Nation, Fantasy, and Mimicry: Elements of Political Resistance in Postcolonial Indian Cinema
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2011 NATION, FANTASY, AND MIMICRY: ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL RESISTANCE IN POSTCOLONIAL INDIAN CINEMA Aparajita Sengupta University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Sengupta, Aparajita, "NATION, FANTASY, AND MIMICRY: ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL RESISTANCE IN POSTCOLONIAL INDIAN CINEMA" (2011). University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations. 129. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/gradschool_diss/129 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Aparajita Sengupta The Graduate School University of Kentucky 2011 NATION, FANTASY, AND MIMICRY: ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL RESISTANCE IN POSTCOLONIAL INDIAN CINEMA ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Aparajita Sengupta Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Michel Trask, Professor of English Lexington, Kentucky 2011 Copyright© Aparajita Sengupta 2011 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION NATION, FANTASY, AND MIMICRY: ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL RESISTANCE IN POSTCOLONIAL INDIAN CINEMA In spite of the substantial amount of critical work that has been produced on Indian cinema in the last decade, misconceptions about Indian cinema still abound. Indian cinema is a subject about which conceptions are still muddy, even within prominent academic circles. The majority of the recent critical work on the subject endeavors to correct misconceptions, analyze cinematic norms and lay down the theoretical foundations for Indian cinema. This dissertation conducts a study of the cinema from India with a view to examine the extent to which such cinema represents an anti-colonial vision. The political resistance of Indian films to colonial and neo-colonial norms, and their capacity to formulate a national identity is the primary focus of the current study. KEYWORDS: Indian cinema, nationalism, post-independence cinema, mimicry, film studies. Aparajita Sengupta January 27th, 2011 NATION, FANTASY, AND MIMICRY: ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL RESISTANCE IN POSTCOLONIAL INDIAN CINEMA By Aparajita Sengupta Michael Trask, Ph.D. Director of Dissertation Virginia Blum, Ph.D. Director of Graduate Studies January 27th, 2011 Date RULES FOR THE USE OF DISSERTATIONS Unpublished dissertations submitted for the Doctor's degree and deposited in the University of Kentucky Library are as a rule open for inspection, but are to be used only with due regard to the rights of the authors. Bibliographical references may be noted, but quotations or summaries of parts may be published only with the permission of the author, and with the usual scholarly acknowledgments. Extensive copying or publication of the dissertation in whole or in part also requires the consent of the Dean of the Graduate School of the University of Kentucky. A library that borrows this dissertation for use by its patrons is expected to secure the signature of each user. Name Date DISSERTATION Aparajita Sengupta The Graduate School University of Kentucky 2011 NATION, FANTASY, AND MIMICRY: ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL RESISTANCE IN POSTCOLONIAL INDIAN CINEMA DISSERTATION A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Aparajita Sengupta Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Michel Trask, Professor of English Lexington, Kentucky 2011 Copyright© Aparajita Sengupta 2011 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful for the support my dissertation chair, Dr. Michael Trask, extended to me over these years, including in some very trying times. I want to thank my other committee members Dr. Peter Kalliney, Dr. Virginia Blum, and Dr. Srimati Basu for their incredible support throughout the process of writing this dissertation. I would also like to thank my peers George Philips, Rebecca Mullen and Elizabeth Connors-Manke at the English department for reading, commenting, advising and listening. To my friends, my sisters, Sucharita, Kamalika, and Priyanka—this would have taken so much longer to finish without your help. To the three Senguptas for helping me dream. Most of all, to Debal—from the initial idea to the formatting, I could not have done this without you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iii Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Chapter Two: Nation and Nationalism in Postcolonial Indian Cinema ............................ 19 Chapter Three: Global India: Cinema and Nation After the Liberalization of the Indian Economy ........................................................................................................................... 57 Chapter Four: Twinning and Amnesia: The Alleged Unreal as a Metaphor for the Nation ........................................................................................................................................... 98 Chapter Five: The Self-reflection of Indian Cinema: Mimicry and Parody from Colonial Times to the Present ........................................................................................................ 136 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 174 Filmography .................................................................................................................... 177 Vita .................................................................................................................................. 180 iv Chapter One Introduction Critical Perspectives on Indian Cinema: Working from the Ground Up A scandal in cinema studies of the last few decades has been the lack of attention paid to Indian popular cinema, the world‘s largest film industry. At a recent Society for Cinema Studies‘ plenary a panelist‘s speculations about the vanishing 1970s‘ style energy in film studies initiated an animated debate. The discussion failed to acknowledge that underlying this stagnation is the field‘s saturation with Hollywood and western cinema—that film studies stands at the brink of a sea change if we ―unthink‖ Eurocentricism, decenter Hollywood/western cinema, and explore nonwestern film cultures, and that multicultural comparative film studies curricula will provide the sorely needed disciplinary reinvigoration. Though attention to national cinema is an index of growing interest in ―other‖ cinema literatures, it is still light years from dislodging Hollywood‘s centrality in film studies.1 The lack of critical attention towards the cultural presence of Indian cinema, bemoaned by Jyotika Virdi in the introduction to her book The Cinematic ImagiNation, is hardly the only problem that seems to plague the contemporary Indian film scenario. Like most films made in the Third World, Indian films have long suffered, along with the lack of attention from historians, a simultaneous disinterest from theorists of film. In a global scenario where most films are judged primarily by the accolades of the West, it has been difficult to emphasize the distinctive nature of postcolonial Indian films, let alone establish a theoretical basis for them.2 The various recent endeavors to theorize postcolonial films, including Stam and Shohat‘s Unthinking Eurocentrism, Roy Armes‘s recent African Filmmaking North and South of the Sahara or John King‘s work on Latin American cinema, typically attempt to simultaneously deconstruct colonial films, and analyze postcolonial films—Stam and Shohat perform an extensive survey of representations in colonial films, Armes refers to the treatment of Africa and Africans in 1 French colonial filmmaking and John King examines the Hollywood stereotype of the Latino man. Although a similar analysis with representations is also possible with Indian film, I have felt the need for a more specific theoretical basis for postcolonial films from India. These films have gained exponentially in global popularity over the years, so much so that the Indian film industry is now both a cultural and an economic presence to reckon with. My project will assess the lasting effects of empire, not by the examination of colonial filmic texts, but more on the lines of theoretical analysis of the postcolonial films themselves. Most importantly, I wish to establish a theoretical basis for Indian film produced in the sixty years after independence in 1947, by delineating a concept that will help to analyze both the content of postcolonial Indian films and modes utilized by the filmmakers, ultimately indicating how such film is capable of articulating powerful anti- imperialist or postcolonial vision. However, even before one broaches the subject of a wider theoretical understanding, there needs to be certain clarifications in the popular understanding of Indian cinema. It should be noted that in spite of the substantial amount of critical work that has been produced on Indian cinema in the last decade, misconceptions about Indian cinema still