ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

Articles by Hrishikesh IngleSubscribe to Hrishikesh Ingle

Lockdowned Cinema

A series of reports in the media recently noted the shock expressed by multiplex exhibitors at producers releasing films on OTT (over the top) platforms. In this period of the national lockdown due to COVID-19, when film production activities have stopped, and film exhibition in cinema houses has come to a halt, a number of such issues have become relevant. This article discusses three aspects of the social consumption of cinema in the lockdown. First, it discusses the consumption of the film star as a commodity. Second, it considers the fallout of the lockdown for the shift in viewing towards OTT platforms. Third, it explores the challenges of the lockdown faced by cine workers, who contribute labour for its creation but are not seen on the screen.

Fandry and Sairat

Sairat (The Wild, 2016), and Fandry (Pig, 2014), by Nagraj Manjule have been widely celebrated for portraying narratives of caste marginalisation in rural Maharashtra. This paper argues that marginal narratives and subjectivities in Fandry and Sairat posit moments of resistance, that bring into question mainstream cinema, its tropes of romance, and the region in transition. Apart from presenting a reading of the subjective experience of being socially marginal, the paper deliberates on how the films emblematise a certain social entanglement, and are instrumental in affirming their own objectified versions.

Prabhat Studios

The history of early Marathi cinema has a necessary passage through the studio era, and specifically Prabhat Studios, in Kolhapur and Pune. This article elaborates two aspects: (i) early regional film-making—its strategies of imagining a cinema through regional content, and (ii) the notion of social respectability—that circumscribes the industrial enterprise, as evident in the history of Prabhat Studios. It also deliberates on the negotiation of a national and regional cinema as observed in the practice of bilingual film-making in Prabhat.

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