Contested Representation by Dhananjay Rai

Contested Representation by Dhananjay Rai

Author:Dhananjay Rai [Rai, Dhananjay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2022-07-11T00:00:00+00:00


Chapter 4

Contested Representation

Sujata, Sholay and Swades, A Microcosmic Reading of Dalit Representation

The profound proliferation of Hindi films incites myriad interpretations both for academic and consumption purposes worldwide. The term ‘Bollywood’ has received the global denomination as ‘a name for the popular Indian film industry, based in Mumbai (Bombay)’.1 In a way, Hindi films are apotheosised as the acme of entertainment and other related activities, as discussed in the preceding chapter. This study rejects these formulations and locates Dalit as a vantage point of analysis. Though Dalits have been a part of various films,2 analysts have not paid enough attention to ‘contested representation’, that is nature of representation. Furthermore, this study states that popular Hindi cinema needs to be situated as an offshoot of material spheres and social spheres where the derivation of meaning could be the mediated reflection/or absolute reflection of these two spheres. This particular formulation is analysed in chapter 1. For this purpose, the content of the three films is elaborated (other relevant films are briefly analysed in the note section), and, in the end, they are analysed from six perspectives followed by the microcosmic perspective.

Selecting Films

Films, in their own right, are texts. Each film as text encompasses a telling remark on the intricacies of the corporeal world. This also generates a plethora of problems. It is almost impossible to analyse each film to confirm previous argumentations concerning Hindi films in this study. The problem is augmented because the Hindi film industry is India’s largest film-producing industry. This section explains the selection of films that could provide an overview of Hindi cinema so that the construction and meaning of the social language of Hindi films and its relationship with Dalits could be explained.

The foremost concern is to select those films whose narratives differ significantly. In other words, the problématique aspect of content analysis could also produce biased results in the homogenisation of narratives of Hindi films chosen for analysis. Therefore, the heterogeneous selection is vital to arrive at an encompassing conclusion.

As a result, I adopt three criteria for choosing films in this thesis. The underlying principle has been to select those Hindi films with heterogeneous narratives. The first criterion is to take cognisance of three kinds of narratives. There have to be at least three types of films demonstrating three types of narratives. Here, Dalits are the vantage point to decide the differentiation of narratives of Hindi films. One of the films must include a narrative wherein Dalit/s is/are leading protagonist/s. There must be a film in whose narrative Dalit/s is/are tactical/marginal protagonists. Furthermore, there ought to be a film wherein Dalit/s is/are absent.

The second criterion to differentiate narratives from each other is the evaluation based on commercial success and failure. There is an argument that narratives of Hindi cinema are being decided based on commercial success. For commercial success, a film has to adopt certain formulae. According to this formulation, it can be argued that a commercially successful film with a leading Dalit protagonist would have a



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