Shyam Benegal's India

SHYAM BENEGAL’S INDIA This book examines Shyam Benegal’s films and alternative image(s) of India in his cinema, and traces the trajectory of changing aesthetics of his cinema in the post-liberalisation era. The book engages with the challenges faced by India as a nation-state in post-colonial times. Looking at hybrid and complex narratives of films like Manthan, Junoon, Kalyug, Charandas Chor, Sooraj Ka Satvaan Ghoda, Zubeidaa and Well Done Abba , among others, it analyses how these stories and characters, adapted and derived from mythology, folk- tales, historical fiction and novels, are rooted in the socio-political contexts of modern India. The author explores diverse themes in Benegal’s cinema such as the loss of home and identity, women’s sexuality, and the status of dalits and Muslims in India. He also focuses on how the filmmaker expertly weaves history with myth, culture, and contemporary politics and discusses the debate around the interpretive value of film adaptations, adaptation of history and the representations of marginalised communities and liminal spaces. The book will be useful for students and researchers of film studies, cultural studies, and the humanities. It will also interest readers of Indian cinema and the social and cultural history of India. Vivek Sachdeva is a professor at the University School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, India. As well as being a translator, he is the author of Fiction to Film: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s The Householder and Heat and Dust ; he also co-edited Identities in South Asia: Conflicts and Assertions . Vivek Sachdeva, in this comprehensive study, maps the narrative of Benegal’s cinema onto the shifting narrative of the nation, as he traces its engage- ment with issues of tradition and modernity and history and its adaptation, among others. Theoretically rich, engaging with questions of cinema aesthetics, as also raising political questions, this work will be relished by academics and cinema lovers alike – Simi Malhotra, Director, Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research & Professor, Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi . SHYAM BENEGAL’S INDIA Alternative Images Vivek Sachdeva First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Vivek Sachdeva The right of Vivek Sachdeva to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-19533-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-26406-1 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MY PARENTS CONTENTS Acknowledgements viii Introduction 1 1 Assertion to empowerment: narratives of social change 28 2 Women and the nation 47 3 Political commentaries through adaptations 78 4 Adapting history 102 5 Contestations with Indian modernity 126 6 Changing mofussil spaces and new (middle) cinema 155 Bibliography 170 Filmography 178 Index 180 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It was my long-cherished desire to work on Shyam Benegal’s cinema. I have been thinking and reflecting on this project for many years. My ideas started to take shape more clearly after many discussions with my teachers, fellow academicians and my students in the course of my class lectures on film studies. An intellectual journey, which began alone with my grappling with ideas, acquired rich inputs from such discussions. Whatever limitations remain are solely mine. I feel that no work of any kind can ever be complete without one’s friends’ and well-wishers’ help. There were quite a few people who helped me in the present project. I take this opportunity to thank all those who were directly or indirectly part of this journey. First of all, I would like to thank my teacher and mentor Professor Rana Nayar, under whose guidance my academic journey began. He has always been a source of encouragement and a constant support, irrespective of cir- cumstances and his busy schedule. I would like to thank Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (G.G.S.I.P.) for giving me the financial grant under the Faculty Research Grant Scheme (F.R.G.S). for the project. I also thank Professor Anup Beniwal, the Dean at the time (2016), University School of Humanities and Social Sciences, GGSIP University for his support. I take this opportunity to thank Professor Simi Malhotra, Jamia Millia Islamia for her unquestioning faith in my work. There are a few friends who helped me in different ways. In the course of the project, I attended various conferences during which my fellow academics gave me critical inputs which provided clarity about my arguments. I take this opportunity to place on record the kindness shown by Dr. Vijay Devdas, who was at the University of Otago when I visited to present a paper on Shyam Benegal’s films at a conference. I would like to thank Dr. Svetlana Kurtes, University of Portsmouth, and Dr. Monika Kopytowska, University of Lodz, for giving me opportunities to share my work on Shyam Benegal at different conferences held in Poland and the U.S.A. I am extremely grateful to Dr. Romita Ray, University of Syracuse and Dr. Navtej Purewal, S.O.A.S., London, for their unstinted help. Both of them were extremely prompt and kind to send me articles and other study material whenever I required. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would also like to acknowledge the editorial teams of The Journal of Popular Culture, Brukenthalia: Romanian Cultural History Review and Refocus: The Films of Shyam Benegal , Edinburgh University Press for their co-operation in giving me the permission to reuse articles/chapters published in their journals and anthologies in this book. I thank my students as their inquisitive queries during lectures and discussions gave me a fresh perspective and on occasion prompted me to revisit my arguments. My sincere thanks to the entire editorial team of Routledge for improving my manuscript. My special thanks to Shyam Benegal for sparing some time to meet me. Interacting with him gave me an insight into the way he understands and defines his medium. He was gracious and kind to give me personal copies of two of his films which I had been unable to procure elsewhere. I express my deep sense of gratitude to Pt. Ritesh Mishra and Pts. Rajan- Sajan Mishra for anchoring my life through rough waters. I am extremely indebted to them for not only teaching me nuances of music, which has shaped my sensibility and approach towards other art forms as well, but also many lessons of life. I am grateful to them for being there for me, irrespective of my other commitments. My special thanks to my wife, Queeny Pradhan, who has been a tremen- dous support throughout the project. There were moments when I felt low or extremely challenged. She has always been there to extend her support unflinchingly and show faith in my work. My special thanks to her for the critical comments and also her contribution in improving the quality of this work. Last but not least, I thank our son, Amartya, for giving us a reason to smile with his pranks and mischievous behaviour during this journey. I also thank my parents-in-law for their blessings and best wishes. Vivek Sachdeva ix INTRODUCTION Since the rise of Hindutava ideology in the late 1980s, the idea of India has become a much-debated and contested category. India has undergone major social, economic and political changes. The rise of Hindutava ideology in the country gave Indians a new imagination of the nation. Such an imagination was also prompted by the economic policies of liberalisation adopted in the early 1990s, taking India away from previous socialist ideals. Since the 2000s, the state has also made attempts to become extra powerful and implement its ideology, making the ideals of democracy a contentious issue. In such times, it is crucial to engage with questions like – What is a nation? How has the idea of India as a nation changed over the period of time? What is the position of marginalised communities vis-à-vis the idea of nation? How are the ideologies of nation and nationalism contested in various forms of media from different ideological positions? What role is played by media, cinema and literature in narrating the nation? Do film narratives propagate the state ideology or give a coun- ter discourse to state nationalist ideologies? What challenges does India have as a nation-state? How have the aesthetics and concerns of cinema changed over the period of time? With these questions in mind, this book engages with the study of representation of India and its myriad images in the cinema of Shyam Benegal. Benegal is one of the most prominent film- makers of his time dealing with the multi-perspectives and challenges of a young nation-state.

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