Indian Film: The Three-Hour Dream
Cinematic Narratives of the Nation
Spring 2014, Tuesday and Thursday—2:00 to 3:20 pm
Lown Center for Judaic Studies 002
Note: Updated Syllabus Always on LATTE
Harleen Singh
781-736-8485
Office: Mandel 114
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 11-12pm
Teaching Fellow: Aneil Tripathy
The Indian Film industry is the largest in the world and produces close to 1200 films a year. Though the large part of this production comes out of Mumbai, there are also several important contributions made by the smaller regional centers. In this course, set up chronologically to give students a sense of the developmental arc of Indian cinema, we will concentrate on Hindi films made in India since 1947 to read Hindi films as texts of the nation in the context of cultural, religious, historical, political, and social themes. We will examine how films contribute to the constructions of gender, society, art, popular culture, and genre.
Hindi cinema is a crucial, and perhaps also the most prolific, contributor to a construction of the public imaginary in India and to the structuring of the “homeland” for immigrant Indian populations in many other countries. Hindi films remain the single largest determinant of cultural perceptions in the Indian sub-continent even as India has evolved a hybrid identity in which there is no easy way to untangle tradition from modern life in India. The supposedly ambivalent relationship between the two is managed through varying public discourses and Hindi cinema is an essential factor in negotiating and producing modernity for most Indians.
The musical score in Indian film does not just provide background music. It is an essential aspect of the genre, in which songs are a part of the narrative and also a highly specialized commercial aspect of filmmaking. Therefore, we will also pay close attention to the intervention of Indian cinema into the music worlds of India.We will read and discuss contemporary film theory as well as specific film studies based on Indian film. The course aims to give students a firm grounding in Hindi film, through a chronological, theoretical, and genre based analytic lens. Students are not expected to have any familiarity with India, Indian film, or Hindi, though this class will be a helpful supplement to other courses in South Asian Studies at Brandeis.
Films:
1.Mother India (1957, Mehboob Khan)
2.Pyaasa (1957, Guru Dutt)
3.Mughal-e-Azam (1960, K. Asif)
4.Sholay (1975, Ramesh Sippy)
5.Deewar (1975, Yash Chopra)
6.Umrao Jaan (1981, Muzaffar Ali)
7.Bandit Queen (1994, Shekar Kapur)
8.Dilwale Dulhania Lay Jayengay (1995, Aditya Chopra)
9.Fire (1996, Deepa Mehta)
10.Satya (1998, Ram Gopal Verma)
11.Monsoon Wedding (2001, Mira Nair Hindi/English)
12.Lagaan (2001, Ashutosh Gowariker)
13.Dev D (2009, Anurag Kashyap)
14.Chak De! India (2011, Shimit Amin)
Films will be on Reserve at the library and streamed through LATTE.
Articles posted on LATTE:
- “The texts of ‘Mother India’” (Vijay Mishra, Bollywood Cinema, 2002)
- “Figuring Mother India: The Case of Nargis” (Parama Roy, pp. 109-121, The Bollywood Reader, 2008)
- “Pyaasa/Thirst: Guru Dutt, 1957” (Corey Creekmur, Cinema of India,2009)
- “The Recuperation of History and Memory (Sumita Chakravarty, Indian Popular Cinema 1947-1987, 1993.)
- “All kinds of Hindi: The evolving Language of Hindi Cinema” (Harish Trivedi, Fingerprinting Popular Culture, 2006)
- “The Actor as Parallel Text (Mishra, Bollywood Cinema, 2002)
- “The ‘Fiction’ of Film and ‘Fact’ of Politics: Deewar.” Jump Cut 38: 1–11.
- “The Aesthetic of Mobilization” (Madhava Prasad, Ideology of the Hindi Film, 1998)
- “The Concepts of Evil and Social Order in Indian Melodrama: An Evolving Dialectic” (Wimal Dissanayake)
- “The Three Lives of Umrao Jan Ada” (Alain Désoulières)
- “Of Victims and Vigilantes, The Bandit Queen Controversy” (Priyamvada Gopal, 1997)
- “Reading ‘India’s Bandit Queen” A Trans/national Feminist Perspective on the Discrepancies of Representation” (Leela Fernandes, 1999)
- “Local Sites/Global Contexts: The Transnational Trajectories of Deepa Mehta’s Fire” (Gayatri Gopinath, 2005)
- “Brides Who Travel: Gender, Transnationalism, and Nationalism in Hindi Film”(Purnima Mankekar, 1999
- Gender, Nation, and Globalization in Monsoon Wedding and Dilwale Dulhaniya Lejayengay (Jenny Sharpe, 2005)
- “The 'Baimaan' or 'Betrayed Vision' of Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding” (Darius Cooper, 2007)
- “Gangland Bombay” (Ranjani Mazumdar, Bombay Cinema, 2007)
- “Neither United Nor Separated': Negotiating Difference in Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan and Ketan Mehta's Mangal Pandey” (Lucia Kramer, 2009)
- “The Double Temporality of Lagaan: Cultural Struggle and Postcolonialism”
(Grant Farred, 2006)
- “The New Edge of Indian Cinema: An Analysis of the Treatments of Gender, Sexuality, and Matrimony in the New Indian Cinema in English” (Satarupa Dasgupta, 2006)
- “Religion, Gossip, Narrative Conventions and the Construction of Meaning in Hindi Film Songs” (Gregory Booth, 2000)
- “The Embodied Voice: Stardom and Song Sequences in Popular Hindi Cinema”
(Neepa Majumdar, 2001)
Requirements for the Course:
Regular attendance in class is required, as is active participation in discussion. You must view the film on your own in time for the pertinent week, and complete the reading. (These films can be quite lengthy, so plan accordingly.) More than two unexcused absences will result in a grade deduction. Excused Absences require a Doctor’s note, illness, professional conflict or act of God. Attendance and Participation is 15% of your grade. We will often break into smaller groups to give you a chance to speak.
Written Assignments: Grading will be split between TF and Professor
Mid-Term20%
Final25%
Two Papers40%
The use of Cell phones, or any other communication devices, will not be tolerated in class. You may use your laptops, but any hint of Facebook, e-mail, or any other social media site will result in a severe reprimand. If you need to be excused from class for religious observance, please talk to the professor well in advance. Learning Disabilities should be documented and prior arrangements should be made with the professor or the TF for texts and assignments.
Week One and TwoNarratives of Nation and Gender [Pyaasa and Mother India]
January 14, 2014
Introduction: Indian Cinema, Hindi Cinema, or Bollywood?
January 16, 2014
Discuss Mother India
“The texts of ‘Mother India’” (Vijay Mishra, Bollywood Cinema—Temples of Desire, 2002)
January 21, 2014
“Figuring MotherIndia: The Case of Nargis”(Parama Roy, The Bollywood Reader, 2008)
January 23, 2014
Discuss Pyaasa
“Pyaasa/Thirst: Guru Dutt, 1957”(Corey Creekmur, The Cinema of India,2009)
Week ThreeThe Classics[Mughal-e-Azam]
January 28, 2014
Discuss Mughal-e-Azam
January 30, 2014
“The Recuperation of History and Memory”
(Sumita Chakravarty Indian Popular Cinema 1947-1987, 1993.
Week Four and FiveThe Emergency and Disillusionment[Sholay and Deewar]
February 4, 2014
Discuss Sholayand Deewar
February 6, 2014
“All kinds of Hindi: The evolving Language of Hindi Cinema”
(Harish Trivedi, Fingerprinting Popular Culture, 2006)
“The Concepts of Evil and Social Order in Indian Melodrama: An Evolving Dialectic”
(WimalDissanayake, Melodrama and Asian Cinema, 1993)
“The ‘Fiction’ of Film and ‘Fact’ of Politics: Deewar.” (Jyotika Virdi, 1993)
February 11, 2014
“The Actor as Parallel Text”(Mishra, Bollywood Cinema, 2002)
“The Aesthetic of Mobilization” (Madhava Prasad, Ideology of the Hindi Film, 1998)
February 13, 2014
Class Canceled Due to SNOW
Week 6: Spring Break (February 17-21)
Week Seven, Eight and Nine Narratives of Gender, Caste, Class, and Sexuality
[Umrao Jaan, Bandit Queen,and Fire]
February 25, 2014
Mid-Term
February 27, 2014
Discuss Umrao Jaan
“The Three Lives of Umrao Jan Ada” (Désoulières, Alain)
March 4, 2014
Discuss Bandit Queen
March 6, 2014
“Of Victims and Vigilantes, The Bandit Queen Controversy” (Gopal, 1997)
“Reading 'India's BanditQueen': A Trans/national Feminist Perspective on the Discrepancies of Representation” (Leela Fernandes, 1999)
March 11, 2014
Discuss Fire
March 13, 2014
“Local Sites/Global Contexts: The Transnational Trajectories of Deepa Mehta’s Fire” (Gayatri Gopinath, 2005)
Week Ten and Eleven Modernity and Diaspora
[Dilwale Dulhania Lay Jayengay and Monsoon Wedding]
March 18, 2014 First Paper Due
Discuss DDLJ
March 20, 2014
“Brides Who Travel: Gender, Transnationalism, and Nationalism in Hindi Film”
(Purinima Mankekar, 1999)
March 25, 2014
Discuss Monsoon Wedding
March 27, 2014
“Gender, Nation, and Globalization in Monsoon Wedding and Dilwale Dulhaniya Lejayengay”
(Jenny Sharpe, 2005)
“The 'Baimaan' or 'Betrayed Vision' of Mira Nair'sMonsoon Wedding” (Darius Cooper, 2007)
Week Twelve Militancy, Terrorism, and Urban Violence [Satya]
April 1, 2014
Discuss Satya
“Gangland Bombay” (Ranjani Mazumdar, Bombay Cinema, 2007)
April 3, 2014
Class on Film Songs
“Religion, Gossip, Narrative Conventions and the Construction of Meaning in Hindi Film Songs” (Gregory Booth, 2000)
“The Embodied Voice: Stardom and Song Sequences in Popular Hindi Cinema”
(Neepa Majumdar, 2001)
Week ThirteenSport as Metaphor for the Colonial and Postcolonial Nation
[Lagaan and Chak de! India]
April 8, 2014 Second Paper Due
Discuss Lagaan
“Neither United Nor Separated': Negotiating Difference in Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan and Ketan Mehta'sMangal Pandey” (Lucia Kramer, 2009)
“The Double Temporality of Lagaan: Cultural Struggle and Postcolonialism”
(Grant Farred, 2006)
April 10, 2014
Discuss Chak De! India
Week 14-15: Passover Break (April 15-22)
Week SixteenBeyond Bollywood: New Directions in Indian Cinema [Dev D]
April 24, 2014
Discuss Dev D
April 29, 2013 Last Day of Class
“The New Edge of Indian Cinema: An Analysis of the Treatments of Gender, Sexuality, and Matrimony in the New Indian Cinema in English” (Satarupa Dasgupta, 2006)
Final Exam TBA
1