interview
Bollywood's Transition From Socialism To Liberal Ideas
2020
Summary
Nimish Adhia reads Bollywood films as a barometer of India's ideological evolution. In the cinema of the 1950s and 1960s, he argues, self-sacrifice was a recurring and celebrated theme: in Mother India the heroine sacrifices endlessly, even killing her own son to protect her village's honour, and in Upkar (1967), released amid a food shortage, the film blames greedy farmers, traders and moneylenders and calls on them to work selflessly for the state rather than their own benefit.
By the 1980s and 1990s, Adhia says, this valorisation of self-sacrifice disappears. Films instead depict individuals rebelling against the demands of family and community, often by insisting on marrying the person they love, as in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. Characters also engage in conspicuous consumption, with wealth openly flaunted; in the films of Karan Johar and others, flaunting money becomes almost a prerequisite for being a hero. Adhia presents these two eras as the polar ends of an ideological shift from socialism toward liberal, individualist values.
Key points
- In 1950s-60s Hindi cinema, self-sacrifice was a recurring and valorised theme.
- In Mother India the heroine sacrifices to the point of killing her own son to save her village's honour.
- Upkar (1967) blamed greedy farmers, traders and moneylenders for food shortages and urged selfless obedience to the state.
- From the 1980s onward films instead show individuals rebelling against family and community demands.
- This rebellion often takes the form of young lovers insisting on marrying whom they choose, as in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak.
- Later films validate individual desire and depict conspicuous consumption and flaunted wealth.
- In films such as those of Karan Johar, flaunting money becomes almost a prerequisite for being a hero.
- Adhia treats these two eras as the polar ends of an ideological shift from socialism toward liberal individualism.
Transcript
Bollywood’s Transition From Socialism To Liberal Ideas
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjOeWZwB930 Duration: 314.4s
Speaker 1 (00:00): So in the movies of the 1950s and the 1960s, self-sacrifice is a recurring theme in these movies. So if you think of films such as Mother India, Upkar, as the name suggests, okay, self-sacrifice is valorized. In the film Mother India, the character of Nurgis, is always sacrificing, sacrificing, sacrificing, to the extent that she even kills her own son to save the honor of her village. And then she’s valorized as Mother India.
Speaker 2 (00:42): In Upkar, the film that was released in 1967,
Speaker 3 (00:47): in the middle of a food shortage that India experienced, and they explicitly talk about things like,
Speaker 1 (00:54): why is India experiencing food shortage? And the answer given by the film is, It’s because our farmers and our traders and our money lenders are very greedy. All they care about is their own benefit. If they worked selflessly instead and did what the state was telling them to do, then we wouldn’t have this problem of food shortages. So once again, what is called for is self-sacrifice. Okay. bob bob
Speaker (01:38):
Speaker 1 (01:38): The Dienst Dienst Dienst
Speaker 4 (01:42): The Dienst Dienst
Speaker (01:47):
Speaker 3 (01:47): Hersa
Speaker 4 (01:49): Hersa Hersa
Speaker (01:56):
Speaker 1 (02:17): You don’t see such valorizing of self-sacrifice in films in the 1980s and the 1990s. Instead, you see people rebelling against demands of their community, of their families.
Speaker 3 (02:48): Such rebellion often takes the form of falling in love and wanting to marry the person you want to marry.
Speaker 1 (02:55): And you see a spate of many such films in which the young lovers rebel against the wishes of the community, their family, their parents, and ultimately prevail. okay so they’re they’re a fight for their individual desires is being validated in the films and you see that in films starting you know even before like menepiarkia kiamat se kiamat thak in which young people are rebelling against the impositions of the larger community, their families. You also see people engaging in conspicuous consumption.
Speaker 3 (03:45): A lot of wealth is being shown off in these films.
Speaker 1 (03:49): Of course, the famous Karan Johar films. But even the small films, people live very lavishly. It is no longer considered shameful to have money and to flaunt it. In fact, it seems to be kind of the prerequisite to being considered a hero, is that you have a lot of wealth and you flaunt it.
Speaker (04:26): Thank you.
Speaker 3 (04:56): So I think these are examples of films that reflect the two polar ends of the ideological
Speaker 2 (05:11): change that I have been talking about.
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