Seduced by the Familiar

The Hindi film industry has come to represent 'India' in the world today. Drawing from this 'globalization' of 'Bollywood', Seduced by the Familiar is a contemporary take on Indian cinema as represented by Hindi films. The author, M.K. Raghavendra, an award-winning film critic and scholar, makes a case for the 'surface' reading of Hindi films, in contrast to the rather disparaging view that critics, and sometimes practitioners, have traditionally taken of 'popular' cinema. The book traces the main themes of Hindi cinema chronologically from before 1947 up to contemporary times. Beginning with 'primitive cinema' such as Raja Harishchandra (1913), Raghavendra traces the trajectory of Hindi cinema from Baazi (1951) to Mother India (1957), Yaadon ki Baarat (1973), Sholay (1975), Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), and Hum Aapke Hain Koun! (1994), right on till the recent Kabhi Alvida na Kehna (2006). He studies the thematic continuities, myths, archetypes, and formal structures of this body of cinema and analyses the legitimacy and enduring popularity of Hindi cinema vis-a-vis the history of the Indian nation. In addition, Seduced by the Familiar includes an Introduction specifying the book's theoretical underpinnings, and a detailed chapter on narrative forms and conventions in Hindi cinema such as melodrama. Providing a lucid and sympathetic view of Hindi 'popular' cinema, Seduced by the Familiar is an accessible study that will interest students and researchers of cultural and film studies, sociology, and history, as well as general readers interested in the phenomenon of 'Bollywood'.