2nd Edition

Bollywood A Guidebook to Popular Hindi Cinema

By Tejaswini Ganti Copyright 2013
    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    'Bollywood' is the dominant global term to refer to the prolific Hindi language film industry in Bombay (renamed Mumbai in 1995). Characterised by music, dance routines, melodrama, lavish production values and an emphasis on stars and spectacle, Bollywood films have met with box-office success and enthusiastic audiences from India to West Africa to Russia, and throughout the English-speaking world.

    In Bollywood, anthropologist and film scholar Tejaswini Ganti provides a guide to the cultural, social and political significance of Hindi cinema, outlining the history and structure of the Bombay film industry, and the development of popular Hindi filmmaking since the 1930s. Providing information and commentary on the key players in Bollywood, including directors and stars, as well as material from current filmmakers themselves, the areas covered in Bollywood include:

    • history of Indian cinema
    • narrative style, main themes, and key genres of Hindi cinema
    • significant films, directors and stars
    • production and distribution of Bollywood films
    • interviews with actors, directors and screenwriters.

    . Introduction  2. The Production and Distribution of Popular Hindi Cinema  3. Narrative Style, Important Themes and Key Conflicts  4. Genre and Hindi Cinema  5. Contemporary Hindi Flmmakers’ Reflections and Perspectives  Hindi Cinema.  Genre and Narrative Structure.  Film Music.  Visual Style.  "Indianization".  Bombay Film Industry.  The Indian Media Landscape in the 1990s.  The Impact of Multiplexes.  The Impact of Corporatization.  Working with Hollywood.  Cosmopolitanism and Diversity.  Women in the Film Industry.  Hindi Cinema and Society.  Significance of Hindi Cinema and Entertainment in India.  Censorship.  Film Audiences and Fans.  Resources.  Significant Films.  Significant Filmmakers of the Hindi Film Industry 

    Biography

    Tejaswini Ganti is an Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Program in Culture and Media at New York University.

    "Ganti’s book is by far one of the best introductions to Bollywood, a subject that reveals itself to possess many fine layers." -- Devapriya Sanyal, Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India