Popular Culture in a Globalised India

As India celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of its independence, much praise was lavished on its emergence as a major player on the global stage. Its economic transformation and geopolitical significance as a nuclear power are matched by its globally resonant cultural resources.
 

This book explores India’s rich popular culture. Chapters provide illuminating insights into various aspects of the social, cultural, economic and political realities of contemporary globalised India. Structured thematically and drawing on a broad range of academic disciplines, the book deals with critical issues including :

• Film, television and TV soaps
• Folk theatre, Mahabharata-Ramayana ,myths, performance, ideology and religious nationalism
• Music, dance and fashion
• Comics, cartoons, photographs, posters and advertising
• Cyberculture and the software industry
• Indian feminisms
• Sports and tourism
• Food culture

Offering comprehensive coverage of the emerging discipline of popular culture in India, this book is essential reading for courses on Indian popular culture and a useful resource for more general courses in the field of cultural studies, media studies, history, literary studies and communication studies.

Map of India
List of Illustration
Notes on Constributors
Acknowledgements
Notes on Transliteration
Glossary and Acronyms

Introduction

Part I : Film Television TV Soaps Indian Feminisms
Chapter 1 : Local Resistance to Global Bangalore-Reading Minority Indian Cinema
Chapter 2 : Breaking News , Indian style: Politics, Democracy and Indian News Television
Chapter 3 : Emancipation or anchored individualism? Women and TV soaps in India
Chapter 4 : Indian Feminisms : Issues of sexuality and representation

Part II : Folk Theatre Myths Mahabharatha Ramayana Religious Nationalism
Chapter 5 : The Tragada Bhavaiya Contribution to the making of Hindu Identity in Saurastra
Chapter 6 : The Mahabharata’s Imprint on Contemporary Literature and Film
Chapter 7 : India : Religious Nationalism and changing profile of Popular Culture

Part III : Music Dance Fashions
Chapter 8 : Private Music : Individualism, Authenticity, and Genre Boundaries in Bombay Music Industry
Chapter 9 : Indian Popular Culture and its ‘others’: Bollywood dance and anti-nautch in twenty first century global India
Chapter 10 : From Zenana to Cinema : The impact of Royal Aesthetics on Bollywood Film

Part IV : Comics/Cartoons Photographs Posters Advertising
Chapter 11 : Gods, Kings, and Local Telugu Guys : Competing Visions of the Heroic in Indian Comic Books
Chapter 12 : The Gated Romance of ‘India Shining’: Visualising Urban Lifestyle in Advertisement of Residential Housing Development
Chapter 13 : Advertising in a globalised India by

Part V : Cyberculture the Software Industry
Chapter 14 : India goes to the Blogs : Cyberspace, Identity, Community
Chapter 15 : The Indian software industry-cultural factors underpinning its evolution

Part VI : Sports Tourism
Chapter 16 : Opiate of the Masses or None in a Billion Trying to unravel the Indian Sporting Mystery
Chapter 17 : Going Places: Popular Tourism Writing in India

Part VII : Food Culture
Chapter 18 : The Discreet Charm of Indian Street-Food

Conclusion
Bibliography
Index