ABSTRACT
This chapter intends to concentrate on the lack of a global history signifying the unlocatedness and exceptionalism of Indian cinema. It addresses film history's potential in overcoming this lack. It demonstrates how a global history of Indian cinema might be conceived, with a consideration of the various modes of association and negotiation between the Global North and the Global South. A global history of a “national cinema” should not remain confined to the history of its circulation, overseas exhibition and reception alone. Instead, it needs to take into account cinema's European origin, its global travels and the multimodal histories of regional-local industries in the postimperial locations in the South where the policies of the British Empire played a significant role in the dissemination of cinema. Cinema's complex use of the Global South as a location/space with significant connotations should also be considered, especially since several auteurs from Europe and Latin America engaged with the spatial politics of India after independence. The advent of transnational cinema as a method should ideally result in a more nuanced reading of cinema's reception in southern locations, something which this chapter will briefly address.
