Indian Cinema Research Articles

A Comparative Analysis of RK Narayan's "The Guide" and Bollywood's "Guide"

Literary adaptations have been predominant in cinema for decades, with stories being reconceptualized for the film to captivate audiences in new ways. Indian cinema is no exception to this and one such well known adaptation is RK Narayan's novel The Guide into a film. This paper delves into the transformation of R K Narayan's novel "The Guide" into the epochal Bollywood film "Guide" directed by Vijay Anand. Through a comparative analysis, this study explores the differences and similarities between the two, examining how the cinematic adaptation reshapes the narrative, characters, themes, and overall essence of Narayan's original work. By dissecting the creative choices made in bringing the novel to life on screen, this paper aims to highlight the nuances of adaptation in Indian cinema.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: STRUGGLES AND CHALLENGES OF RATHAKANNEER

The notion of freedom of expression, in Tamil films unsimilar to other film industries is a frequently debated topic. Tamil cinema has encountered controversies and obstacles concerning the aspect of freedom of expression over years. Lately there has been an increasing recognition and discussion, about the importance of freedom of speech in Tamil cinema. This struggle for freedom of Expression isn’t that new to Tamil cinema that the dates back to decades before. That is when the wave of Dravidian cinemaemerged the Tamil cinematic sphere faced the notable adherent struggles and challenges for expressions on screen. This research delves into the complexities of freedom of expression in Indian cinema, focusing on M.R. Radha's "Rathakanneer". Employing qualitative analysis, the study explores the challenges faced by the film due to its progressive ideas, enduring censorship, and controversies. Radha's Theatre of Cruelty intensified societal critiques. It underscores art's power to challenge conventions and navigate political and societal pressures, revealing the intricate interplay between cinema, socio-political influences, and cultural heritage.

VISUALIZING WOMEN STEREOTYPES: A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE FILM 'THE GREAT INDIAN KITCHEN'

Films have consistently served as a narrative medium reflecting the discourses of male patriarchy in society throughout the ages. In particular, a significant portion of Indian cinema perpetuates male- centric stereotypes, depicting women as the weaker sex—an inaccurate representation of reality. Joe Baby's Malayalam film, 'The Great Indian Kitchen,' meticulously replicates prevalent customs dictating women's roles and explores various aspects of women's emancipation. The film delves into the frustration and discontent experienced by a married woman, highlighting her struggle to conform to the traditional patriarchal roles of being a wife and daughter-in-law. By the film's conclusion, it unravels her journey as she breaks free from the confines of this stereotypical system.This paper aims to focus on the deconstruction of women stereotypes ingrained in our society, with a specific examination of how 'The Great Indian Kitchen,' directed by Joe Baby, portrays and challenges these beliefs within the context of typical Indian societal norms. Employing a discourse analysis method, the film is scrutinized to derive meaningful findings.

Intimate Partner Violence and its Realistic Projection: A Critical Study of Contemporary Indian Cinema

Despite an array of new statutes designed to safeguard women and punish abusers, Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) continues to snuff out many lives leading to infringement of fundamental human rights and serious physical and mental health consequences. Like other societal phenomena, gender-based violence particularly IPV alongside its resistance, is prominently depicted in contemporary Indian cinema. By evaluating three films in light of a social responsibility paradigm which relies on realistic representation as its basic dimension, this research investigates how accurately IPV is portrayed across contemporary Indian cinema. The behavioural elements of the widely recognized The Duluth Model and Power and Control Wheel will be applied to determine realistic representation of IPV in each particular movie. This study focuses on films like Jasmeet K. Reen’s Darlings, Charukesh Sekar’s Ammu and Vipin Das’s ‘Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey’ which premiered in year 2022 in Hindi, Telugu and Malyalam cinema respectively. The results demonstrate significant variations in the measure of social responsibility indicating that contemporary Indian cinema may play a significant role in realistic projection of IPV

Reproducing home as a space of labour: The Great Indian Kitchen and Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hai

In this article, we analyse home as a site of labour through two Indian films, The Great Indian Kitchen (Jeo Baby, 2021) and Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hai (Vipin Das, 2022). Produced and released in the Malayalam movie industry belonging to the South Indian State, Kerala, the two films received critical attention and generated broader discussion among Malayali audiences in the recent past. While the intricacies of gendered divisions of labour and domestic violence are documented through the day-to-day chronicles of the housewives’ lives in these films, we argue that both The Great Indian Kitchen and Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hai illustrate how home is a different entity for men and women, conceptually and practically, as a space of leisure and labour respectively. Through narrative analysis, we interpret how these two films conceive and depict the disproportionate care work of women, highlight prevailing gender discrimination in a patriarchal setting, and expose new visual sensibilities to the audience.

Responsible innovation goes south: critique, othering, and a commitment to care

ABSTRACT This paper employs critique as othering to engage with mainstream renderings of Responsible Innovation (R(R)I) in a non-western setting. To re-image science-society relationships, initial framings of R(R)I argued for distancing from corrosive critiques of S&T and embracing democratic engagement. However, RIs fixation on Europe as its ‘Centre' led to ‘othering' and dis-engagement in the Indian context. Consequently, the critique of R(R)I by Indian actors resulted in re-framing it as ‘business-as-usual.’ I argue that rather than distancing from critique of S&T, R(R)I must revisit and deepen its commitments to care. A care-based approach demands that we continuously pay attention to the absent, neglected, and marginalized concerns without being over-invested in origins, naming, and institutionalization. The auto-ethnographical account demonstrates that embodying a critical edge (due to specific locations, entanglements, and attachments of the researcher) could generate interest, relationality, and care for neglected concerns rather than creating distance and othering.

Portrayal of Jammu-Kashmir in Bollywood Narrative

Bollywood often shows the amazing beauty of Jammu-Kashmir. However, the region is also shown as a place of socio-political conflict and complexity. The portrayal of Jammu Kashmir in Bollywood serves as a visual and narrative backdrop that both celebrates its natural beauty and raises awareness of the ongoing issues in the area. This study explores the representation of the Jammu Kashmir region in the context of Bollywood. This research goes through the portrayal of Jammu Kashmir over the decades. The aim and objective of this study are to understand the complex relationship between Bollywood and this beautiful area. The methodology of this research is an in-depth examination of how Bollywood has depicted Jammu Kashmir. The study identifies themes and stereotypes associated with Jammu Kashmir in cinemas. It would contribute to our understanding of the representation of Jammu Kashmir in Indian cinema. It would provide insights into how filmmakers show sensitive socio-political issues within their storytelling in cinemas. The research findings will offer a glimpse into Bollywood's engagement with this part of India.

Beyond good and evil: imagined nation in Hindi films

ABSTRACT The influence of Indian films on popular culture and the influence of dominant political ideology on Indian films are interspersed with dialectical variations. Although a binary representation of these subtleties remains elusive, while promoting ideological superstructures in society, ‘the relatively mixed, confused, incomplete, or inarticulate consciousness' is replaced with a ‘generalised system'. In practice, the tendencies governing public emotions during moments of crisis are employed as tropes in Bollywood films. However, the ontology of political underpinnings and subversive ideological possibilities that enmesh lived experiences remain smothered by an unproblematic representation of historical events. With this rationale, the paper analyses three Bollywood films Panipat (2019), Tanhaji (2020) and Samrat Prithviraj (2022). These films seem to auger the idea of Dharma and Ramrajya in the construction of a Nation catering to the populist notion of a safe and secure nation under just Hindu rule. The paper argues that these films cater to the framework of historiography promulgated by the colonial historians on one hand; and function as a contrapuntal response to the ideological moorings of the leaders of the All-India Muslim League. This objective is achieved by a stereotypical and binary projection of good and evil by glossing over the ‘mixed consciousness’.

Analyzing the Display of Gendered Identities Through the Patriarchal Set Up in the Great Indian Kitchen

Every art form has the ability to comprehend and communicate with the audience by displaying an array of human feelings, emotions and understanding. Cinema too is an art that has in recent years gained a coveted position as one of the major sources of entertainment as well as edutainment. Indian cinema is one branch of the world cinema that is multilingual and diverse in its approach. The post-independence cinema in India has played a vital role in shaping, nurturing and binding the Indian society together. It has been the voice of the neglected and has been instrumental in providing a platform to the subjugated identities ranging from race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender, class, space etc. Amongst these mentioned identities it is the gendered identities that have been constructed through cinema either to affirm the social construct or subvert it. Indian cinema, whether commercial, parallel or regional in the recent times, has been a rich ground to study the justification of gendered identity in the patriarchal set up. Through this paper there will be an analysis of the Malayalam film THE GREAT INDIAN KITCHEN to study the display of gendered identities in the patriarchal set-up within Indian society and its far reaching impact on the society. The paper will also look into the core social issues prevalent in the society and its impact while exploring the effects of deep rooted patriarchy which has been responsible for the subjugation of the female gender. The paper will also look through the lens of the filmmaker the message to advocate for female rights that the film conveys for its audience.

Indian cricket, popular culture and “national Thing”: Reflections from sport‐induced nationalism

AbstractCricket in India has evolved much beyond its fundamental definition as a game or form of entertainment in the present century. The liberalization process in the 1990s, followed by the drastic social changes in the country, impacted the game, leading it to acquire new meanings as cultural text. Currently, Indian cricket forms part of collective enjoyment, forming people's habitus and playing a central ideological role in the politics of ethnonationalism. This article attempts to analyze Indian Cricket using Slavoj Zizek's concept of “national Thing,” to critically understand its potential to evoke hyper‐nationalism in the Indian polity. The concept of “national Thing,” proposed by Zizek, postulates that the recourse to nationalism can cause a pleasure‐in‐pain situation and evoke extreme “enjoyment” (jouissance), which functions on the idea of sudden sense of loss. Drawing insights from this, this paper theoretically investigates sport‐induced nationalism in cricket in the backdrop of escalating neo‐nationalist sentiments in India. Additionally, the article expounds on how cricket becomes a “lost Thing” in Indian popular culture by critically analyzing the Indian film Kai Po Che (2013), in which cricket emerges as a social and political entity, intervening with the lives of ordinary youths in India.

The Cultural Codes of Home in Indian Cinema

The housing typology introduced by architects in India after independence departed dramatically from traditional settlement patterns. This break, as in Chandigarh, was an attempt to forge a new future. Concurrently, Indian cinema too set out to emphasize domesticity, yet one that alluded to real and imagined traditions. There were distinct differences, and between the two, it is cinema which ended up furnishing a more acceptable cultural and aesthetic model. Even today, cinema’s home contrasts sharply with the placeless geography of an actual house. This paper traces cinema’s typology of home in post-independence India.

Identity in corporeality: Interplay of disability and masculinity in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish (2010) and Anurag Basu’s Barfi! (2012)

ABSTRACT The identity of a disabled individual is inextricably knitted with socio-culturally prescribed gender roles and heteronormative postulates of sexuality. The present article scrutinizes the complex interplay of disability and masculinity in two Indian films- Bhansali’s Guzaarish (2010) and Basu’s Barfi! (2012). In Guzaarish, illusionist Ethan, rendered quadriplegic after an unfortunate accident, willfully resists perceiving manhood beyond the roles of protecting, providing, and sexually gratifying women. He perceives his body image as shameful and embarrassing due to vulnerability and sexual impotence and appeals for euthanasia. In contrast, the eponymous protagonist Barfi, deaf-mute by birth, strategically exploits hegemonic masculine tropes as compensation for sensory impairments, following the body-behavior ideals culturally expected from a man in melodramatic heterosexual relationships. The article employs qualitative methodology with a thematic study. Social constructionism and symbolic interactionism are utilized to scrutinize the socio-cultural scripting of corporeal dimensions and the intersectionality of corporeal differences and gendered realities. The work finds that both disabled protagonists’ self-understanding of their personhood is manipulated by the internalized stereotypes of masculinity, disseminated and reinforced through phallocentric prescriptions – while one succumbs to shame embodying the lack, the other tries overcompensating the lack. The article illustrates how identity is rooted in the corporeal body; while disability experience is intertwined with gender scripting, masculinity is also constructed in relation to certain corporeal differences.

Fear and Actual Victimization: Exploring the Gap among Social Activists in India

Even though the measurement of fear of crime in criminological research commenced a few decades ago, specific populations, such as social activists, remain undocumented. This article is an attempt to address this gap. A study was conducted among 153 social activists involved in exposing corruption and irregularities that take place in the government system in India. This article explores the gap between the fear of crime and actual victimization among the specific social activists in India. The results indicate activists expressed moderate fear of any one form of victimization including verbal and emotional, physical, and sexual victimization. It was also found that one-third of them have reported facing some form of abuse. The research implications are discussed.

Otherized food, racialized bodies: Discourses of food, smell and racism in Nicholas Kharkongor’s Axone

ABSTRACT Axone is a recently released Indian film revolving around Northeastern cuisine. Through culinary reimagining, the film raises several issues regarding Northeastern migrants who largely remain invisible in the public discourse. The present article attempts to examine the embodied experiences of the Northeasterners in the Indian capital, Delhi, through the analysis of the film from a culinary lens. Affirming the film’s status as a food film, the article first tries to locate axone in the Indian culinary order, which has been hegemonized by the caste ideas of ganda (dirty) and gandha (smelly). Secondly, it engages with the politics of otherness played around the Northeastern food by employing social and sensorial boundaries. Thirdly, it brings to the fore the discourse of racism, which is central to the experience of Northeasterners living in the city. Lastly, the article delists the Northeastern migrants only as victims of the city and explores their place-making strategies by taking into account the agentic potential of their culinary culture.

Harnessing the Potential of the Indian Film Industry to Enhance India’s Soft Power

The Indian Film Industry is second popular entertainment industry across the globe after Hollywood film industry of the United States of America. Despite of being popular, there are arguments that New Delhi hasn’t utilized the full potential of Indian film industry as an instrument to turn popularity into the (Soft)power. The Indian film industry has tremendous potential to become India’s soft power if its potential is harnessed to the fullest. Therefore, this paper focuses upon how the popularity can be effectively used by examining strengths of industry and future prospects. Additionally, this paper provides relevant policy recommendations to effectively use film industry to enhance soft power as well as brief concluding remarks.

Satyajit Ray: A Film Director and Filmmaker.

Satyajit Ray is well known as one of the greatest film directors or filmmakers in the world. He directed thirty-six movies, of which there are twenty-nine feature films, five documentary films, and two short films. He was inspired by a Hollywood film named ’Bicycle Thieves', also known as ‘The Bicycle Thief', directed by Italian film director Vittorio de Cica during his trip to London. Returning to India, Ray made his ultimate decision to make his first film, ‘Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road) (1995). He became famous for his three films, ‘Pather Panchali(1995), ‘ 'Aparajito' (1956), ‘Apur pur Sangsar' ( also known as the Apu Trilogy. The Apu Trilogy is one of his masterpieces. This paper aims to bring up Satyajit Ray’s contribution and his reflections on the Indian film industry.

Indian Cinema: A Bridge of Identity for Indian Diaspora with Special Reference to Bollywood Movie Pardes

Films have always been a common source of education, entertainment, and information across the world. Here Beard states “films are among the most common artifacts of modern popular culture that generate and reflect diverse cultures and the traditional values of a society. Consequently films have become a major part of modern society, through which people are becoming aware of different cultures from all over the world”. The paper aims to study the cultural studies and seeks to explore the role of Bollywood movies especially with special reference to movie Pardes (1997), directed by Subash Ghai. These kinds of movies played an important role in identity construction of Indian diaspora across the world. Diaspora may use media products as a form of cultural maintenance for their roots. The interesting fact is that though sociological factors such as friends, family and peer groups always play an important role in making the Indian identity. Bollywood movies not only act as a bridge between home, homeland and diaspora but they also help them to transmit the values, culture and traditions. All these together play a significant role in maintaining their ‘Indianness’, in Abroad.

Exposing and Creating Nuance in Cinema: A Study on the Representation of Marginalized Identities in Neeraj Ghaywan Films

Being a perception-inducing and reinforcing medium, films can make remarkable efforts to humanize the lives of marginalized identities. Indian cinema has been largely criticized for its upper-caste gaze, sexual objectification of women, gagged or stereotypical representation of minorities, and other cultural identities. Neeraj Ghaywan is necessarily one of the young contemporary filmmakers from Bollywood who, regardless of the status quo, attempts nuance in terms of representation and portrayal. Diversity in the organizational structure of our society should reflect in mainstream cinema narratives to impact the process of democratization. The presence of more filmmakers from diverse identities would energize this process in its due course. This study is designed to analyze the representation of marginalized identities and explore the auteurship of Neeraj Ghaywan. As choosing not to talk about is itself a political act of subversion, under-representation would impact only social exclusion, while misrepresentations might perpetuate and bring about toxic stereotypes. The films of Neeraj Ghaywan are keen on both aspects of faulty representations.

Masculinities, femininities, and the patriarchal family: a reading of The Great Indian Kitchen

ABSTRACT This article seeks to examine the representation of masculinities and femininities in the renowned South Indian drama film The Great Indian Kitchen. The research construes the manner in which the two dominant genders promote and/or modify patriarchal norms within the institution of family. The functioning of women as ancillary members of patriarchy, the interplay between masculinities and femininities, their evolution in contemporary times, etc., are also critically engaged in the paper. The paper argues that the movie The Great Indian Kitchen not only illustrates different masculinities and femininities but also reconstructs the patriarchal family structure which institutionalises gender inequality. It further argues that the movie proposes an alternative image of the family based on gender equality, where men and women live with mutual respect and complementation.

Genomic investigation unveils high-risk ESBL producing Enterobacteriaceae within a rural environmental water body

Antimicrobial resistance is regarded as a global threat to public health, animals, and the environment, emerging in response to extensive utilization of antimicrobials. The determinants of antimicrobial resistance are transported to susceptible bacterial populations through genetic recombination or through gene transfer, mediated by bacteriophages, plasmids, transposons, and insertion sequences. To determine the penetration of antimicrobial resistance into the bacterial population of the Thiruvandarkoil Lake, a water body located in the rural settings of Puducherry, India, culture-based microbiological and genomic approaches were used. Resistant bacterial isolates obtained from microbiological screening were subjected to whole genome sequencing and the genetic determinants of antimicrobial resistance were identified using in silico genomic tools. Cephalosporin-resistant isolates were found to produce extended spectrum beta lactamases, encoded by blaVEB-6 (in Proteus mirabilis PS01), blaSHV-12 and ompK36 mutation (in Klebsiella quasipneumoniae PS02) and blaSHV-12, blaACT-16, blaCTX−M and blaNDM-1 in (Enterobacter hormaechei PS03). Genes encoding heavy metal resistance, virulence and resistance to detergents were also detected in these resistant isolates. Among ESBL-producing organisms, one mcr-9-positive Enterobacter hormaechei was also identified in this study. To our knowledge, this is the first report of mcr-9 carrying bacterium in the environment in India. This study seeks the immediate attention of policy makers, researchers, government officials and environmental activists in India, to develop surveillance programs to monitor the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in the environment.