Topics in indian popular culture: spectacle, masala, and genre

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

This subject aims to provide an overview of Indian popular culture over the last two decades, through a variety of material such as film, advertising, and pulp fiction. This term we shall focus on the evolution of Hindi cinema from the old formula of melodrama to some of the new paradigms in Bollywood and its influence on other forms of popular culture. We discuss the role of the changing socio-political milieu and changing audience and analyze some of the new genre films and reconstructed "masala" melodramatic films. Films shown include Dil Chahta Hai, Parineeta, Rang De Basanti, Corporate, Krrish and Omkara and fiction includes works by Shobha De and Khushwant Singh.

This class is for students at all levels. Whereas those who have had no prior experience of Indian popular culture will get an exposure to a new world-view, those who have already been exposed to it will find and articulate new ways of approaching and interpreting the culture. Class is taught in English, all texts in English, all visual material shown, would be subtitled in English.

This is a "communication-intensive" subject; we will pay special attention to honing the students' oral and written communication skills, through a strong emphasis on class discussion, oral presentations and guided written work. Students will be required to write three 7-8 page papers: they will write each paper, which will be evaluated, corrected and commented upon carefully, and they will have a week to prepare a revised version before submitting it to the instructor. The class will also be regrouped into units that will take turns at leading discussions.

Please note: Essays submitted late without prior permission from the instructor will be penalized by one full letter grade. Acceptance of late papers will remain subject to instructor's discretion. Always keep a printed copy of your essay.

If at any point, you should feel the need for further discussion to clarify any issue, the instructor will meet with you outside class.

The final grade will be determined using the following percentages:

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