The course will explore, analyse and decode the specific languages of cinema of Bollywood or mainstream Hindi cinema within India and beyond. It will do so through various entry points into an analysis – namely through language and literature, through dance forms, through a diaspora lens or through its entanglements with central issues such as gender and identity.
Through these four parts the course will outline the evolution of Hindi cinema and how we can see cinema as prism to understand Indian society in its complexities and with changing socio-political contexts. For example, the course will investigate the relation of Indian and world literature to Bollywood and how Bollywood had been interpreting these texts in an Indian context. It will debate how gender has been portrayed in Bollywood cinema and how its sensitivity had been changing with Indian society and laws. Thus, the course offers students a comprehensive overview of Bollywood cinema and the languages employed.
The course will be using theories relevant to each part of the course such as Linguistic film theory by Stanley Cavem, queer theory etc. In the course methods like text analysis and comparative method will be employed. Besides theorizing and interpreting Bollywood cinema in a wider academic context, the course also offers students a first-hand experience of Bollywood dance through a workshop element. This element provides a platform to experience the rhythm of Bollywood.
Exam info and full course description can be found in the course catalogue.
Course specific:
To apply for the course you must either be enrolled in a bachelor's degree, have a bachelor's degree or have passed a qualifying entry examination.
General:
Exchange students: nomination from your home university
Freemovers: documentation for English Language proficiency
You can read more about admission here.
