ABSTRACT
India is a country in which the institution of cinema has dominated popular culture for 80 years. The products of the film industry – both the films themselves and the star system they have created – have constituted an important component of national debates on major social and political issues since colonial times. Filmmakers have always needed to address the preoccupations circulating in Indian public culture. As a result, few topics of conversation produce as much commentary on contemporary society from Indian citizens as do debates on popular films. Arguably, this is why India is one of the very few countries in the world where audiences have demonstrated a clear preference for both locally-and nationallyproduced films, and where the issue of foreign film imports as a form of cultural colonisation has been a relatively minor issue. It is equally important to note that Indian film culture is constituted as a multi-media industry. Popular music in India has long been an intrinsic component of the film industry, and other forms of popular culture, such as magazines, fashion and, more recently, television, are also closely referential to film culture. By Western definitions, film in India is neither a singular industry, nor simply one format of popular culture – it is popular culture. It occupies a prime location at the centre of a multidimensional entertainment industry. This is what perpetuates the capacity of the film industry to make an enormous impact on the discursive fields of Indian society.
