National Identity in Indian Popular Film, 1947-1987

"This book is very interesting because it marks a significant step in film history and analysis about Indian films. Until the time it was published, most books were debating the British role in Indian cinema – whether the British had hindered the production of film, whether they had been neutral or whether they encouraged it. But by and large it was all in terms of nationalism versus imperialism. What Chakravarty did was to move away from that by stating that film has played a very important role in the formation of modern India’s identity. She redirected the way we think and talk about Indian cinema and it was important that it happened at that time. After this book was published there was a flowering of scholarship, particularly among young Indians. “Film has played a very important role in the formation of modern India’s identity.” Chakravarty also looks at how masculinity and femininity is constructed in films and it’s very interesting. The British decided they would classify men in India according to their martial prowess. They encouraged groups of Indians who they thought were much more aggressive and martial in their bearing to become the backbone of the Indian army. For example, the Punjabis, whether Hindu or Muslim, were encouraged to join the army. The ideal male in films was also the tall, fair-skinned northerner. That is certainly the image that Bombay films sought to adopt. And if you look at the heroes today, such as Shah Rukh Khan, all of them are tall, fair skin northerners. Heroes in Tamil cinema, for example, have different characteristics. In Phalke’s early films, women were played by boys, some of whom had moustaches. This was because in Indian culture there had always been an association between females acting and prostitution. So no self-respecting Brahmin woman would put herself forward as a film actress, because of all the connotations acting had. The rumours are that some of the early females in films were prostitutes, but I think that’s hard to verify. The first batch of stars were Anglo-Indian women. The greatest of all early female stars was Nadia. She spoke Hindi very badly and she was actually born in Perth, Australia, as Mary Evans. Her father was a pensioner guard and when the convict camps were closed down he reverted to the Indian army. She was quite a character in all senses of the word. She played an intensely masculine woman, cracking whips, solving problems, standing on top of trains. It’s amazing stuff."