Muslim Identity in Hindi Cinema
Poetics and Politics of Genre and Representation
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publishing:4th Feb '25
£145.00
This title is due to be published on 4th February, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This book examines the representation of Muslim identity in Hindi films by focusing on different aspects of Muslim identity - historical, cultural, and linguistic - and their realisation in cinematic form.
The book assesses the changing perceptions of Muslim identity, beginning from the historical films of the 1940s to the more recent films which often address the current stereotypical notions of Muslim identity in the post-9/11 world and in particular, analyses films which treat the problematic of "global Muslim identity". It argues that genre, language, and various sign systems create understandings and mediate notions of identity. Offering a close reading of films belonging to different genres - Muslim social, action thriller, gangster, biopic, and many others - the book interrogates concepts of social diversity, tokenism, marginality, and their reflection and consolidation in Hindi films. It critically looks at the representation of Muslim women characters and the politics of interfaith romances in many films. The book also reads many films which probe Partition violence, communal riots and the international discourse on terror. It also touches on the evolution of the language of Hindi films and its role in creating a lingua franca uniting diverse and variegated groups of people in India. Drawing insights from new critical close reading, deconstruction, semiotic and discourse analysis, the book also offers a close reading of a few films in each chapter, which offer important insights into Hindi cinema.
This book offers a unique and comprehensive analysis of the political and representational aspects of Hindi cinema, portrayal of Muslims in popular arts, and the debates and politics over the use of Hindustani in India and its identification with religious and communitarian identity. It will be of interest to researchers studying world cinema, Hindi cinema, sociology and Asian studies.
"This remarkable book combines encyclopaedic scholarship and a subtle critical sensibility to produce a milestone study of Hindi cinema. Focusing on the numerous forms and functions of Muslimness in Hindi popular cinema, Siddiqui offers remarkable insights into Partition, into the diacritics of cinematic otherness, and the unparalleled importance of Urdu in Hindi cinema. This book should be compulsory reading for students of Indian cinema, of Partition, of Urdu and of Muslim identity in India."
- Arjun Appadurai, Professor Emeritus, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University, U.S.A.
"Asim Siddiqui’s Muslim Identity in Hindi Cinema: Poetics and Politics of Genre and Representation is an elegantly written and comprehensive book on the portrayal of Muslims in Hindi cinema, especially timely because of the increasing levels of religious conflict witnessed in the public space that Hindi cinema had worked against."
- M.K.Raghavendra, Film scholar and critic
"Like any minority, Muslims in India are sensitive and vulnerable. They are an active film going audience too. Their pride of possession is their language - Urdu, full of romance and humour and thus part of a culture of joie d’ vivre of many pockets in India. Asim Siddiqui’s book is an academic and cultural analysis of Bollywood where Muslims are an audience or an ingredient of the masala content, either present with a change of name for acceptance or obvious by their absence, violent or peace loving, faithful or untrustworthy. The book takes you on an uneasy path of belonging to the minority when an unnatural conflict with the majority is gaining momentum."
- Muzaffar Ali, Filmmaker and artist
"Bringing his encyclopaedic viewing of Hindi cinema together with an elegant intellectual apparatus, Mohammad Asim Siddiqui has written an important book on a timely subject. If popular cinema is a bellwether of public opinion, Bollywood's treatment of minorities reveals much about the state of our psyche."
- Jerry Pinto, Poet, novelist and film scholar
"This book is a reality check on the 2nd largest Muslim population in the world. A mirror on the minuscule representation of the plight of the Indian Muslims in the world’s largest and biggest film industry."
- M.K.Raina, Theatre actor and director
ISBN: 9781032268477
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 500g
172 pages