Organizer and Chair: Clare Wilkinson Weber, Washington State University Vancouver

Discussant: Tejaswini Ganti, New York University

Popular Hindi cinema draws upon, and also influences art, craft, and everyday practices in Bombay.  Going beyond analyses of film as text, this panel examines instead the contexts of film production and reception both locally and globally. Contributors from the fields of anthropology, literature and film studies will reflect upon the cultural influences, diverse skills, and social relations that together bring Hindi cinema into being, and describe the ways in which film is shaping identities and practices in the present. We seek to bring an interdisciplinary perspective to understanding "Bollywood" as a powerful, global culture industry, whose influence is increasingly felt in related "culture" industries such as advertising, fashion and mass-media. In particular, the panel explores Bollywood at a critical moment of transformation and change, in both its production processes, and its integration into larger social and cultural circuits. Most of us have made use of empirical studies to investigate these problems; all have tried to draw in new perspectives – for example from film technicians, craftspeople, journalists – to the analysis of film. Together in this panel, we aim to advance discussion on how new methods of investigating the worlds of popular Hindi film – including but not limited to ethnography – can enrich our work. Our questions include: How are cultural forms interpreted and re-formed through filmic interventions?  How is the culture of filmmaking forged from the different skills and art worlds of craftspeople, art professionals and skilled technicians?  How does film penetrate other domains of social experience and cultural practice?

Sangita Gopal, University of Oregon

In pre-liberalization India, the cinematic image was one of the prime vehicles for the display of commodities, lifestyles, and accessories; audiences looked in particular to female stars for new and contemporary ways of dress. From the late 90’s this practice has been reversed. Stars today function as bodies that display the products of famous designers. Clothes and accessories for a film – particularly the song and dance sequences - are frequently designed well in advance and sometimes the music director, cinematographer and choreographer build their work around the vision of designers. In this paper, I ask to what extent the current obsession with the period flick – Lagaan, Devdas, Veer Zaara, Parineeta and Choker Bali - is linked to this symbiotic relationship between the fashion and film industry that has led to the creation of a new fashion category – Bollywood Style. Building upon interviews with the chief designer at Anjali Jewelers (whose original designs contributed in large measure to the "historical authenticity" of some of these films), various industry professionals including art directors and costume designers, viewers and fans, I will show the extent to which jewelry is fast emerging as one of the chief "attractions" in these period films. If the display of jewelry in cinematic texts incites consumerism, it also becomes a means for visualizing the past in nationalist terms. Close reading of two films – Choker Bali and Parineeta – shows the semiotic use to which jewelry is put in the diegesis to figure forth a new model of female consumer-citizen.

Ranjani Mazumdar, Independent scholar, India

This paper looks at the role of fan magazines in the circulation of star cultures and their more recent incorporation into a global circulation of popular culture through award shows. Fan magazines – in a number of regional languages – play a tremendously important role in the film industry. Some magazines have transformed from "serious" film criticism to
primary sites for star narratives, detailed interviews, and a plethora of celebrity photographs. Annual Award shows linked to major magazines (e.g. Filmfare) provide an additional source of revenue and are relayed in live telecasts, turning them into major promotional events saturated with advertising. These award functions and other promotional events have long been organized in the U.S and U.K, but now there has been a major increase not only in their numbers but also in their geographical spread. Cities like Singapore, South Africa, the Mauritius, and Japan are now all part of this circuit. New networks and alliances are being created both nationally and globally with the entry of advertising, Hollywood style marketing campaigns, global releases, and a torrent of publicists and syndicated film-based talk shows which feature stars, directors, dress designers and dance choreographers. Tracking this new world of star circulation through magazines, television and live shows, the paper will try to locate and trace the emerging links between advertising, film culture and television (both international and domestic) to show how these links have been crucial to defining and promoting a new industry of consumer desire.

Debashree Mukherjee, SARAI, India

This paper attempts to unravel the politics of film production based on ethnographic field research. Privileging personal biographies and memory, the paper traces the personal and professional journeys of three disparate individuals -- Ravi Dada: make-up man; Surekha: dubbing artiste and coordinator; and Ved Nair, Music Director -- temporarily brought together during the making of Johnny, Johnny, Yes Papa!, a Hindi feature film. All three of them find themselves at a peculiar moment in Hindi cinema, which is a cause for anxiety in some of them and great excitement for the others. The paper also seeks to examine the changing contexts of film production in Bombay today, how they have come about and what they mean for artistes and workers. The old-world, joint family model of film units is increasingly being rejected; a thriving commerce of stereotypes (fixed, recurring characters and situations) has been declared unfashionable; a young, educated, middle class now wants to be a part of creative and glamorous industries, eschewing the principles of respectability of previous generations. All this means a loss of employment or status for scores of men and women. What does this change in priority and profile mean for Hindi cinema? Conversely, what do recent hectic changes in film content mean for the people who make the movies?

Emmanuel Grimaud, CNRS Nanterre, France

Many filmmakers have criticized the "mythology of the script" and have tried to relativize the role of the script as a mode of coordination inside the Hollywood film industry itself, giving rise to alternative styles, and theories about the film making process. But ethnographic studies regarding the concrete process of film visualization from script session to shooting, the various transformations of the text in its different forms(screenplay, one-liner, treatment notes, etc.) and the production of traces (graphs, story boards) during the shooting are still rare. As an example and on the basis of a fieldwork conducted inside an Indian film team as an assistant director, I propose to consider how Bombay film makers situate themselves in the debate about the script as a mode of visualization as well as a coordination tool between the different crafts of film making. And I will try to show how contemporary Bombay filmmaking practices have generated alternative ways of looking at it. The ethnography of the different stages through which a film is visualized from "story session" to shooting will then help us to reconsider the ordinary strategies used in anthropology and sociology to connect film and culture.