The South Asianist Journal
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Introduction to Film Reviews
No full textThe Film Reviews section aims to highlight the regional diversity that is an intrinsic component in the cinemas of India. The focus will be on existing and emerging independent films from across the length and breadth of the nation. Discovering these ‘hidden gems’ within the treasure trove of Indian cinema, will not only emphasise its mélange of vernacular and regional cinematic nuances, but also provide an insight into the kaleidoscope of India’s socio-cultural construction. Therefore, the Review section will facilitate a filmic sojourn across the variegated terrain of India’s often overlooked and yet flourishing independent cinema. In particular resonance with this issue’s homage to 100 years of Indian Cinema, we will traverse from Kashmir and ‘Harud’, to Odisha and ‘Maya Miriga’, culminating in Mumbai with ‘Ship of Theseus’
Food, ritual and interspecies intimacy in the Chitwan elephant stables: a photo essay
Full text linkThis photo essay focuses on the hattisar, or elephant stable, a multispecies institution where humans and elephants live together in intimate and mutually entangled ways. The Nepali hattisar was historically staffed by the indigenous Tharu, who captured and tamed elephants for the rulers of Nepal for trade, for tribute, for use in agriculture, and for use in regal hunting expeditions (rastriya shikar). This essay illustrates the daily routines involved in feeding captive elephants in and around the Chitwan National Park, the sacrificial practices conducted by handlers, and the ways in which worshipful acts convert gifts into sacred food that bind handlers to both elephants and gods
Re-evaluating the Chipko (Forest Protection) movement in India
Full text linkThis paper aims to re-evaluate the Chipko movement (1973-1981), a forest protection movement in the Uttarakhand hill region in northern India, which became widely known throughout the world through its image of local people hugging trees. Although the Chipko movement became famous as a good example of the “environmentalism of the poor” in the 1980s, it began to be criticised after the 1990s as the movement ended in failure due to the fact that the local people’s “true” desire to develop the local economy by using the forest’s resources was denied by the movement’s achievement of a total ban on commercial logging. Moreover, some scholars have stressed that the prohibition of commercial deforestation was not the outcome of the Chipko movement, but rather the consequence of the victory of the Department of Environment over the Ministry of Agriculture at the Centre. Against these previous studies, this paper argues that the Chipko movement did played a role in transforming the forest management systems, and the movement was also significant for the formation of a new network of social activists
South Asians and the shaping of Britain, 1870−1950: a sourcebook - Edited by Ruvani Ranasinha, Rehana Ahmed, Sumita Mukherjee, and Florian Stadtler
No full textComing soon..
False sanctuaries: stories from the troubled territories of South Asia - By Meenakshi Iyer
Full text linkThe five stories in this collection capture the volatility of this region as they move through India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, tracing the fragility of lives which are affected by the divisive politics of South Asia which fragment families and societies. The stories depict displacement and loss, while capturing human tenacity and the ability to bond amongst people splintered by mindless violence
Santosh (happiness) going to the cinema
Full text linkI came to Bangalore in April 2012 to research for a documentary on the role of Hindi popular cinema in the middle class and specially the way some of the films set in European locations were clearly addressing the diaspora, the NRI communities all over the word, but also the new empowered Indian middle class who triggered by the films choose these same locations to spend their honey-moons, or wedding anniversaries. In Bangalore, where some of my characters live, I was completely mesmerized by the impact of cinemas, and how they still attract so many people. In Europe the cinema theatres are closing down as a consequence of the new technologies of screening and distribution. Cinema as a communal experience is dying in the West. And yet in India in the city of Bangalore, known for its thriving technology and new media, cinema theatres are still playing a strong dynamic role in people’s daily lives. Many economical, cultural and sociological reasons can be found to explain why India still has the strongest film industry in the world. In order to better understand how Hindi popular cinema worked with its audience I decided to meet up with film critic M.K. Raghavendra in his house, one hot afternoon.
Fire and Rain, The Tramp and The Trickster: romance and the family in the early films of Raj Kapoor
Full text linkRanbir Raj Kapoor (1924-1988) is one of the greatest figures of Hindi cinema. His career of over forty years brought him major fame in India and overseas as star, director and producer. Championed by Nehru, an international star long before talk of global Bollywood, Raj Kapoor and his films were loved across the USSR and the whole of Asia. RK’s early films are formative to his own long career and he revisits many of their themes in later years but they are also foundational to the Indian cinema itself. The melodrama, whose origins lie in nineteenth-century European fiction and theatre, follow a well-known path through nineteenth-century theatre into Indian cinema (Vasudevan 2010). RK’s films are remembered today for their spectacle of song and dance, his blend of romance, sexuality and spirituality, which created a language for the expression of emotion, set against a backdrop of modern, independent India and its contemporary social concerns. This article looks at the early work of RK in the decade from his directorial debut, Aag to his classic Shree 420, concentrating on the four films he produced and directed, co-starring one of the greatest stars of the 1950s, Nargis. These are Aag/Fire, Barsaat/Rain, Awaara/The Tramp and Shree 420/The Trickster. During this period the pair made 19 films together as they both worked with other directors and producers, separately and together, but these four films form a coherent group which defined RK as a film maker and changed Hindi film forever
Shifts in patterns of consumption and materialism among female domestic workers in Dhaka
No full textDhaka has been transformed by massive rural-to-urban in-migration. Driven by the hope of a better life, migrants are not deterred by the immense challenges, and soon find themselves assimilated into urban life with all its risks and labour uncertainties. Though migrant workers maintain close ties to their rural counterparts, they also imbibe values from their new setting. This paper aims to analyse changes in consumption among this important segment. Employing a single cross-sectional survey design, this paper employs quantitative data to gain insights into their economic realities. Exploratory in nature due to the vast scale of the target population, this paper addresses material ownership at the time of arrival, and how values, perceptions, and the significance of materiality, shift with the passage of time. In addition, this paper highlights how these changes translate among their rural counterparts who now have greater levels of disposable income due to their increased aggregate family income
Animating Indian production culture: an interview with animation filmmaker and educator Ram Mohan
Full text linkRecent studies in global creative industries have helped reveal how media practitioners conceive professional identities and generate communities around cultural production. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the evolving space of Indian cinema, where the first century of filmmakers have not only devised vibrant industries but played key roles in conceiving national identity. Indian Animation, often misunderstood as a recent arrival, has roots early in this joint project of national development and entertainment. Filmmaker, educator and ‘father of Indian animation’ Ram Mohan has been active at every stage, and continues to contribute to a new Indian culture of animation filmmaking. In this interview Ram Mohan traces the rise of animation within Indian filmmaking across his long and varied career
Who sings for the Hornbill?: the performance and politics of culture in Nagaland, Northeast India
Full text linkThis photo essay reflects on the annual Hornbill Festival celebrated bythe Nagas of Nagaland in Northeast India. It provides an ethnographicaccount of the various activities and the different actors involved in theFestival, and examines what makes this a compelling tourist destination.The state of Nagaland capitalises on the colourful image of the Festivalas an ‘exotic’ location, which plays on the warrior and tribal identity oftenassociated with the Nagas; ideas of ‘traditional’ culture; and the mountainousand pristine landscape. While the region has witnessed over fifty yearsof armed conflict between the Indian state and different Naga nationalistsdemanding independence, the Festival provides a creative public spacewhere all sections of society – urban/rural; students/politicians/administrators;Indian army/Naga nationalists – can freely mingle, a temporary lull from theotherwise pervasive militarised landscape