The Eloquent Language: Hindustani in 1940s Indian Cinema

Abstract

The Hindi–Urdu debate that raged in pre-independence India was to find a new medium for articulation in the arrival of the talkies—or sound in cinema—in the 1930s. Yet the inclusive register of language most commonly employed in films—both historically and currently—suggests that cinema largely sidestepped the vitriol and bright-line divisions that characterized the literary and publishing worlds. This article investigates some of the linguistic strategies employed by scriptwriters, lyricists, and producers in Hindi–Urdu–Hindustani cinema of the 1940s. It examines scripts, lyrics, and poetry to explore the (de-)linking of linguistic and religious or class identities; the relationship between poetry and filmic lyrics in the person of the poet-lyricist and in the texture of their presentation; and the potential and limits of this oral/aural medium in the context of its written paratexts. Ultimately, it suggests that cinema afforded an inclusivity with respect to language, allowing for a “crystallization” of filmi Hindustani, though this was far from a foreordained process.