FILM DANCE, FEMALE STARDOM, AND THE PRODUCTION OF GENDER IN POPULAR HINDI CINEMA by Usha Iyer B. A. in English Literature, St. Xavier’s College, Bombay, India, 1994 Masters in Communication Studies, University of Pune, India, 1996 M.A. in English Literature, Centre for English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad, India, 2006 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in English/Film Studies University of Pittsburgh 2014 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Usha Iyer It was defended on August 18, 2014 and approved by Marcia Landy, Distinguished Professor, English and Film Studies Lucy Fischer, Distinguished Professor, English and Film Studies Ranjani Mazumdar, Associate Professor, School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India Dissertation Advisor: Neepa Majumdar, Associate Professor, English and Film Studies ii Copyright © by Usha Iyer 2014 iii FILM DANCE, FEMALE STARDOM, AND THE PRODUCTION OF GENDER IN POPULAR HINDI CINEMA Usha Iyer, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2014 This dissertation undertakes a historical and theoretical analysis of constructions of gender and sexuality through popular Hindi film dance. This hybrid dance form, primarily staged by female performers until recently, has featured a syncretic mix of Indian classical and folk dance traditions as well as transnational dance forms since the early 20th century. My study of this popular cultural form explores the interactions of Hindi cinema with indigenous and foreign dance forms, constructions of the performing body and of spaces of performance, differing narratives and histories of male and female stardom, and the mechanisms for the ideological constitution of the Indian spectator-subject. Drawing on interdisciplinary work on stardom, gender analysis, and performance theories from the contemporary field of dance studies as well as ancient South Asian texts on performance, I investigate the role of dance in the construction of the stardom of four iconic dancer-actresses from the 1930s to the 1990s: Sadhona Bose, Vyjayanthimala, Waheeda Rehman, and Madhuri Dixit. This project employs a body-space-movement framework (studying the spaces of dance, the movement vocabularies used, and the resulting construction of star bodies) to engage in a broader discussion of cinematic representation, body cultures, and the construction of gender. I propose a taxonomy of song-and-dance sequences to consider the various functions of musical and dance sequences in popular Hindi cinema and examine the gendering of performance in each of these registers. Employing the body-space-movement framework, I suggest that dance often iv enables female dancer-actresses to author particular types of cinematic narratives. Each chapter undertakes a historical analysis of the question of respectability that has dominated discourses on dance and film acting by women, and investigates thus the links between ideology, stardom, and constructions of femininity. Through a sustained analysis of film dance, I engage with questions that have long occupied scholars of South Asian cinema: how does popular Hindi cinema generate spectatorial desire and engagement differently than other cinematic cultures, through what mechanisms does the song-and-dance sequence produce romantic, erotic, and communitarian affects, and what are the specific mobilizations of space, movement, and bodies that create the particular address of this cinema? v TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION: FILM DANCE, FEMALE STARDOM, AND THE PRODUCTION OF GENDER IN POPULAR HINDI CINEMA ............................................ 1 1.1 INFLUENCES ON AND ATTITUDES TO FILM DANCE ........................... 5 1.2 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH ............................................................... 8 1.3 A BODY-CENTERED TAXONOMY OF SONG-AND-DANCE SEQUENCES ...................................................................................................................... 12 1.3.1 Narrative Numbers/Production Numbers ................................................... 18 1.4 WHY STUDY POPULAR HINDI FILM DANCE? ....................................... 25 1.5 BODY, MOVEMENT, SPACE – AN ORGANIZING FRAMEWORK ...... 31 1.6 FILM DANCE, CLASSICAL DANCE, FOLK DANCE – INFLUENCES, PARALLELS, DIFFERENCES ........................................................................................ 41 1.7 BACKGROUND DANCERS AS THE “FOLK” ............................................ 50 1.8 CHAPTER DESCRIPTION ............................................................................. 53 2.0 THE BHADRAMAHILA DANCER-ACTRESS: SADHONA BOSE AND DISCOURSES OF RESPECTABILITY AROUND DANCE AND FEMALE STARDOM IN THE 1930S AND 1940S ........................................................................................................ 55 2.1 A HOUSE OF MUSIC, DANCE, AND SOCIAL REFORM......................... 59 2.2 KEY INFLUENCES ON BOSE’S DANCE IDIOM....................................... 62 vi 2.3 DANCE BECOMES RESPECTABLE FOR THE BHADRAMAHILA ...... 73 2.4 THE INITIATION OF THE BHADRAMAHILA INTO CINEMA ............ 80 2.5 ALIBABA – GENTRIFYING THE ORIENTAL SPECTACULAR............. 84 2.6 THE SELF-REFLEXIVE DANCE SOCIAL GENRE .................................. 91 2.7 COURT DANCER – THE ORIENTALIZED DANCE SPECTACULAR.... 96 2.8 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 105 3.0 TRANSITIONING FROM BAI TO DEVI: NARRATIVIZING DANCE AS PROFESSION IN THE FILMS OF VYJAYANTHIMALA AND WAHEEDA REHMAN IN THE 1950S AND 1960S ..................................................................................................... 109 3.1 DISCOURSES ON WOMEN AND DANCE ................................................ 115 3.2 DANCING BODIES, SPACES, AND MOVEMENT VOCABULARIES . 124 3.3 THE SPACES OF THE BAI AND THE DEVI ............................................ 132 3.4 DANCE FILMS AS WOMEN’S FILMS ....................................................... 137 3.5 SPLITTING OF BODIES AND NAMES ...................................................... 149 3.6 MANAGEMENT OF SPLITS THROUGH STAR TEXTS ........................ 156 3.7 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 165 4.0 STARDOM KE PEECHE KYA HAI: MADHURI DIXIT AND THE NEGOTIATION OF THE HEROINE-VAMP DIVIDE IN NINETIES’ HINDI CINEMA…. ............................................................................................................................... 167 4.1 COLLAPSING THE HEROINE-VAMP DIVIDE IN “EK DO TEEN”..... 171 4.2 MANAGING BODIES AND SPACES TO MAINTAIN THE HEROINE- VAMP DIVIDE ................................................................................................................. 177 4.2.1 Altering Performing Bodies or, Smiling through the Pain of Dancing ... 178 vii 4.2.2 Altering Spaces of Performance to Choreograph New Geographies of Desire.. ....................................................................................................................... 183 4.3 SPLITTING FEMALE PRESENCE THROUGH DANCE VOCABULARIES ............................................................................................................ 188 4.4 MANY A SLIP TWIXT THE HEART AND THE BREAST: SPLITTING FEMALE PRESENCE BETWEEN THE PRODUCTION NUMBER AND THE NARRATIVE .................................................................................................................... 196 4.5 DANCE, SPACE, GENDER ........................................................................... 205 4.6 AAJA NACHLE – COMMEMORATING DIXIT AND HINDI FILM DANCE… .......................................................................................................................... 211 5.0 EPILOGUE – BOLLYWOOD AND FILM DANCE TODAY ............................ 219 5.1 FROM THE PRODUCTION NUMBER TO THE ITEM NUMBER ........ 220 5.2 CITATIONS OF THE CINEMATIC PAST THROUGH DANCE ............ 223 5.3 PERFORMING CINEMATIC FANDOM THROUGH DANCE ............... 224 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................ 227 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 231 viii PREFACE In completing this dissertation, I have enjoyed the intellectual and emotional support of numerous faculty members, friends, and family. First and foremost, I thank my dissertation chair, Neepa Majumdar, for her commitment towards this project. Her book on female stardom in Indian cinema has been instrumental in shaping this dissertation. An extremely responsive reader and meticulous editor, a constant source of encouragement and motivation to think harder through historical and theoretical issues, an ever-prompt replier to emails requesting all manner of assistance, Neepa has modeled the intellectual and collegial generosity that makes academic work rewarding and pleasurable. I could not have asked for a better mentor. Marcia Landy has been a formative presence through my time at the University of Pittsburgh. In the many courses I took with her, all of them singularly enriching, and through several smoke-filled conversations in her office, she has emphasized the importance of questioning clichéd ways of thinking and writing, and of appraising the stakes – political, historical,