28, No. 17 (Apr. 24, 1993), p. 12-24
David Cort, "The Biggest Star in the World - And She's Not in Beverly Hills", Theater Arts, August 1952
Jawaharlal Nehru, "Tryst with Destiny" (1947)
Optional Reading:
Sen, Meheli. "Haunted Havelis and Hapless Heroes: Gender, Genre, and the Hindi Gothic Film." Figurations in Indian Film (2013)
Bollywood fan blogposts on Mahal:
Old is Gold
Filmi Geek
*************************Reading Responses due in class on February 2nd, 2015**************************************
WEEK 4 - Bombay as metaphor of the nation: Vagabonds, Villains, and Vamps
February 9, 2015______________________________________________________________
Screening: Shree 420 (1952) – Mr. 420 – Sunday, Feb 8th – 7:00pm
View Film Clips:
“Yeh Hai Bombay Meri Jaan” / “This is Bombay, My Dear”, CID, 1956
“Hai Apna Dil to Awara” / “This Heart is a Vagabond”, Solva Saal 1958 Lyrics/Subtitles are here
Required Readings:
Michel DeCerteau, "Walking in the City" (p. 156-163) De Certeau, Michel. Walking in the City. na, 1993.
Prakash, Gyan. "The Idea of Bombay" The American Scholar (2006): 88-99.
Mehta, Suketu. Maximum city: Bombay lost and found. Random House LLC, 2009. (Personal Geography, p. 3-38)
Chakravarty, Sumita S. National identity in Indian popular cinema, 1947-1987. University of Texas Press, 2011. (“National Identity and Realist Aesthetic” p. 80-118
Ashish Rajadhyaksha, “The Curious Case of Bombay’s Hindi Cinema: The Career of Indigenous ‘Exhibition’ Capital (p.1-24)
Optional Readings:
*Rajadhyaksha and Willeman, Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, entry on Raj Kapoor
*Talat Ahmed, (Lecture) "Becoming an Indian Citizen Through 'Bollywood': The Films of K.A. Abbas"
*The Story of Jazz in India – African-American Musicians in Bombay:
**********************************Reading Responses due in class on February 9, 2015************************************
WEEK 5: Social Films and the Hindi-Urdu Film Song: Case Study Guru Dutt
February 16, 2015______________________________________________________________
Screening: Pyasa (1957) – The Thirsty One – Sun, February 15, 7:00pm
Optional Screening: Sahib, Bibi, Aur Ghulam (Master, Wife, and Servant)
Required Viewings:
View 15 min Documentary on Guru Dutt
Required Readings:
Virdi, Jyotika. The Cinematic ImagiNation [sic]: Indian Popular Films as Social History. Rutgers University Press, 2003. (Introduction, p. 1-25); Chapter 4 (p. 121-144)
Anand Vivek Taneja, "Muslimness in Hindi Cinema" in Seminar 598, “Circuits of Cinema,” edited by Aarti Sethi. Seminar, June 2009.
Optional Viewings:
“Sun Zalima” – “Listen, O Cruel One” from Aar Paar (1958) (with subtitles)
“Ae Lo Mein Hari Piya” – “Oh, I’ve lost to you, beloved” from Aar Paar (1958) (with subtitles)
“Babujee Dheere Chalna” – “Mister, Walk Slowly” from Aar Paar (1958) (with subtitles)
“Mohabbat Karlo” – “Go ahead, Fall in Love” from Aar Paar (1958) (with subtitles turn on cc)
Optional Readings:
*Film Impressions. "Nostalgia"
*Ravi Vasudevan, “Addressing the Spectator of Third World Cinema”, Screen, 36:4 Winter, 1995, p. 305-324.
*Neepa Majumdar, “The Embodied Voice: Song Sequences and Stardom in Popular Hindi Cinema,” in Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Popular Music, eds. Pamela Robertson Wojcik and Arthur Knight (Durham: Duke UP, 2001): 161-181.
*Shikha Jhingan Re-embodying the “Classical”: The Bombay Film Song in the 1950s BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies July 2011 2: 157-179
*Darius Cooper,“The Hindi Film Song & Guru Dutt,” East-West Film Journal 2:2 (1988): 49-65.
*Nasreen Munni Kabir, “Pyaasa,” in Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema (New Delhi: Oxford UP India, 1997): 75-88.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^RESPONSE PAPER DUE^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
WEEK 6 - Nation as Mother: Gender, Village, and Developmental Modernity
February 23, 2015________________________________________________________________
Screening: Mother India (1957): Sun Feb 22nd - 7:00pm
Required Reading:
Mrinalini Sinha. Specters of Mother India: The Global Restructuring of an Empire. Duke University Press, 2006. (Introduction, p. 1-21; Epilogue, p. 248-253)
Mishra, Vijay. Bollywood cinema: Temples of desire. Routledge, 2013. "The Texts of Mother India" (p. 61-87)
Optional Reading:
*Sa’adat Hasan Manto, “Nargis” in Stars From Another Sky (1949-51) – p. vii-xvi; 85-102
*Priya Jha, "Remembering Nargis, Retelling Mother India: Criticism Melodrama and National Myth-Making" (p. 287-297)
***************************SPRING BREAK***********************************
WEEK 6.5 - A Glimpse Into Contemporary Pakistani Cinema
March 2, 2015 ______________________________________________________________
Over spring break, watch the Pakistani film, Josh - Against the Grain (2014) via netflix
and read the following article. Then submit your 3 page response paper due March 8.
See prompt on Moodle.
Lila Abu-Lughod, "Do Muslim Women Need Saving?"
Josh - Against the Grain (2014) - Trailer:
WEEK 7: Cosmopolitanism, “Urban Chic” and Global Flows
March 9, 2015________________________________________________________________
Screening: Jewel Thief (1967) – March 8th at 7:00pm
Optional Screening: Teesri Manzil (The Third Floor) (1966) available online with subtitles
Required Clips to view at home:
“Jaan Pehchaan Ho” from Gumnaam (1965) (with subtitles, turn on CC)
“Jaan Pehchaan Ho” featured in Heineken commercial
“Yahoo – Chahe Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahay” (“So what if they call me wild”) 1961
(with subtitles – starring Shammi Kapoor)
Required Reading:
“The Elvis of India: Realities of a Rock Star”
"My God, That's My Tune" Filmfare essay on R.D. Burman
Eleftheriotis, Dimitris. "‘A Cultural Colony of India’ Indian films in Greece in the 1950s and 1960s." South Asian Popular Culture 4.2 (2006): 101-112.
Novak, David. "Cosmopolitanism, remediation, and the ghost world of Bollywood." Cultural Anthropology 25.1 (2010): 40-72.
Richard Allen, “To Catch a Jewel Thief: Hitchcock and Indian Modernity” (p. 215-241)
Optional Reading
*Corey Creekmur, “Picturizing American Cinema: Hindi Film Songs and the last days of genre” from Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Popular Music, eds. Pamela Robertson Wojcik and Arthur Knight (Durham: Duke UP, 2001): 375-406.
***********************MIDTERM ESSAY DUE – March 21**********************
WEEK 8: The Nation’s “Other”: Muslim Socials and the Courtesan Archetype
March 16, 2015________________________________________________________________
Screening (film also available online with subtitles): Umrao Jaan Ada (1981)
Required Clip:
"Teri Mehfil Mein" ("In Your Assembly"), Mughal-e-Azam (1960)
Optional Clips:
Clip 1: "Inhi Logon Ne" ("These People"), Pakeezah (1972)
and Lyrics/Subtitles
Clip 2: “Sharma Ke Yeh Kyon Sab” (“Why Are They All Shy?”) - Chaudvin Ka Chand (1960)
Clip 3: "Ahein Na Bhare" (“We did not sigh”) - Zeenat 1945
Clip 4: Ishq, Ishq “Love, Love” - Barsaat Ki Raat (1960)
Clip 5: "Nigah e Naaz" (“Proud Gazes”) Barsaat Ki Raat (1960)
Required Reading:
Top Ten Muslim Characters in Bollywood
Oldenburg, Veena Talwar. "Lifestyle as resistance: The case of the courtesans of Lucknow, India." Feminist Studies (1990): 259-287.
Petievich, Carla. When Men Speak as Women: Vocal Masquerade in Indo-Muslim Poetry. Oxford University Press, 2007. (Introduction, p. 1-6; 12-16; 19-25)
Kesavan, Mukul. "Urdu, Awadh and the tawaif: the Islamicate roots of Hindi cinema." Forging Identities: Gender, Communities and the State (1994): 244-57.
Saleem Kidwai, “The Singing Ladies Find a Voice” Kidwai, Salim. "The Singing Ladies Find a Voice." SEMINAR-NEW DELHI-. MALYIKA SINGH, 2004.
PART II: 1970s: INDIRA GANDHI’S INDIA & THE ERA OF POPULISM
WEEK 9: LAND, LAW, and THE INDIAN STATE: Emerging Masculinities
March 23, 2015________________________________________________________________
Screening: Sholay (“Flames”) (1975): Sun, March 22 – 7:00-10:00 PM (TBA)
Banerjea, Koushik. "Fight Club’: Aesthetics, Hybridisation and the Construction of Rogue Masculinities in Sholay and Deewar." Bollyworld: Popular Indian cinema through a transnational lens (2005): 163-185.
Jha, Priya. "Lyrical nationalism: gender, friendship, and excess in 1970s Hindi cinema." The Velvet Light Trap 51.1 (2003): 43-53.
Optional Reading:
*Anupama Chopra, Sholay: The Making of a Classic (selections)
*Madhava Prasad, Ideology of the Hindi Film, Chapter Six
WEEK 10: URBAN DEVELOPMENT and “THE ANGRY YOUNG MAN”
March 30, 2015_________________________________________________________________
Film Screening: Deewar (The Wall) (1975) – March 29th at 7:00pm
Required Film Clips:
Zanjeer (Chains) – fight scene
Roti, Kapda, Aur Makaan (Bread, Clothing, and Shelter) (1974) - first 35 minutes
Required Reading:
Mazumdar, Ranjani. Bombay cinema: An archive of the city. U of Minnesota Press, 2007. (Chapter 1)
Tarlo, Emma. Unsettling memories: Narratives of the emergency in Delhi. Univ of California Press, 2003. (p. 1-93; 178-201)
Thomas, Rosie. "Melodrama and the negotiation of morality in mainstream Hindi film." Consuming modernity: Public culture in a South Asian world (1995): 157-82.
Geeta Ramanathan, “Women in Cinema: Missing Angle”
PART III: 1990s to PRESENT: BOLLYWOOD
WEEK 11: New Middle Class: Liberalization, Consumption, & Rise of Hindutva
April 13, 2015 _________________________________________________________
Screening: Hum Aap ke hain Koun! (Who am I to You) (1994) – Sun, April 12th at 7pm
View online: Ram Ke Naam (In the Name of God) (1991) - Documentary (75 minutes)
Required Film Clips: Dilwale Dulhania Leyjaynge - The Beloved Will Take Away the Bride (1996)
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (A Little Something is Happening) 1998 - "Raghupati Ragav Raja Ram"
Morning After Scene Between Raj and Simran
Elopement Scene DDLJ
Optional Film Clips:
"Let Me Swirl / Stagger Around for a Bit" - Dilwale Dulhania Lejaynge (DDLJ) (1996)
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham - "Bole Churiyan" (2003)
Required Readings:
Menon, Nivedita, and Aditya Nigam. Power and contestation: India since 1989. Zed Books, 2007. ("Politics of Hindutva and the Minorities" p. 36-60)
Malhotra, Sheena, and Tavishi Alagh. "Dreaming the Nation: Domestic dramas in Hindi films post-1990." South Asian Popular Culture 2.1 (2004): 19-37.
Mazumdar, Ranjani, Chapter Four: "The Panoramic Interior" in Bombay Cinema: An Archive of the City (p. 110-126)
India's New Ruling Party to Encourage Films that Promote 'Cultural Values'
M.K. Raghavendra, “Changing Values”
Optional Readings:
Ashish Rajadhyaksha, “The ‘Bollywoodization’ of Indian cinema: cultural nationalism in a global arena”, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Volume 4, Issue 1, 2003 (pg. 25-39)
*Rachel Dwyer “The Rise of the Middle Classes of Bombay” All You Want is Money, All You Need is Love, London; New York: Cassell, 2000
*Patricia Uberoi, “Imagining the Family: An Ethnography of Viewing Hum Aapke Hain Koun...!”, in Rachel Dwyer and Christopher Pinney (eds), Pleasure and the Nation (New Delhi: OUP, 2001), pp. 309-351.
WEEK 12: TERRORISTS AND TERRORISM
April 20, 2014________________________________________________________________
Screening: Dil Se (1998) – (From the Heart) – Sunday April 19th at 7:00pm available online
Screening: Shahid (2013)
Optional Film Clips:
*Roja fight scene
*Dil Se Song: "Chaiyya Chaiyya" (In the Shadow of Love)
*Dil Se Song: "Satrangi Re"
*Fanaa (2006) - (Annihilation)
REQUIRED READINGS:
Daisy Rockwell, “From the Department of Unfinished Business”
Mahmood Mamdani, “Good Muslim, Bad Muslim”
Nivedita Menon, Aditya Nigam, “When was the Nation?” in Power and Contestation: India Since 1989 (p.135-167)
Suketu Mehta, "Powertoni" in Maximum City (p. 39-112)
Optional Readings:
*Pankaj Mishra, “Kashmir: The Unending War,” New York Review of Books. Vol. 47, No. 16. October 19, 2000
*Tejaswini Naranjana, “Integrating Whose Nation: Tourists and Terrorists in ‘Roja’”
WEEK 13: CRIME REDUX: Bombay, the Urban Underworld, and Transnational Flows
April 27, 2015___________________________________________________________________
Screening: Company (2008) – April 26th -- 7:00pm
Optional Screening: Black Friday (2004)
Required Reading:
Suketu Mehta, "Number Two After Scotland Yard" (pg.131-183) and "Distilleries of Pleasure" (pg. 346-430) in Maximum City.
Mazumdar, Ranjani. "Terrorism, conspiracy, and surveillance in Bombay's urban cinema." Social Research: An International Quarterly 78.1 (2011): 143-172.
Optional Reading:
*Tejaswini Ganti, Producing Bollywood: Inside the Contemporary Hindi Film Industry, Chapter 2, “From Slumdogs to Millionaires: The Gentrification of Hindi Cinema”; 4, “A Day in the Life of a Hindi Film Set”
WEEK 14: WOMEN IN BOMBAY CINEMA: REVISITED - FINAL CLASS WRAP-UP
May 4, 2015__________________________________________________________________
Screening: Dedh Ishqiya (2014) Love One and a Half Times: Sun May 3rd at 7:00pm
Ismat Chughtai
Ismat Chughtai, Lihaaf - “The Quilt” (first published in 1942)
Ismat Chughtai, “Excerpts from the Lihaaf Trial”
Ismat Chughtai, “From Bombay to Bhopal”
*Geeta Ramanathan, “Women in Cinema: Missing Angle”
FINAL PAPER DUE MAY 15
[1] nautch girl – colonial era, English corruption of the Hindi-Urdu word ‘naach-na’, which means ‘to dance’; possibly derivative of the term naach-ne-vaali (dancing girl). During British colonial rule, the English categorized women entertainers into the category of ‘dancing girl’ and ‘prostitute’; fears of miscegenation between Indian women and British men led colonial officials to criminalize this class of women.