This course provides an overview of one of the world's largest and most beloved film industries, the popular Hindi cinema produced in Bombay (Mumbai) and consumed around the world under the label "Bollywood." The films and readings range from the post- Independence era to the present, with introduction to key films, directors, stars, genres, formal techniques, and themes. Our readings and viewings allow us to question and discuss the ways these films reflect and influence the cultures and society from which they emerge. We shall reflect on our own practices of spectatorship and how we consume and label non-western cultures and culture industries. Together we'll develop a critical vocabulary to help us analyze and critique Hindi cinema.

The course is divided into four main units: 1) The “Golden Age”; 2) The 70s and 80s: Angry Young Men and the Muslim Social; 3) New Freedom Struggles in Globalized India; 4) New Directions in Contemporary Hindi Cinema. In each of these units we discuss how the films reflect the issues that challenge this immensely diverse part of the world: communalism, casteism, poverty, gender and sexuality issues, nationalism, and development, amongst others. The course asks us to think about Indian idiom(s) of cinema and how the desires and anxieties of a still quite young Republic of India are represented. The course requires no prior knowledge of South Asia or films studies. All reading material will be in English and the films all have English subtitles.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills