Contemporary Bollywood: The Cultural Logic of Popular Indian Cinema

Catalog description

Bollywood, like Hollywood, is not just a cinematic genre but a discursive field that dominates popular imagination in South Asia, permeating its culture, society, and politics. Although rooted in Euro-American sensibilities, Bollywood films have emerged as a distinct form of cinematic representation in the late twentieth century. These films, characterized by flamboyant music, extravagant dance routines, high melodrama, lavish production values, and a focus on stars and spectacle, are deeply embedded in contemporary South Asian ethos. Each week will focus on one film and several key texts to uncover the ideological, social, and cultural logic of Bollywood. The course will link the films’ formal structure and content to broader issues such as postcolonial national identity, pre-modern epic traditions, contemporary popular culture, history, globalization, and diaspora implications.