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Film Certification in India: Politicisation and Moral Conservatism of the ‘Censor’ Board

The abolition of the appellate tribunal for film certification has brought into sharper focus the politics of film censorship by the state, which shows continuity in its implications from pre- to post-independence India.

Lockdowned Cinema

Vol. 56, Issue No. 15, 10 Apr, 2021
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.

Cine Star in Electoral Politics

Vol. 55, Issue No. 50, 19 Dec, 2020

Can the superstar provide traction to majoritarian politics in the Dravidian heartland?

Anti-caste Aesthetics and Dalit Interventions in Indian Cinema

Vol. 55, Issue No. 38, 19 Sep, 2020
Manju Edachira

The cinematic interventions of contemporary Dalit film-makers in India, Nagraj Manjule and Pa Ranjith, among others, represent modes of resistant historiography, employed by Dalits, against the aesthetic regime of stereotypical representation, through innovative techniques in visuals, sound, music, and cinematography. The paper attempts to evaluate and argue for an enabling anti-caste aesthetics articulated through an embodied sensibility in films. The paper argues that these film-makers not only disturb “the unconscious of caste” through an explicit anti-caste aesthetics but also produce affective, expressive archives. In other words, they bring into presence what was previously impossible through the processes of denunciation (of casteist images) and innovation (of anti-caste aesthetics).

Cities and Class Inequality in Neo-liberal Times: An Insight from Parasite

Vol. 55, Issue No. 14, 04 Apr, 2020
In current neo-liberal times, cities have become spaces of exclusion, where widening class inequalities are manifested. By reviewing the movie Parasite, the article attempts to present a narrative of the present Korean urban reality and how it resembles the situation in most cities across the global South.

Contemporary Urban Politics: Reflections from ‘Mulshi Pattern’ and ‘Kaala’

Kaala (2018) directed by Pa Ranjith, and Mulshi Pattern (2018) directed by Pravin Tarde, both depict the changing nature of the political economy that revolves around the ownership of urban and suburban land. The conflict arising out of the overlapping shades of caste, class and land is at the root of both the films. While Kaala is the embodiment of contemporary subaltern politics as well as its aesthetics, Mulshi Pattern is an expression of the reactionary politics of criminalisation arising out of the collective insecurity perceived by dominant castes on losing landholdings and associated privileges.

Pawan Kalyan's Inconsistent Political Agenda Might Make Janasena Party Come Undone

Vol. 53, Issue No. 31, 04 Aug, 2018
Pawan Kalyan’s political party, the Janasena Party has no clear agenda and has been inconsistent in taking concrete steps. It looks unlikely that the political outfit can succeed solely based on Pawan Kalyan’s on-screen prowess.

Pa Ranjith’s ‘Kaala’ and the Dalit-Left Revolution to Come

Vol. 53, Issue No. 26-27, 30 Jun, 2018
Kaala embodies the confusion and contradictions of the contemporary subaltern politics. It is conscious of the need for solidarity between the Dalit–Bahujan and the left, yet it cannot imagine what form it will take.

Mangal Pandey: Film and History

Vol. 42, Issue No. 19, 12 May, 2007
Dipesh Chakrabarty, Rochona Majumdar

Debate over the film, Mangal Pandey, has raged on its putative lack of objectivity on the one hand, and on the other, on its depiction of an event that still has the power to "move" people. Ever since films emerged as a mass medium of significance, the notions of the "public sphere" in democracy have changed as well. This is especially so over remembering an event such as 1857, on which Indians continue to have very differing opinions. This paper argues that concerns over the film, as with 1857 itself, speak of an unresolved question of Indian democracy, i e, whether the two domains of Indian democracy, comprising the "elite" and the "subaltern", can ever combine to produce a "politics of the people". Such a politics would give Indian democracy both a working sense of sovereignty and a lively sense of being truly a democracy.

An Appeal beyond Aesthetics

Vol. 38, Issue No. 24, 14 Jun, 2003
Sharmishtha Gooptu

This essay probes the iconicity of New Theatres, exploring the hypothesis that its genesis in the 1930s was rooted in aspects of contemporary life in Bengal that went much beyond the realm of cinema. The objective is to look deeper and understand cinema as an institution with roots in the politics and economy of early 20th century Bengal.

Figure of the 'Tapori'

Vol. 36, Issue No. 52, 29 Dec, 2001
Ranjani Mazumdar

Cinema in late 20th century India has also engaged with cities to represent the new experience of modernity, and to produce new and complex representations, that often reflect the fluidity and fragmentary character of urban life in India. This essay is about recent appropriations of the city 'street' through the construction of a subculture of masculine performance, strongly rooted in the urban cultures of Mumbai. It is this subculture that gave rise and constructed the popular figure of the 'tapori' a male persona who was part small time streethood, and part the social conscience of the neighbourhood.

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