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Popular Cinema, Religion and Politics in South India Uma Maheswari Bhrugubanda Submitted In Genealogies of the Citizen-Devotee: Popular Cinema, Religion and Politics in South India Uma Maheswari Bhrugubanda Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree Of Doctor of Philosophy In the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2011 © 2011 Uma Maheswari Bhrugubanda All Rights Reserved Abstract Genealogies of the Citizen-Devotee: Popular Cinema, Religion and Politics in South India Uma Maheswari Bhrugubanda This dissertation is a genealogical study of the intersections between popular cinema, popular religion and politics in South India. It proceeds with a particular focus on the discursive field of Telugu cinema as well as religion and politics in the state of Andhra Pradesh from roughly the 1950s to the 2000s. Telugu cinema continued to produce mythological and devotional films based mostly on Hindu myths and legends many decades after they ceased to be major genres in Hindi and many other Indian languages. This was initially seen simply as an example of the insufficiently modernized and secularized nature of the South Indian public, and of the enduring nature of Indian religiosity. However, these films acquired an even greater notoriety later. In 1982, N.T. Rama Rao, a film star who starred in the roles of Hindu gods like Rama and Krishna in many mythologicals set up a political party, contested and won elections, and became the Chief Minister of the state, all in the space of a year. For many political and social commentators this whirlwind success could only be explained by the power of his cinematic image as god and hero! The films thus came to be seen as major contributing factors in the unusual and undesirable alliance between cinema, religion and politics. This dissertation does not seek to refute the links between these different fields; on the contrary it argues that the cinema is a highly influential and popular cultural institution in India and as such plays a very significant role in mediating both popular religion and politics. Hence, we need a fuller critical exploration of the intersections and overlaps between these realms that we normally think ought to exist in independent spheres. This dissertation contributes to such an exploration. A central argument it makes is about the production of the figure of the citizen-devotee through cinema and other media discourses. Through the use of this hyphenated word, citizen-devotee, this study points to the mutual and fundamental imbrication of the two ideas and concepts. In our times, the citizen and devotee do not and cannot exist as independent figures but necessarily contaminate each other. On the one hand, the citizen- devotee formulation indicates that the citizen ideal is always traversed by, and shot through with other formations of subjectivity that inflect it in significant ways. On the other hand, it points to the incontrovertible fact that in modern liberal democracies, it is impossible to simply be a devotee (bhakta) where one‘s allegiance is only to a particular faith or mode of being. On the contrary, willingly or unwillingly one is enmeshed in the discourse of rights and duties, subjected to the governance of the state, the politics of identity and the logics of majority and minority and so on. Religion as we know it today is itself the product of an encounter with modern rationalities of power and the modern media. Hence, the modern hybrid formation—the citizen-devotee. The first full length study of the Telugu mythological and devotional films, this dissertation combines a historical account of Telugu cinema with an anthropology of film making and viewership practices. It draws on film and media theory to foreground the specificity of these technologies and the new kind of publics they create. Anthropological theories of religion, secularism and the formation of embodied and affective subjects are combined with political theories of citizenship and governmentality to complicate our understanding of the overlapping formations of film spectators, citizens and devotees. Table of Contents Introduction 1-39 Part I: History and Politics of Telugu Mythological and Devotional Films 40-148 Chapter 1: From Representing Gods to Representing the Telugu People: NTR, Populism and the Politics of the Vernacular 41-83 Chapter 2: The Exemplary Citizen-Devotee and the Other: Negotiating History and Religious Difference on Screen 84-113 Chapter 3: The Good Wife and the Goddess: Scripting Roles for the Female Citizen through Devotional Films 114-148 Part II: Anthropology of Film-Making and Film- Viewing Practices 149-205 Chapter 4: Formations of Film Spectators as Devotees 150-205 Part III: Popular Religion and Culture in the Time of Governmentality 206-254 Chapter 5: Cinema and Other Media: Producing the ―Reality‖ of Religion 207-220 Chapter 6: Beyond Cinema: New Citizen-Devotee Publics 221-254 Conclusion 255-260 Bibliography 261-280 Appendix 1 281-291 i List of Illustrations in Appendix 1 (Stills from Films) Figure 1: NTR as the God Krishna in Sri Krishna Pandaveeyam (1965) Figure 2: Star as God: Framed for Worship Figure 3: Nagarjuna in and as Sri Ramadasu (2006)--Nageswara Rao as Kabir displays his Rama bhakti Figure 4: Playing Ramadasu as ethical and political citizen-devotee Figure 5: The King tries to persuade the crowd of citizen-devotees in Nagula Chavithi (1956) Figure 6: The Crowd demands the King worship their goddess. Nagula Chavithi (1956) Figure 7: The subaltern goddess makes an appearance in Ammoru (1995) Figure 8: Devotee-crowds gather to acknowledge the appearance Figure 9: Computer generated special effects in Ammoru (1995) Figure 10: The Violent Goddess: Ramya Krishna in Ammoru Figure 11: Goddess Film Poster: Possessed viewer being blessed by goddess ii Acknowledgements It is with great pleasure and a sense of relief that I write these acknowledgements— pleasure because I can finally place on record my gratitude to the great number of people who have helped me and sustained me during the course of researching and writing this dissertation, and relief because this has been a very long journey and is finally at an end!I would like to especially mention— Nicholas Dirks for his intellectual generosity and for being a truly understanding and encouraging supervisor. During my years of graduate training, as head of the department, Nick had,both through the example of his own work, and through bringing together a remarkable group of scholars and students, made the department a most stimulating place to conduct research in the discipline of anthropology and in South Asian studies. To David Scott, I owe a special debt. David an incrediblythoughtful scholar who spent many hours discussing the ideas for this dissertation at different stages. His constant support and comments on my work have been extremely critical in helping me bring coherence and structure to this work. Partha Chatterjee, a scholar who never fails to inspire, for his kind encouragement and insightful feedbackthat came at a time when I needed them most. William Mazzarella for readily agreeing to be part of the defense committee and for bringing in an energetic engagement and a fresh perspective that pushed me to sharpen and refine many ideas in the dissertation. iii Sudipta Kaviraj, whose scholarship has enriched my thinking in many ways, for agreeing to be part of the committee at really short notice and for his thought-provoking comments that have generated many new ideas which I hope to develop in the future. Profs. Rosalind Morris, John Pemberton and Brinkely Messick whose stimulating graduate courses, not to mention their warmth and support as teachers, had provided the initial impetus for conceptualizing this project. I owe much to the cheerful and ready help and support of our department office staff— Joyce Monges (now retired), Marilyn Astwood and Ruby Cruz. All the GSAS and library staff at Columbia who make the university a great research institution. Two generous fellowships—The International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF) from the Social Science Research Council, New York and a Columbia Travelling Fellowship from Columbia University—helped me conduct archival research and fieldwork in Hyderabad, Pune, Madras and Bangalore in the years 2002—2004. The wonderful friendship and warmth of a fantastic set of graduate students has made my journey as a research scholar not only intellectually inspiring but also a pleasurable experience. I will always treasure the friendship of Arafaat Valiani, Nadia Loan, Zoe Reiter, Vishnupad Mishra, Lisa Mitchell, Ravindran Sriramachandran, Rajan Krishnan, David Kim, Poornima Paiditpaty, Siva Arumugam, Antina von Schnitzler, Ruchi Chaturvedi, Aparna Balachandran, Bhavani Raman, Nadia Guessous and Yogesh Chandrani. iv Srikanth Mallavarapu needs a special mention for unfailing friendship and support over the years. Balu for constant feasts of music and movies and the wonderful hospitality at Washington. Kesava and Padmaja for their hospitality at Hartford. Jaya Pinni and her family for making my stay so comfortable during my research at the Poona Film Archives. Aparna and Bhavani for initiating me into the intricacies of archival research at the Madras State Archives. Many friends and relatives in Hyderabad who have helped in so many ways—discussing films with me, helping me acquire them, helping me arrange interviews and so on. I would like to thank especially Sagar, Gayatri, Lata pinni and Vani Attayyagaru. Much of this dissertation was written in Hyderabad where people at two institutions continue to provide me with not only warm camaraderie but also an academically nurturing and politically engaged environment to work in. Special thanks to my friends at Anveshi—A. Suneetha, Vasudha Nagaraj, R. Srivatsan and Vasanta. I am deeply indebted to my colleagues in the Department of Cultural Studies, EFL University—K. Satyanaryana, Madhava Prasad, Satish Poduval and Parthasarathy without whose friendship, unstinting support and encouragement I would have never been able to complete this dissertation.
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