Cinema India
The Visual Culture of Hindi Film
Rachel DwyerFocuses on the visual culture of Indian cinema, specifically Bombay-based cinema since 1913. Drawing on a range of sources, this title examines Bombay cinema’s unique styles, genres and themes, tracing its roots in early photography, theatre and chromolithography and its development as a visual regime that dominates Indian popular culture.
This is the first book to concentrate on the visual culture of Indian cinema, specifically Bombay-based cinema since 1913. Cinema is one of India’s most vibrant cultural products, as well as a major industry, producing the largest number of films in the world. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Dwyer and Patel examine Bombay cinema’s unique styles, genres and themes, tracing its roots in early photography, theatre and chromolithography and its development as a visual regime that dominates Indian popular culture.
The authors consider mise-en-scène, looking at sets, locations and costumes – crucial to understanding Indian fashion, lifestyle and consumption. They examine the use of hairstyles and make-up in the context of representations of the body in order to explore changing ideas of beauty and sexuality. Other crucial elements that are discussed include ethnicity and Westernization, thus highlighting issues of class, caste, regional variation and religion. Finally the authors look at publicity materials and examine the development of the imagery employed in film-advertising.
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Written in a clear and accessible style . . . It is also exceptionally well-illustrated . . . In extending their analysis to extra-filmic discourses, Dwyer and Patel show how movie imagery permeates into the wider culture and society.
'Film International
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A most welcome book . . . full of information and delightful illustrations of Hindi film stars and sets of major, even path-breaking productions, both in color and in black and white, that elicit nostalgic memories . . . a must read for Hindi film fans and for students and scholars in film studies and visual studies.
'Journal of Asian Studies
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A rich and substantive analysis . . . informative and interesting.
'Contemporary South Asia
Rachel Dwyer is Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema at SOAS, University of London. She is the author of Filming the Gods: Religion and Indian Cinema (2006) and Bollywood's India: Hindi Cinema as a Guide to Contemporary India (Reaktion, 2014). And, with Divia Patel Cinema India: The Visual Culture of Hindi Film (Reaktion, 2002)
