Understanding Bollywood : The Grammar of Hindi Cinema, Paperback by Anjaria, Ulka, ISBN 0367265443, ISBN-13 9780367265441, Brand New, Free shipping in the US

"This book offers an introduction to popular Hindi cinema, a genre that has a massive fan base but is often misunderstood by critics, providing insight on topics of political and social significance. Arguing that Bollywood films are not realist representations of society or expressions of conservative ideology but mediated texts that need to be read for their formulaic and melodramatic qualities and for their pleasurable features like bright costumes, catchy music and sophisticated choreography, thinterprets Bollywood films as complex accounts of the state of the nation that push the boundaries of normative gender and sexuality. Th provides a careful account of Bollywood's constitutive components: its moral structure, its different forms of love, its use of song and dance, its visual style and its embrace of cinephilia. Arguing that these five elements form the core of Bollywood cinema, th investigates a range of films from 1947 to the present in order to show how films use and innovate on formulaic structures to tell a wide range of stories that reflect changing times. Th ends with some considerations on recent changes in Bollywood cinema, suggesting that despite globalization, the future of Bollywood remains promising. By presenting Bollywood cinema through an interdisciplinary lens, th reaches beyond film studies departments and will be useful for those teaching and studying Bollywood in English, sociology, anthropology, Asian Studies and cultural studies classes"--