Persistence of the Community: On a Tendency in Indian Cinema

ConTrust Research seminar “India as Method: Challenges and Perspectives in the Study of Media and Politics in Contemporary South Asia”

With Moinak Biswas

It was commonly believed that with the development of modern forms, Indian cinema will present a fuller notion of the individual. We have had reasons to question that equation between modernity and individualization. This talk will address the recent phenomenon of Indian regional films where serious content is treated in relation to locality and collective life, and trace the tendency back to the work of early masters of Indian art cinema. It would like to explore the nature of contemplation where individual-centric plots are missing.

Moinak Biswas is Professor of Film Studies at Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He also makes films.

Presented by:
Graduate Research Training Group “Configurations of Film”, Institute for Theatre, Film and Media Studies (TFM) at Goethe University and Research Initiative “ConTrust: Trust in Conflict – Political Life under Conditions of Uncertainty” at the Research Centre Normative Orders