Understanding Indian Movies THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Cognitive Approaches to Literature and Culture Series Edited by Frederick Luis Aldama, Arturo J. Aldama, and Patrick Colm Hogan Cognitive Approaches to Literature and Culture includes monographs and edited volumes that incorporate cutting edge research in cognitive science, neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, narrative theory, and related fields, insofar as this research bears on and illuminates cultural phenomena such as literature, film, drama, music, dance, visual art, digital media, and comics, among others. The volumes published in this series represent both specialized scholarship and interdisciplinary investigation that are deeply sensitive to cultural particularities, but as grounded in an understanding of cross-culturally shared emotive and cognitive principles. Understanding Indian Movies Culture, Cognition, and Cinematic Imagination patrick colm hogan University of Texas Press Austin Copyright © 2008 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2008 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to: Permissions University of Texas Press P.O. Box 7819 Austin, TX 78713-7819 www.utexas.edu/utpress/about/bpermission.html ♾ The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso Z39.48- 1992 (r1997) (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hogan, Patrick Colm. Understanding Indian movies : culture, cognition, and cinematic imagination / Patrick Colm Hogan. — 1st ed. p. cm. — (Cognitive approaches to literature and culture series) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-292-71786-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Motion pictures—India. I. Title. II. Series. pn1993.5.i8h64 2008 791.430954—dc22 2007042909 For Grinder (Hogie) and Tina Vanu and Lovely Api and Lily THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Contents Acknowledgments xi Introduction Indian Movies and the People Who Love Them: Universality and Cultural Particularity in the Cinema 1 Chapter One From Mythical Romances to Historical Sacrifices: Universal Stories in South Asia (Ardhangini, Baaz, and The Terrorist) 14 Chapter Two The Film and the World: Global Themes, Local Movies (Nishānt and Sholay) 72 Chapter Three Once More, with Feeling: Human Emotions and Cultural Imagination (Mother India, Bandit Queen, and Shree 420) 100 Chapter Four “So, What’s the Deal with All the Singing?”: The Cognitive Universality of the Hindi Musical (Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham . . .) 160 Chapter Five Seeing Indian Style: The Brain and Its Visual Culture (Umrao Jaan and Fire) 194 Afterword On Watching Indian Movies 250 Notes 259 Bibliography 265 Index 281