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A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://eprints.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details BOLLYWOOD : THE POSTMODERN AESTHETICS, SCHOLARLY APPEAL, AND REMAKING OF CONTEMPORARY POPULAR INDIAN CINEMA Neelam Sidhar Wright PhD thesis submitted to the University of Sussex September 2009 1 I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature…………………………………………………………………………………. 2 Acknowledgements I am grateful to the following people for all their support, guidance, feedback and encouragement throughout the course of my DPhil: Professor Richard Murphy, Dr. Thomas Austin, Andy Medhurst, Professor Sue Thornham, Dr Shohini Chaudhuri, Margaret Reynolds, Steve Jones, Sharif Mowlabocus, the DPhil student organisers of the MeCCSA postgraduate conference 2008, staff at the BFI library, British Library, University of Sussex library and the Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai, film director Leena Yadav, Pollyana Ruiz, Iain M. Smith, Michael Lawrence and his Indian cinema undergraduate students, my DPhil friends in the School of Humanities at the University of Sussex, Rachael Castell and Eliot Grove from Raindance East, Asjad Nazir, Bobby Friction, Jeremy Wooding, Herbert Krill, Paulo Mantovani, Ian Huffer, Niall Richardson, Rosalind Galt, Corey Creekmur, Abhiji Rao, Kay Dickinson, Richard Dyer, Ian Garwood, Stephen Barber, Andre Rinke, Sara Gill, Catherine Reynolds and Helen Wright. I would also like to thank my parents Kiran and Sharda Sidhar, my brother Vikram, and my husband Christopher for accompanying me in sitting through all those Bollywood films, and for always showing enthusiasm and interest for this project. I dedicate this thesis to you. 3 UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX NEELAM SIDHAR WRIGHT (DPHIL) BOLLYWOOD ECLIPSED: THE POSTMODERN AESTHETICS, SCHOLARLY APPEAL AND REMAKING OF CONTEMPORARY POPULAR INDIAN CINEMA SUMMARY This thesis uses postmodern theory to explore aesthetic shifts in post-millennial Bollywood cinema, with a particular focus on films produced by the Bombay film industry over the past nine years (2000-2009) and the recent boom of Hindi cross-cultural and self-remakes. My research investigates reasons behind the lack of appeal of Bollywood films in the West (particularly in their contemporary form), revealing how our understanding and appreciation of them is restricted or misinformed by a long history of censure from critics, scholars, educators and ambassadors of the Indian cinema. Through my analysis of the function and effects of cultural appropriation and postmodern traits in several recent popular Indian films, I expose Bollywood‘s unique film language in order to raise our appreciation of this cinema and suggest ways in which it can be better incorporated into future film studies courses. My analysis is based on a study of over a hundred contemporary Bollywood remakes and includes close textual analysis and case studies of a wide variety of popular Bollywood films, including: Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Abhay (2001), Kaante (2002), Devdas (2002), Koi…Mil Gaya (2003), Sarkar (2005), Krrish (2006) and Om Shanti Om (2007). In my conclusion, I offer a redefinition of contemporary Bollywood and I consider postmodernism‘s usefulness as a tool for teaching Indian cinema and its value as an international cultural phenomenon. 4 Table of Contents List of Illustrations and Tables……………………………………………..............5 List of Abbreviations for Film Titles………………………..……………………...6 Chapter 1 Introduction: The Bollywood Eclipse……………………………………….7 Chapter 2 Contexts and Frameworks……………………………………………………16 Part one: The critical history and traditional modes of studying Indian cinema…….…………..16 Part two: The scholarly appeal of (contemporary) popular Indian cinema…………………........36 Part three: Contemporary Bollywood: New directions in Indian film research…………………49 Chapter 3 Postmodernism and Contemporary Indian cinema…………………………59 Case study 1: Om Shanti Om........................................................................................................................85 Case study 2: Koi…Mil Gaya……………………………………………………………………95 Case study 3: Abhay……………………………………………………………………………108 Chapter 4 Remaking in Bollywood………………………………………………………122 Celebrity and Genetic Intertextuality in Sarkar…………………………………………………135 Shifting towards the figural: Sanjay Leela Bhansali‘s Devdas…………………………………….139 Self-reflexivity and self-referentiality in Bollywood and Dil Chahta Hai..............................................155 Action movies, identity & the ‗cool‘ aesthetic in Kaante………………... ………………………161 Chapter 5 Conclusion: A Bollywood Renaissance?........................................................177 Bibliography……………………………………………………………….................188 Appendix 1: Table of Bollywood Remakes…………………………………......….201 Appendix 2: Filmography…………………….………………………………….….204 5 List of Illustrations and Tables Figure 1: Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan: The new faces (and bodies) of Bollywood .................... 8 Figure 2: Satirising Bollywood: Postmodern art posters by Annu Palakunnathu Matthew ............... 10 Figure 3: Amitabh Bachchan as 1980s superhero in Shahenshah (left) and Toofan (right) .................... 19 Figure 4: Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan in DDLJ (left) and post-millennium (right) ................. 52 Figure 5: A Hindi temple inside a statue of Hanuman over-looking Delhi‘s Metro-link ................... 60 Figure 6: Om Shanti Om‟s Protagonists Om and Shantipriya in the 1970s ............................................. 86 Figure 7: Bollywood in 1977 and 2007: Film City Billboards in Om Shanti Om .................................... 91 Figure 8: The recursive structural framework of Om Shanti Om ............................................................. 93 Figure 9: Jadoo: The sci-fi incarnation of Hindu God Lord Krishna .................................................... 99 Figure 10: Abhay, the real life manifestation of a larger-than-life comic book villain ...................... 112 Figure 11: Comic hero Betaal (left) as inspiration for the character of Abhay (right) ....................... 113 Figure 12: In Abhay‘s world reality is fictionalised and pictures come to life .................................... 114 Figure 13: Abhay murders Sharmilee in a hyperrealistic animated sequence ...................................... 116 Figure 14: Cartoon comic aesthetics in Cash (above) and Krrish (below) ............................................ 117 Figure 15: Vijay and Tejaswini: Reality is presented in comic book form ........................................... 118 Figure 16: Posters for Sarkar show mirror images of Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan ................ 139 Figure 17: Ornately decorated Chandramukhi (top left) and Paro (bottom right) match the detail of a fine Indian miniature painting ................................................................................................................. 147 Figure 18: Promotional image for Devdas depicting the suave and sophisticated protagonist, having returned from his studies in England ........................................................................................................ 149 Figure 19: Cartoon characters Hum Tum and Paheli‟s Rajasthani puppets narrate and reflect on the film‘s narrative and themes ......................................................................................................................... 156 Figure 20: Wo Ladhki Hai Kahan, a parodic journey through popular Hindi cinema in the 1950‘s, 1960‘s and 1980‘s .......................................................................................................................................... 159 Figure 21: Oldboy (above) and its alleged ‗shot-for-shot‘ remake Zinda (below) ................................. 163 Figure 22: Exploiting Hollywood conventions: Kaante‘s opening sequence ..................................... 164 Figure 23: Fight Club: Member‟s Only, Indian ‗cool‘ aesthetics and masculinity in contemporary Bollywood ...................................................................................................................................................... 166 Figure 24: Box office hit Munna bhai MBBS is the first Bollywood film to be remade in Hollywood ......................................................................................................................................................................... 175 Figure 25: Holy men in Allahabad and spectators at Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi ..................... 177 Figure 26: Bhansali‘s ―cinematic painting‖ Saawariya, with set pieces evoking Baz Luhrmann‘s Moulin Rouge.................................................................................................................................................... 185 Figure 27: The postmodern commodification of Shah Rukh Khan: As a life-size wax figure (top left), a collectable doll (top right), as Bollywood movie