2010/10/30 by Rachel Dwyer · 36 citations
Arts and Humanities · #South Asian Cinema and Culture #Hindi #Movie theater #History #Ancient history #Geography #Computer science #Art history #Artificial intelligence
paper · doi:10.1080/03068374.2010.508231
published in Asian Affairs 41(3), 381-398 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2010/10/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
This article propounds the thesis that Bollywood cinema, the modern Indian cinema based in Mumbai (Bombay) is a better guide to the realities of modern India than other, more scholarly works. The author, who distinguishes and describes a number of different types of Bollywood film, suggests that these films are an unparalleled guide to the thoughts, aspirations and attitudes of the hundreds of millions of members of the emergent middle classes. For example, their view of history is purveyed by the cinema, not by books written by academic historians; their attitudes to politics are formed by films, not by the speeches given by politicians.