India's New Independent Cinema: Rise of the Hybrid

by Ashvin Immanuel Devasundaram

Overview

This is the first-ever book on the rise of the new wave of independent Indian films that is revolutionising Indian cinema. Contemporary scholarship on Indian cinema so far has focused asymmetrically on Bollywood—India’s dominant cultural export. Reversing this trend, this book provides an in-depth examination of the burgeoning independent Indian film sector. It locates the new 'Indies' as a glocal hybrid film form—global in aesthetic and local in content. They critically engage with a diverse socio-political spectrum of ‘state of the nation’ stories; from farmer suicides, disenfranchised urban youth and migrant workers to monks turned anti-corporation animal rights agitators. This book provides comprehensive analyses of definitive Indie new wave films including Peepli Live (2010), Dhobi Ghat (2010), The Lunchbox (2013) and Ship of Theseus (2013). It explores how subversive Indies, such as polemical postmodern rap-musical Gandu (2010) transgress conventional notions of ‘traditional Indian values’, and collide with state censorship regulations. This timely and pioneering analysis shows how the new Indies have emerged from a middle space between India’s globalising present and traditional past. This book draws on in-depth interviews with directors, actors, academics and members of the Indian censor board, and is essential reading for anyone seeking an insight into a current Indian film phenomenon that could chart the future of Indian cinema.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317290735
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/10/2016
Series:	Routledge Advances in Film Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	308
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

Ashvin Immanuel Devasundaram has a PhD from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. He is currently Programming Adviser for the London Asian Film Festival (LAFF)　and Creative Director of the festival's expansion to other cities in the UK.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1

1. Bollywood and the Cinemas of India: The Story so Far

2. The Meta-Hegemony: Leviathan Bollywood and Lilliputian Indies

3. The Anatomy of the Indies

4. Avenues of Indie Funding, Distribution and Exhibition

5. Interstitial Indies Interrogating India’s Double Narrative

6. Running Along with Scissors: Censorship and Regulation

Part 2: Case Studies

7. Rapping in Double Time: Gandu's Subversive Time of Liberation

8. Dhobi Ghat: The Marginal in the Mumbai Mainstream

9. Peepli Live: Neoliberal Capital, Media ‘Knowledge’ and Political Power

10. All the World’s a Ship: Broken Binaries and Hyperlinked Heterotopias in Ship of Theseus

11. A Cinematic Quartet Conjuring Ghosts of Nation: Harud, Haider, The Lunchbox and I Am

Conclusion: Charting the Ship’s Course

Editorial Reviews

"This book breaks new ground in what has become a field of clichés – Indian Cinema. It is an insightful peek into what Parallel cinema in India has evolved into. A must read for anyone studying the subject, or just passionate about cinema." -- Renji Matthews, University of Sharjah, UAE

From the Publisher