Bollywood's Lens on Indian Society
INTL 448/548, Fall 2019
Wednesdays, 4-6:50 p.m.
Location: 303 Gerlinger
Course Syllabus
Film has the ability to project pow erful images of a society in ways conventional academic mediums cannot. This is particularly true in learning about India, which is home to the largest film industries in the world. This course explores images of Indian society that emerge through the medium of film. Our attention will be focused on Indian society and history as depicted in film, critical social issues being explored through film; the depicted reality vs. the historical reality; and the powerful role of the Indian film industry in affecting social orientations and values today.
Course Objectives:
1. To gain an awareness of the historical context of the subcontinent and of contemporary Indian society;
2. To understand the sociocultural similarities yet significant diversity within this culture area;
3. To learn about the political and economic realities and challenges facing contemporary India and the
rapid social changes the country is experiencing;
4. To learn about the Indian film industry, the largest in the world, and specifically about Bollywood.
Class format:
Professor Weiss will open each class with a short lecture on the issues being raised in the film to be screened for that day. We will then view the selected film, followed by a short break, and then extensive in-class discussion. Professor Weiss will limit commenting on the films while we're watching them, although sometimes we will pause the films to discuss particularly important issues. Given the length of most Bollywood films, we will need to fast-forward through much of the song/dance and/or fighting sequences.
There will be assigned readings for each day which can be found either in the following required texts (available at the UO bookstore) or through hotlinks on this website. Please try to complete all readings before the day in which they will be discussed. The Sengupta book is being used as an illustrative companion to our growing understanding of contemporary Indian society; each week’s reading is not necessarily about that week’s focus (although some are). Most recommended films are available through Netflix or other online streaming options. The required books are:
Rachel Dwyer Bollywood's India: Hindi Cinema as a Guide to Contemporary India Reaktion Books, 2014
Somini Sengupta The End of Karma: Hope and Fury Among India's Young W. W. Norton & Company, 2016
Requirements for Undergraduate students: (percentage of final grade)
* Attendance and class participation (e.g., questions/responses that 15%
underscore efforts to understand and engage with course materials)
* Two 3-5 page double-spaced essays exploring sociocultural issues 25% each
presented in any two films viewed. The essays should draw upon
readings and class discussion as relevant and is due at the beginning
of the class after the film being written about is screened. Alternatively,
one of these essays can focus on technical issues seen in the film being
written about (though you may need to avail additional outside readings
on that).
* 10 page research paper, due on the last day of class. The paper is to 35%
explore any social issue which was raised in a segment of this course.
Look at its social origin, and then focus on the way in which this issue
is in flux in India today. There are a number of books recommended
throughout the syllabus “for further reading.” These are good places to
start researching your paper.
Requirements for Graduate students:
* Attendance and class participation (e.g., questions/responses that 10%
underscore efforts to understand and engage with course materials)
* Three 3-5 page double-spaced essays exploring cultural issues presented 20% each
in any three films viewed. The essays should draw upon readings and
class discussion as relevant and is due at the beginning of the class
after the film being written about is screened.
* 15 page research paper, due on the last day of class. The paper is to 30%
explore any social issue which was raised in a segment of this course.
Look at its social origin, and then focus on the way in which this issue
is in flux in India today. The research paper should include an in-depth
literature review and should be based on primary source research.
All students need to confirm the topic of your term paper by Week 6. While you can begin researching and writing the term paper at any time -- and submit it whenever you would like -- the absolute deadline for turning it in is the last day of class.
Link to grading guidelines
Course Outline
Week I, October 2 Introduction to the Course, briefly to Indian history and society, and to Indian Cinema/Bollywood
Films: "Beginnings" The Story of India with Michael Wood BBC/PBS, 2008 (1 hour)
Larger than Life: India's Bollywood Film Culture Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2005 (57 minutes)
Readings
Dwyer, pp, 7-11, 12-36
Sengupta, pp. 1-23
Week 2, October 9 Revisiting Indian History and Society Special notes on historical background
Film: Jodhaa Akbar directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, 2008 (213 minutes)
Recommended films:
Ashoka the Great directed by Santosh Sivan, 2001
Devdas directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2002
Readings
Dwyer, pp. 37-47
Tejaswini Ganti “From Vice to Virtue: the State and Filmmaking in India” in Producing Bollywood: Inside the Contemporary Hindi Film Industry Duke University Press, 2012, pp. 41-75
Ramachandra Guhi India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy Harper Perennial, 2008, pp. 1-15
Week 3, October 16 History from Within and Views of ‘the Other’: Partition and its Relevance Today
Special notes on Indian society, Hinduism and caste
Film: Lagaan (Once Upon a Time in India) directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, produced by Aamir Khan Productions, 2001
You have an option: On October 21, the UO will be hosting Professor Ranjani Mazumdar from Delhi, speaking about "The Highway, Automobility and New Promises in 1960s Hindi Cinema" (4 pm, 175 Lillis). She will speak about Indian cinema, infrastructure andecology in the 1960s. This talk promises to introduce you to Bollywood cinema through a totally different lens.
If you would like to attend the lecture, you can write an essay on what you learned from it (and that will be one of your essays for our course). But still draw on Rachel Dwyer's book to help you contextualize what you are writing.
Recommended films:
Gandhi directed by Richard Attenborough, 1982
Garam Hava (Hot Winds) directed by M.S. Sathyu, 1973
Ghare Baire (The Home and the World) directed by Satyajit Ray, 1984
Lage Raho Munna Bhai directed by Rajkumar Hirani, 2006
A Passage to India directed by David Lean, 1984
Rang de Basanti directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, 2006
The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey directed by Ketan Mehta, 2005
Readings
Dwyer, pp. 47-64
Sengupta, pp. 57-88
Guha, Ramachandra India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy Harper Perennial, 2008, pp. 41-50
For further reading
Nicholas Dirks “The Home and the World: the Invention of Modernity in Colonial India” in Robert A. Rosenstone (ed.) Revisioning History: Film and the Construction of a New Past Princeton University Press, 1995, pp. 44-63
Lindley, Arthur “Raj as Romance/Raj as Parody: Lean’s and Foster’s Passage to India” Literature/Film Quarterly, 20, No. 1, 1992, pp. 61-66
Metcalf, Barbara D. and Thomas R. Metcalf A Concise History of India Cambridge University Press, 2001
Trautmann, Thomas R. India: Brief History of a Civilization 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2015
Wolpert, Stanley India fourth edition, University of California Press, 2009
Week 4, October 23 Family Norms and Social Change
Film: 2 States directed by Abhishek Varman, produced by Karan Johar and Sajid Nadiadwala, 2014
Recommended films:
Amar, Akbar, Anthony directed by Manmohan Desai,1977
Baghban (The Gardener) directed by Ravi Chopra, 2003
Billu Barber directed by Priyadarshan, 2009
Bunty aur Babli directed by Shaad Ali, 2005
Hum Tum (You and I) directed by Kunal Khohli 2004
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna directed by Karan Johar, 2006
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes Sadness) directed by Yash Johar, 2001
Kal Ho Na Ho directed by Nikhil Advani, 2003
Salaam Namaste directed by Siddharth Anand, 2005
Readings
Dwyer, pp. 64-78, 207-222
Sengupta, pp. 185-211
Week 5, October 30 Gender Norms, Social Change . . . and Fantasy
Film: Laaga Chunari Mein Daag (Journey of a Woman, or There Seems to be a Stain on her Shirt) directed by Pradeep Sarkar, 2007, 137 minutes
Recommended films:
Lajja (Propriety) directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi, 2002
Mirch Masala (Hot Spices) directed by Ketan Mehta, 1987
Readings
Dwyer, pp. 184-191
Sengupta, pp. 143-162, 163-183
Jyotika Virdi The Cinematic Imagination: Indian Popular Films as Social History Rutgers University Press, 2003, “TheIdealized Woman” pp. 60-86, "Heroines, Romance and Social History," pp. 121-144
Moni Basu "Seeing the New India through the eyes of an Invisible Woman" CNN, 2017
For further reading
Derne, Steve Movies, Masculinity, and Modernity: An Ethnography of Men's Filmgoing in India Greenwood Press, 2000
Forbes, Geraldine Women in Modern India Cambridge University Press, 2007
Jeffery, Patricia and Amrita Basu (eds.) Appropriating Gender: Women’s Activism and Politicized Religion in South Asia Routledge, 1998
Week 6, November 6 Religion in Flux
Film: PK directed by Rajkumar Hirani, 2014, 155 minutes
The controversy around PK Percent population by religion in India, 2011 Census
Recommended films:
Bombay directed by Mani Ratnam, 1995
Om Shanti Om directed by Farah Khan, 2007
Readings
Dwyer, pp. 79-92, 97-115, 116-150
Sengupta, pp. 113-142
For further reading
Brass, Paul The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India University of Washington Press, 2005
Doniger, Wendy The Hindus: an Alternative History Penguin Press, 2009
Varshney, Ashutosh Ethic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India Yale University Press, 2002
Week 7, November 13 India, Pakistan and the Kashmir Conflict
Film: Bajrangi Bhaijaan directed by Kabir Khan, 2015, 163 minutes
Recommended films:
Fanaa directed by Kunal Kohli, 2006
Henna directed by Randhir Kapoor, 1991
Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters) directed by Sabiha Sumar (Pakistan), 2003
Veer Zaara directed by Yash Chopra, Yashraj Studios, 2004
Readings
AFP "Dozens detained in India over Ayodhya site social media comments" Dawn November 11, 2019
"India's clampdown in Occupied Kashmir has entered its fourth Month" Dawn, November 5, 2019
Rohan Venkataramakrishnan "Article 370 Gone and Ram TEmple on the Way: What does Modi's New India Look Like?" Dawn, November 10, 2019.
Ananya Jahanara Kabir “The Kashmiri as Muslim in Bollywood’s ‘New Kashmir films’”Contemporary South Asia Vol. 18, No. 4, December 2010, 373–385
Aditya Kalra, Sanjeev Miglani, Danish Ismail “India scraps special status for Kashmir in step
Pakistan calls illegal” Reuters News Service, August 4, 2019
Waqar-un-Nisa “Pakistan-India Equation Determinants, Dynamics and the Outlook” Islamabad: Policy Perspectives, Vol. 14 (1), June 2017, pp. 23-57
For further reading
Bose, Sumantra Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace Harvard University Press, 2005
Hiro, Dilip The Longest August: The Unflinching Rivalry Between India and Pakistan Nation Books, 2015
Margolis, Eric S. War at the Top of the World: the Struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Tibet Routledge, 2000, pp. 54-85, 101-118
Schofield, Victoria Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War 3rd edition, B. Tauris, 2010
Week 8, November 20 Social Pressure and the New Economy
Film: Three Idiots directed by Rajkumar Hirani, 2009, 170 minutes
Recommended films:
Guru directed by Mani Ratnam, 2007
Salaam Bombay! directed by Mira Nair, 1988
Youngistaan directed by Syed Ahmed Afzal, 2014
Readings
Dwyer, pp. 97-115, 223-247
Sengupta, pp. 25-56
Tejaswini Ganti “From Slumdogs to Millionaires” in Producing Bollywood: Inside the Contemporary Hindi Film Industry Duke University Press, 2012, pp. 77-118
For further reading
Bose, Sumantra Transforming India: Challenges to the World's Largest Democracy Harvard University Press, 2013
Kumar, Shanti Gandhi meets Primetime: Globalization and Nationalism in Indian Television University of Illinois Press, 2006
Luce, Edward In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India Anchor, 2008
Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre (HDC) Human Development in South Asia 2010-11: Food Security in South Asia Oxford University Press, 2012
Narayan, Deepa and Elena Glinskaya (eds.) Ending Poverty in South Asia: Ideas that Work World Bank Publications, 2006
Rothermund, Dietmar India: The Rise of an Asian Giant Yale University Press, 2009
Week 9, November 27 India’s Changing Cities and the Growing Fear of Terrorism
We have agreed to meet on Monday November 25, 4 - 7 pm, in 348 PLC.
Film: A Wednesday directed by Neeraj Pandey, 2008 (104 minutes)
Recommended films
Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Dairies) directed by Kiran Rao, 2010
Khuda Kay Liye (In the Name of God) directed by Shoaib Mansoor (Pakistan), 2007
My Name is Khan directed by Karan Johar, 2010
Readings
Dwyer, pp. 93-96
Sengupta, pp. 89-112
List of the world's largest cities (India has 3 in the top 15)
Timeline of terrorist attacks in India thus far, 2019
India conflict map 2017 (from SATP)
Week 10, December 4 Bollywood!
Film: We'll screen a quintessential Bollywood 'masala' film: Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (literally "This Youth is Crazy") directed by Ayan Mukherjee, 2013, 160 minutes
(The film we voted not to see is Khoobsurat directed by Shashanka Ghosh, 2015)
Readings
Dwyer, pp. 248-258
Sengupta, pp. 213-219
Website: Planet Bollywood
