The Rise of New Indian Indies: Torchbearers of an Indian Cinema Revolution Seminar

Abstract

Drawing from themes broached in India’s New Independent Cinema: Rise of the Hybrid (Routledge, 2016) and Indian Cinema Beyond Bollywood: The New Independent Cinema Revolution (Routledge, out on 31st Oct 2018) – the first monograph and edited volume on the topic, this presentation will engage with a vibrant wave of new independent films that is transforming the canvas of Indian cinema. So far, Bollywood’s towering presence has cast its pre-eminent shadow over the diversity of Indian cinemas. With hard-hitting, experimental, socially-conscious, politically-disputatious and internationally-acclaimed storylines, India’s new Indies have burgeoned as a bona fide cinema form distinct from Bollywood. The Indies’ diversity is emphasised by their engagement with multiple ‘state of the nation’ stories. They dive headlong into a cornucopia of often controversial current affairs – topical themes and discursive issues that span LGBTQ and human rights, female empowerment, religion-based politics, caste divisions and neoliberal superstructures. The new Indies are glocal – global in their universal visual aesthetic but firmly rooted in local Indian thematic content. This presentation will also demonstrate how the new Indies are now a mainstay of modern Indian cinema programming on the international film festival circuit. Using illustrative clips from seminal Indian Indie films, the talk will validate the aforementioned book titles’ location of new independent films as the torchbearers of Indian cinema’s future trajectory.