Seduced by the Familiar: Narration and Meaning in Indian Popular Cinema

Discussing the gradual transformation of Indian popular cinema into a ‘global entertainment’, this book examines the direction, the existing codes, the system employed, and the meaning that emerges from the examination of several Indian films. Comparing the method employed by Indian popular cinema with those of Hollywood classical films, the book identifies the divergences and the traditional methods that make Bollywood unique. In particular, this book examines the narrative conventions prevalent in Indian popular cinema in relation with classical Hollywood cinema to gain a better understanding of the narratives in Indian films. It traces the narrative strategies employed by popular cinema in contrast to the traditional ones employed by the arts in India to determine the underlying logic. The book examines a significant body of films to understand how popular cinema narrativizes the dominant social discourse throughout specific historical periods.