Open Elective

Title of the Course: Reading Indian Cinema (Course Code: HS - 313 )

L-T-P: 3-0-0 Credit: 3
Course Coordinator: V. Vamshi Krishna Reddy
The Course:
This course will enable students to read and examine the language of the cinema and
help them to locate Indian Cinema as a significant cultural expression in India. It will
encourage students to read a film by not merely paying attention to the story, plot, and
characters, but to how they are presented by the camera. The course will cover the basic
aspects of cinema in general and Indian cinema in particular and explore how expressionism
of montage and image constitute the essence of cinema. This course will include all the topics
generally included in the Indian Film Studies, namely,
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

Overview of Indian Cinema

Aesthetics of Indian Cinema
Nature and Evolution of Genres (Mythological, Social, Realistic and Melodramatic)
Globalization and Indian Cinema
Cinema and Politics

Class room lectures will be heavily illustrated and cited with visual clips from various films
that are pertinent to the above contents.
Objectives:
The course objectives include:

Providing students with both the rudiments of film form and the most advanced
theories of film practice.
Exploring how films represent people, places, ideas, issues and events to different
audiences.
Encouraging a critical and investigating approach to films, fan associations and
audience.
Helping the students to develop their own critical perspectives on recent
developments in film practices and locate and interpret them in societal discourses.
Making the students critically look at films and media and react to them as active
participants rather than passive recipients of the message.

Target:
At the end of the course, Students will be familiarized with the language of the film such as
Cinematic points of view, explicit and implicit information Mise-en-Scne and production
and consumption of star and fandom. Students will also improve their critical thinking skills
through analysing the films.

Essential Reading:

Bazin, Andre, and Hugh Gray. What is Cinema? Berkeley: University of California Press,
1971.
Butler, Andrew M. Film Studies. Chicago: Oldcastle Books, 2002.
Das Gupta, Chidananda. "Seeing and Believing, Science and Mythology: Notes on the
"Mythological" Genre." Film Quarterly 42.4 (1989): 12-18.
Lutgendorf, Philip. "Is There an Indian Way of Film Making?" International Journal of
Hindu Studies 10.3 (2007): 227-256.
Nelmes, Jill. An Introduction to Film Studies. London: Routledge, 1996.
Prasad, M. Madhava. Ideology of the Hindi Film: A Historical Construction. Delhi: Oxford
UP, 1998.
Rajadhyaksha, Ashish. "Indian Cinema: Origins to Independence." The Oxford History of
World Cinema. New York: Oxford, 1996. 398-409.
Suggested Reading:
Corner, John, and Dick Pels. Media and the Restyling of Politics Consumerism, Celebrity and
Cynicism. London: SAGE, 2003.
Dickey, Sara. "The Politics of Adulation: Cinema and the Production of Politicians in South
India." The Journal of Asian Studies 52.2 (1993): 340-372.
Doughty, Ruth, and Deborah Shaw. Film: The Essential Study Guide. London: Routledge,
2009.
Drake, Philip, and Michael Higgins. ""Im a Celebrity, Get Me into Politics": The Political
Celebrity and The Celebrity Politician." Framing Celebrity: New Directions in Celebrity
Culture. London: Routledge, 2006. 87-100.
Dwyer, Rachel. Filming the Gods Religion and Indian Cinema. London: Routledge, 2006.
Nandy, Ashis (Ed). Secret Politics of Our Desire: Innocence, Culpability and Indian Popular
Cinema. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Nandakumar, R. The Star System: a Note Towards its Sociology. Deep Focus. 4:2. 1992.
Srinivas, S. V. Megastar: Chiranjeevi and Telugu Cinema after N.T. Rama Rao. New Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 2009.