You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
A History of India's North-East Cinema: Deconstructing the Stereotypes, the first book on the history of cinema in this region, depicts the journey from the first Assamese film, Joymoti (1935), to the present time. This book addresses the peripheral status and identity crisis of North-Eastern people in mainland India, a region that comprises eight states, and examines the role of Bollywood in the construction and misrepresentation of this region in popular Hindi cinema. The book is divided into three parts. Part I looks at how the people of the North-East are constructed as 'foreigners' or 'outsiders' by mainland Indians, due to their physical facial features. Part II discusses the socio-pol...
This book reflects the nascent sensibilities at work in literature emanating from Northeast India. It takes into account the generic diversity in works derived from the region and discusses fiction, poetry, drama, folk narratives, film adaptations as well as early missionary narratives. It covers a wide spectrum of themes such as landscape, partition, World War, history, nationalism, violence and territoriality, memory and identity. The book looks at works in English and vernacular from Northeast India states. It contextualizes developments within intellectual history and display aspects that relate to the continuing force in the ongoing study of the relationship between literature and culture studies, within a broader framework.
This collection casts the spotlight on Asia and its place in global studies on trauma to explore the ways in which violence and trauma are (re)enacted, (re)presented, (re)imagined, reconciled, and consumed through various mediums in the region. The discussions revolve around the ethics of representing and discussing trauma as we negotiate the tensions between trauma and political, historical, literary, and cultural representations in written, visual, digital, and hybrid forms. It examines how perspectives about trauma are framed, perpetuated, and/or critiqued via theories and research methods, and how a constructive tension between theory, method, and experience is essential for critical discourse on the subject. It will discuss varied ways of understanding violence through multidisciplinary perspectives and comparative literature, explore the "violent psyches" of narratives and writings across different mediums and platforms, and engage with how violence and trauma continue to influence the telling and form of such narratives.
This book is the first to explore the rich archive of Shakespeare in Indian cinemas, including less familiar, Indian language cinemas to contribute to the assessment of the expanding repertoire of Shakespeare films worldwide. Essays cover mainstream and regional Indian cinemas such as the better known Tamil and Kannada, as well as the less familiar regions of the North Eastern states. The volume visits diverse filmic genres, starting from the earliest silent cinema, to diasporic films made for global audiences, television films, independent films, and documentaries, thus expanding the very notion of ‘Indian cinema’ while also looking at the different modalities of deploying Shakespeare s...
Contributed articles.
Parthajit Baruah’s well-researched book explores Aribam Syam Sharma’s remarkable cinematic journey, examining his aesthetics and profound engagement with Manipuri culture, customs, and history. Over five decades, Pabung Aribam, widely regarded as the Jewel of Manipuri Cinema, has left an indelible mark on both regional and national filmmaking through his fifteen feature films, thirty-one non-features, and musical contributions to twenty-five films, which have won him fifteen national awards and several international honours. The book traces the evolution of Manipuri cinema, offers insight into his formative years, and documents his rise as a pioneering filmmaker, while also addressing the marginalisation of Pabung Aribam in broader national narratives. Enriched with film stills, working photographs, and an in-depth interview, the book pays tribute to his legacy. It also discusses the importance of regional storytelling and the challenges faced by filmmakers from marginalised regions of Northeast India.
Over four decades and more, Adoor Gopalakrishnan has turned out eleven films of great artistic merit and integrity - all of which use the universal language of human emotions and human psychology to tell the tales of ordinary people tackling life's tribulations.Face-to-Face is a critical introduction to the aesthetics of Adoor's cinema, his development as a film-maker, and his engagement with the culture, customs and history of Kerala. It is also a primer to his films, interpreting each thematically and stylistically, throwing light upon his unique way of representing his thematic concerns. Parthajit Baruah's well-researched narrative is a welcome addition to the literature on one of India's greatest film-makers.
Jyotiprasad Agarwala's remarkable journey forms the foundation of this book, written by Parthajit Baruah, which re-examines the accepted history of Indian cinema. Long before Alam Ara's celebrated debut, Jyotiprasad foresaw a groundbreaking Assamese talkie, The Dance of Art (1930), inspired by his exposure at Germany's UFA studios. Through meticulous research and evocative storytelling, Baruah reveals how Jyotiprasad's creative drive and commitment to Assamese culture confronted formidable obstacles, technological, financial, and institutional. Despite these setbacks, Jyotiprasad's later success with Joymoti marked the dawn of sound cinema in the North-East and showed the power of regional storytelling. This book challenges the mainstream narrative by showing Jyotiprasad's crucial yet underrecognized role. Baruah urges readers to appreciate the mosaic of regional innovations that underpin Indian cinema. Jyotiprasad's story is not only a tribute to one of India's earliest film pioneers but also is a highlight to the broader, richer history of Indian filmmaking.