Evacuee Cinema: Bombay and Lahore in Partition Transit, 1940-1960

This book explores the history of partition and South Asian cinema through the careers of émigré film personnel, genres, and ancillary ventures. It suggests that the creative energies, production, and circulation of popular cinema can offer fresh insights into partition, pointing to regional connections across national boundaries. The leitmotifs of émigré personnel, gossip and satire, partisan repertoire, film genres, and film archives reveal the parallaxes and confabulations of the national on both sides.

Format: Hardback
Length: 276 pages
Publication date: 16 February 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

This new history of partition and South Asian cinema is intricately woven through the narratives of émigré film personnel, alongside the unique genres and ancillary ventures that emerged in the wake of the partition. By transcending mere discussions of social contingency and political intent, the book proposes that the creative energies, production, and subsequent circulation of popular cinema hold the potential to provide fresh perspectives on the partition. It highlights the regional connections that transcend national boundaries, emphasizing the need to explore the cinemas of India and Pakistan in tandem to uncover the enduring legacy of partition for the culture industries of the region. This legacy, contrary to national erasures, is multifaceted and multifaceted. When examined through the lens of divisive decolonization, the leitmotifs of émigré personnel, gossip and satire in film print culture, the partisan repertoire of a theatre company, the film genres of Muslim social, romantic comedies, and charba (remakes), and the unruly film archives of postcolonial nation-states, all reveal the intricate parallaxes and confabulations of the national on both sides.

Weight: 440g
Dimension: 236 x 162 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781009151207