Introduction
Cinema in India is a very powerful tool that has succeeded in influencing the minds and image formation of the viewers all across the country. Although the films are made in several Indian languages targeting several viewers across the populace, it is important to note that it is only films made in Hindi have appropriated the label of the Indian cinema. In spite of a large amount of critical work that has been produced on Indian cinema in the last decades since independence, there are several misconceptions that still abound about Indian cinema.
This essay is going to critically evaluate and correct misconceptions surrounding the cinematic norms and lay down the theoretical foundations for Indian cinema. This essay conducts deep analytical studies of Indian cinema and examines to what extent such cinema represents anti-colonial and postcolonial vision. The political resistance and influence of neo-colonial and colonial norms and the capacity of the films to formulate a national identity is the primary focus of this study.
Indian cinema: brief history
Virtually all conventional history of Indian cinema begins with its rumored pioneer Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Hill, 152). The man is rumored to have pioneered the modernly known version of India’s vast and thriving nascent film and theater industry. Scholarly articles largely point the influence of the founders based on cultural practices of pre-cinema traditions of popular art, dance and political as well as post-colonial assimilation. However, the lack of critical attention to the post-colonial influence on native culture in the presence of Indian cinema is hardly the only mistake made by pioneers amongst them Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Hill, 152).
In most scenarios where many films are judged and viewed from the umbrella of the west particularly Hollywood, Indian films have been misjudged for centuries coupled by the continuous disinterest from film theorists. This situation has enhanced a system which has created a fog over the distinctive nature of post-colonial Indian films. This study, therefore, assesses the lasting effects of the empire not on the basis of post-colonial film texts and scripting but on the analysis of post-colonial films themselves. Post-colonial Indians films can be accurately guessed to have originated immediately after independence in 1947 (Hill, 151). Modernity and culture have been at loggerheads ever since with producers trying to create a global appeal like Hollywood at the expense of the larger conservatory Indian culture.
It is very fundamental that scholars understand that the global culture that brings Indian cinema to worldwide audiences that largely eludes the socio-political conditions of the nation. There are concerns that the misconceptions around Indian cinema, are purposely commercial driven merely as a form of entertainment and not an educative tool on India’s vast and rich cultures. The other challenge in the global reception of India’s cinema in the market is the first world’s condescension and surprise at the level of poverty in India.
Many film genres approach the post-colonial approach of social and political issues from India as misunderstood in the global world. The local population moans the advertisement of the national poverty levels to the world, unclothing Indians for the very purpose of profit. The western world has also been largely accused over their obsession in poverty and livelihood over other influential artistic components. The federacy of the republic also had a great role influencing Indian's current cinematography. The government of India ran a massive campaign against the release of the movie Slumdog millionaire as it was thought to portray India’s urban economic crisis at a time when the government had all indicators pointing to a stable growth (Sengupta, 163). The natives thought the producers and the film were selling India’s poverty to the first world.
There are three main post-colonial trends evident in Indian cinema. The government after independence founded a national, nationwide campaign which targeted audiences across the world to promote Hindi cinema. This resulted in the unification of the formerly partitioned movie industries of Indian colonies of Lahore and Karachi. This partition resulted in the division of Hindi into India and Pakistan. The political interference with the film industry as an independent body led the state into using the now vibrant Indian cinema to adopt official measures to discipline the film industry into adhering to new cultural and ideological priorities. This initiative prompted the government itself into being at the center of filmmaking, by ensuring what goes out into the world has been nationally approved by the people of India.
The ideological tensions that characterize these developments decide the priorities of such nationalist ideologies and massive investment into the film industry led to the creation of all-time Indian hits producers and filmmakers such as Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor and Mehboob amongst others are still renowned in the reviving and evolution of Indian cinema. The post-colonial effects in the modern Indian cinema and theater cannot be underestimated from a first world gaze perspective. The adoption of the name Bollywood a derivative of Hollywood is a testament to this influence. One has to be constantly aware when analyzing the social and political impacts on the modern imports of Indian cinema.
The post-colonial influence on Indian cinema cannot only be addressed from the scripting and story-lining. Even in recent scholarly articles and research carried out on Indian film genres and its generic nature. The distinction between popular and parallel cinema in India is most notable in the mode of presentation (Breckenridge, 13). By constantly overlooking the differences between the apparently unrelated fields of the genre of Indian cinema. However, critics have largely ignored the representation of a post-colonial nation state troubled by various social political issues.
The major element of overlap and the overall focus of this study is to point the capacity and the extent to which popular and parallel Indian cinema to have been overall representing an anti-colonial discourse (Sengupta, 66). The modern texts of Indian cinema largely resemble several post-colonial scripts. The zone and connection between real and unreal and the infantile and mature contents portrayed in Indian cinema. As an art and medium of entertainment, cinema reflects a zone of immortality coupled by an accompaniment of nationalism, identity and Indian culture.
The making of Hollywood's most renowned films with an Indian genre background is enough testament to the growth and global reach and influence of Indian cinema. The most renowned being the incorporation of Indian genres in the making of James Bond's octopussy which used locations in the area of Rajasthan. Although Indiana Jones was denied permission to film the movie temple of doom in India his incorporation of Indian scenes revived the rich cinematography to the world that was Indian cinema (Chakravarty, 23). The deceivers was also a fundamental movie that portrayed British influence in post-colonial India.
Work Cited
Breckenridge, Carol Appadurai. Consuming Modernity: Public Culture in a South Asian World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995.
Chakravarty, Sumita S. National Identity in Indian Popular Cinema, 1947-1987. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993.
Hill W. John., Pamela, Gibson., Richard D., Kaplan E. Ann & Paul, Willemen. World Cinema: Critical Approaches. Oxford University Press. Pg. 152-155. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=SUKcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT142&lpg=PT142&dq=early+pioneers+of+post-colonial+cinema+in+india&source=bl&ots=HA3pacWMtA&sig=ShbxioFdyE_rDLNcNR4o_GMNgps&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=early%20pioneers%20of%20post-colonial%20cinema%20in%20india&f=false
Movie Journeys. Movies about Postcolonial India, Sri Lanka. On February 9, 2015. http://www.moviejourneys.com/movies-about-post-colonial-india/
Sengupta, Aparajita. Nation, fantasy, and mimicry: elements of political resistance in postcolonial Indian cinema. University of Kentucky. 2011. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?artice=1129&context=gradschool_diss
