Sirens of Modernity: World Cinema via Bombay

Bombay films from the 1960s were popular worldwide, combining romance, music, and spectacle. Samhita Sunya's history of Hindi cinema during this period historicizes world cinema as a category of cinematic diplomacy formed in the Cold War. It explores the transnational circuits of popular Hindi films, European art cinema, and Hollywood abroad, offering a novel map for excavating the historical and ethical stakes of world cinema and world-making via Bombay.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 270 pages
Publication date: 26 July 2022
Publisher: University of California Press

Hindi-language films from Bombay, known for their song-dance elements, gained immense popularity in the 1960s, attracting diverse audiences across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Indian Ocean world. These films, often dismissed as noisy and nonsensical, captivated viewers with their romantic, musical, and spectacular appeal. In her richly documented history of Hindi cinema during the long 1960s, Samhita Sunya historicizes the emergence of world cinema as a category of cinematic diplomacy that emerged during the Cold War era. This history is intertwined with the transnational circuits of popular Hindi films, the flourishing of European art cinema, and the Cold War-era forays of Hollywood abroad. By tracing archival leads and arguments within commercial Hindi films that appear to be odd cases, such as flops, remakes, low-budget comedies, and prestige productions, this book provides a novel map for exploring the historical and ethical stakes of world cinema and world-making through Bombay.

Weight: 318g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520379534