Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 16:01:35 -0500
Subject: RE: FWD: globalization and Indian film


Jill,

This is an article penned by a friend who is also a well-known documentary
filmmaker in India. Hope you find it useful.

That Feeling of eNRIchment
By K Hariharan

Bollywood tugs at the hearts and the wallets of NRIs.




Post independent India started with two cornerstones. A group of well-settled
capitalist family houses in all the regions of India and a very active and
popular cinematic tradition. In fact, if there is anything that weaves India
into one fabric, anything that can make an Indian from one zone connect with
an Indian from another, it is the tapestry of images and sounds of Indian
cinema. Participating in an "antakshari" contest of film songs is the final
judgment of an average Indian's intelligent quotient and emotional well-being!
A majority of the Non-Resident Indians carry this feeling overseas, be they
doctoral scholars in Minneapolis or newspaper vendors in New York. And as the
Indian presence grows in the USA these feelings merely amplify with box-office
collections for Indian films. Gleefully, Indian film producers dance all the
way to the jingle of dollars and pounds in Edison and Southall! The dessert to
this sumptuous feast of melodrama comes also with an avaricious consumption of
musical delights in a variety of audio CDs and cassettes.
But the gift hampers at the end, steal the show as young NRI women throng
Indian boutiques to own a piece of stardom. The "shararas" worn by Madhuri
Dixit, the "lachas" worn by Kajol, and the designer "salwar" suits of Karishma
Kapoor soon carry their charms overseas. Even the guys do not want to be left
behind as they jostle for the brocaded "kurtas" of Akshay Kumar and the
designer suits of Shah Rukh Khan, and flaunt it at the India Night at their
college or at their rich grandmother's birthday!
Clearly, the patterns of dancing in Indian films have changed, as Michael
Jackson showed us how to wiggle our derrières in unison with a whole group of
our yaars. What NRIs loved, Bollywood worshipped, and what Bollywood showed,
NRIs embraced it.




The quickly shifting scenes of Indian films, whether in "dream sequences" or
in songs, move from New Zealand to Switzerland in a flash. It never bothers
Indian audiences anyway, in our own transmigratory way, but we love the
transitions, since those have become the real lives of our NRIs. Now their
world has become our world, and our world, too harsh and too familiar in some
ways, has expanded into their world.
The feasting is endless with no fasting in sight! Somehow the indigestion
inevitably comes and when it does it is tinged with a touch of guilt complex!
"How can I enjoy while my poor siblings back home do not have drinking water;
no proper air-conditioning to beat the dreaded heat, and an erratic power
supply that does not allow those measly pumps and air-conditioners to
function?" At the same time, scores of educated Indians want to cram through
GREs to reach El Dorado. What better recipe can the Indian film producer have
for his blockbuster? They want to go to the land of never-ending dreams while
his NRI counterpart has nightmares of a dream gone sour back home.
Earlier, shooting films abroad was part of a spectacle. Raj Kapoor's Sangam or
MGR's Ullagum Sutrum Vallibhan in the late 60s benchmarked the notion that
traveling abroad and visiting foreign countries was the best way of enriching
one's life experience. To this dream Manoj Kumar comes with a warning in his
Purab Aur Paschim, saying that the West is a dangerous influence, which could
make us forget our villages and our mother earth. Dev Anand tries to provide
corrective solutions as he watches poor hippie Zeenat Aman hashing away in
Hare Rama, Hare Krishna!
But Indian history had another story to tell as it witnessed hordes of people
migrating unabashedly, seeking greener pastures in the deserts of the Middle
East and the snow-bound plains of Illinois.
They are even fashionably referred to as the "diaspora." But neither
producer-directors Subash Ghai of Pardes nor Yash Chopra of Dil To Pagal Hai
need to know the sociological/statistical ramifications of what it is to be a
"diasporic" individual. What matters is the creation of a moral issue!
Thanks to a typical post-colonial attitude, all films until the early 90s
would always dub the West as the locus for evil influences. Our cultural
xenophobia was just too strong a barrier to transcend. Indian musicians
believed that their music was more sophisticated and so did our dancers and
filmmakers. But today a palpable hange is noticeable among them thanks to the
globalization and the NRI factor.
The NRIs are definitely seen as the carriers of all the global "advantages" to
their homeland as part of setting right their nightmares. Be it the IT sector
or popularization of "Huggies" for babies all over India, the new global
consumer market has come to stay, with a Colgate toothpaste replacing fresh
Neem twigs even in the remotest villages.
In this context one cannot just go on bashing the West anymore, especially
considering the fact that a large part of "our" people are now visibly
entrenched in the driver's seat on the highway of enrichment. But there is a
difference! In the contemporary mainstream Indian cinema like Kuch Kuch Hota
Hai or Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam the NRIs are shown as capable of having their
heart in the right place as far as their love for mother India is concerned.
But in the films made abroad by Mira Nair (Mississippi Masala) or Piyush
Pandey (American Desi), the NRI is a source of enormous satire. And in the
films made in India by the NRIs a la Nagesh Kukonoor (Hyderabad Blues) or
Guztad (Bombay Boys), the challenges and agonies of adjustment to their Indian
homeland become the focus.



Ultimately it is the first variety films of Subash Ghai or Karan Johar that
steal the limelight because they have drawn the major audiences, shared both
in India and abroad. Their films become a showcase for displaying the
fantasies of consumerism in terms of the trendy dresses, hot cars, swank homes
and ample free time to sing, dance and even play basketball all day at
college.
Ultimately the young jiving NRI of the super-hit Kaho Na Pyar Hai even saves
an Indian damsel in distress in Mumbai. He seems to know the city like the
back of his hand. Perfect upbringing, a noble Samaritan and a great dancer
too. And the bonus - the sugarcane farmer of Kolhapur comes to know about a
place called New Zealand where dream-boy Hrithik Roshan is the son of rich
liberal parents. What else should we know about him since he already knows of
Switzerland and the pyramids of Egypt thanks to another major successful film
on the NRIs called Jeans by Shankar? Who said our films were not educational?
The money to make more such films comes pouring in from scores of rich young
NRIs today. They realize that the cost of production of an Indian film is a
steal when converted into dollars. Competing with itinerant NRI financers are
also Sony Pictures and Miramax. They all want a piece of the billion-audience
cake! Along with it a new kind of merchandising will begin, different kinds of
release strategies will emerge and it won't be too long before Mansukhbhai,
the theater owner at Baramati, will order his film on the internet!
But Mansukhbhai's mythology of enrichment is somehow not restricted to NRIs
enjoying this treat all alone. He would like to believe that people in the
rest of the world are also NRIs "at heart" as long as they can appreciate the
unique film songs of India! He still sings paeans on how Muscovites sing
"Awaara hoon" and how Uzbeks can recite "Mera jhootha hai Japani" without an
accent. How long will it be before Cathy of Albuquerque and Donald of
Morgantown croon "Kya Karoon Haye! Kuch Kuch Hota Hai!" and then are game for
our very own "antakshari' contests"? Move over Who Wants To Be A Milionaire.


>===== Original Message From Jill Didur <jdidur-AT-alcor.concordia.ca> ====>Salil and Shoshanna,
>
>You're right, Salil. My questions was too vague. Your response has helped
>me clarify things a bit more.  I guess I'm interested in work that might
>tackle the way the Cocacolanisation of Indian films is being reconciled (or
>not) with the rise of Hindu majoritarianism. I'm wondering how the
>traditionalism vs. Westernization binary that informs Hindutva plays itself
>out in the film industry with regards to Cocacolanisation, the increased
>emphasis on international shooting locations (film plots always seem to
>include trips to Europe or North America)  and the way the industry has
>been redirecting its films toward the NRI (Non Resident Indian) crowd. For
>instance, I just read that this summer's Bollywood blockbuster (Laggan?
>sp?) is currently in the top ten in the U.K.
>
>Do you know of work that examines the convergence of these influences in
>the film industry?
>
>Jill.
>
>
>
>At 02:52 PM 7/17/01 -0000, you wrote:
>>
>>Shoshanna,
>>
>>I'd think your friend the art critic meant Raj Kapur, not Raj Kumar. Raj
>>Kumar was a relatively minor actor; Raj Kapur was a big film-maker.
>>
>>The question posed by Jill is not detailed enough to offer an answer easily.
>>Of course there is a lot of material on Indian cinema: Ashish Rajadhyaksha's
>>critical work, Andrew Robinson's study of Satyajit Ray, Wimal Dissanayake's
>>dissection of Bollywood, Rajadhyaksha's monograph of Ghatak -- if
>>globalization is to mean the impact of international cinema on Indian films,
>>then there's a lot of material to look at: the Indian new wave could indeed
>>be traced to Italian neorealism and its impact; many Left-wing Indian
>>film-makers swear by Dovzhenko and Eisenstein as their inspiration. If Jill
>>is looking for popular cinema, Uma Vasudeva's magazine, Cinemaya should have
>>a lot of material, as would Siddharth KAk's defunct magazine Cinema Vision
>>India. If the question, however, is the Cocacolanisation of Indian films,
>>there's little to go by: the basic plot line of a Bollywood blockbuster has
>>not changed over the years, though there's greater sophistication and good
>>use of cinematic techniques. And if globalization is to mean impact of
>>Bollywood overseas, there's growing evidence of it. Many critics have seen
>>Bollywood's influence on Moulin Rouge, the recent film starring Nicole
>>Kidman, and Andrew Lloyd Webber is making a Bollywood-style musical on West
>>End next year.
>>
>>In other words, much water has flown down the Ganges (or Ganga) since
>>1965..... whether it has been captured in academic writing/scholarly
>>discourse, I don't know, as I don't read such publications.
>>
>>Salil
>>
>>>From: Shoshanna Scholar <scholar-AT-appliedsemantics.com>
>>>Reply-To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>>>To: "'postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu'"
>>><postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
>>>Subject: FW: globalization and Indian film
>>>Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 18:39:45 -0700
>>>
>>>Jill Didur -
>>>
>>>I asked an art critic friend who specializes in indian film about
>>>globalization and indian film - this was her reply:
>>>
>>>Actually, it's harder than it looks...I searched long and hard for stuff
>>>that was "critical" but also knew about contemporary Indian film. Anything
>>>of any academic stature at all stops at around 1965 with classics by Raj
>>>Kumar and the like...and then anything that deals with contemporary popular
>>>film is usually just a glib magazine article talking about how big the
>>>industry is...
>>>
>>>I want to know where all the good stuff is too!!! TX
>>>
>>>Shoshanna Scholar
>>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Shoshanna Scholar
>>>Sent: Monday, July 16, 2001 6:33 PM
>>>To: Tessa Laird
>>>Subject: FW: globalization and Indian film
>>>
>>>
>>>thought you might have something to say to this lost canadian academic!
>>>
>>>s
>>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Jill Didur [mailto:jdidur-AT-alcor.concordia.ca]
>>>Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2001 6:40 AM
>>>To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>>>Subject: globalization and Indian film
>>>
>>>
>>>Hi All
>>>
>>>I'm looking for references on recent critical work examining the impact of
>>>globalization on
>>>Indian cinema. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>>>
>>>Thank you,
>>>Jill Didur.
>>>Concordia University
>>>Department of English
>>>1455 de Maisonnneuve Blvd. W.
>>>LB-505-2
>>>Montreal, Quebec
>>>Canada
>>>H3G 1M8
>>>PHONE: (514) 848-2340
>>>FAX (514) 848-4501
>>>
>>>
>>>      --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>>>
>>>
>>>      --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>>
>>_________________________________________________________________________
>>Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
>>
>>
>>
>>     --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>>
>>
>Concordia University
>Department of English
>1455 de Maisonnneuve Blvd. W.
>LB-505-2
>Montreal, Quebec
>Canada
>H3G 1M8
>PHONE: (514) 848-2340
>FAX (514) 848-4501
>
>
>     --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---

**********************************************
Satish Kolluri,
Department of Communication Arts and Sciences,
103E Performing Arts Center,
DePauw University, Greencastle, IN 46135

Ph: 765 658 6559 (O)
    765 655 1802 (H)

skolluri-AT-depauw.edu



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