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Review of Censorium: Cinemaand the Open Edge of MassPublicity AND Bollywood:Gods, Glamour and GossipRohit K. DasguptaPublished online: 14 Feb 2014.

To cite this article: Rohit K. Dasgupta (2014) Review of Censorium: Cinema andthe Open Edge of Mass Publicity AND Bollywood: Gods, Glamour and Gossip, AsianAffairs, 45:1, 165-167, DOI: 10.1080/03068374.2014.874770

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2014.874770

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William Mazzarella. Censorium: Cinema and the Open Edge of MassPublicity. Duke University Press, Durham, NC, 2013. pp. ix + 284.Notes. Bibliog. Refs. Index. Pb. £16.99. ISBN 9 7808 2235 3881

Kush Varia. Bollywood: Gods, Glamour and Gossip. Columbia Uni-versity Press, New York, 2012. pp. 126. Illust. Notes. Filmography.Bibliog. Index. Pb. £14. ISBN 9 7819 0666 0154

Indian cinema is fast becoming an increasing presence in the globalimagination. More recently it has also been the subject of wide academicscholarship, which reflects the shift of Indian cinema studies from theperiphery to the centre. In this review, I look at two recent bookswhich have in their own ways furthered the scholarship within the disci-pline and also make a notable contribution to the field.

The first book under consideration is William Mazzarella’s Censor-ium: Cinema and the Open Edge of Mass Publicity. Mazzarellaneeds no introduction to scholars of cinema and media studies. Thisbook, which lies at the intersection of anthropology and mediastudies, is a path-breaking analysis of censorship in the Indian filmindustry. The author notes that censorship has become a “burningtopic of public controversy in India”. In order to understand thismoment, the author examines the colonial origins of Indian cinemaand its continuity up to its present form. The book is, however, notstructured chronologically but rather thematically, making it easierto follow the arguments.

Mazzarella notes that liberal critics argue that censorship has no placewithin a democratic society since it impedes free speech. In a countrylike India, freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed underArticle 19 (1) (a) but is also limited under Article 19 (2), allowing thegovernment to restrict this right. For Mazzarella, film censorship is a dis-ciplinary technology that “proliferates normalised understandings ofsubjectivity, sexuality and citizenship” (pp. 23–24)

Mazzarella further argues that film censorship occurs within a space thatis classed, raced and gendered, making the subaltern groups “bear theburden of responsibility” for the provocation of cinema that censorshipaims to control. He suggests that this focus of censorship on certainimages and particular audiences makes it problematic as it confrontsand acknowledges the relationship between mass affect and collectivemeaning.

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Censorship is at its very core a system of exclusion. The author con-tends that justification of censorship occurs on the claim that certainimages are provocative with affective potentiality which heightens asense of danger and “emergency”. The book closely analyses the his-torical (colonial) understanding of obscenity and its modern ramifica-tions. Using specific examples of legal cases, popular events in massculture (such as the debates around the films Fire and Bombay) andthe censor board in India, the author strings together a fascinatingnarrative. The book makes an important contribution to the historyand culture of India within the specifics of film and media historyand would be a remarkable guide for advanced scholars of SouthAsia.

The second book, Kush Varia’s Bollywood: Gods, Glamour andGossip, by sharp contrast, presents an introductory guide to ‘Bolly-wood’ (Indian popular cinema in the Hindi language). It is primarilyan introductory guide to Indian popular cinema for media andcinema scholars who are interested in this area of film studies. Goodtextbooks on Indian cinema are hard to find and this book comesafter almost 15 years since K. Moti Gokulsing and Wimal Dissa-nayake’s best-seller Indian Popular Cinema: A Narrative of CulturalChange. Unlike Gokulsing and Dissanayake’s books (including themore recent From Aan to Lagaan and Beyond: A Guide to the Studyof Indian Cinema), which concern themselves with pedagogicaltools, this book’s strength lies in its concise arguments and casestudies. Varia surveys a wide range of films, ranging from the classicssuch as Mother India and Sholay (Embers) to more recent films such asDilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (Winner Takes the Bride) and Dostana(Friendship).

Different chapters in the book explore the history of the industry, narra-tive and genres as well as audiences and fan cultures. For people who arealready knowledgeable about the genre (if one can call ‘Bollywood’ agenre), the book may offer nothing new; but, for the newcomer, thebook is a near perfect introduction. One of the only issues I had withit was the absence of English translations for the film names. For aWestern readership, this might be a sore point.

In summary, Varia’s book provides an important overview of ‘Bolly-wood’ for students and lay readers. Mazzarella’s book, on the otherhand, provides a robust account of censorship debates in India and

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makes a very important contribution to not just Film Studies but alsoanthropology, politics and popular culture in India.

ROHIT K. DASGUPTA # 2014http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2014.874770

K. Moti Gokulsing & Wimal Dissanayake (eds). Routledge Hand-book of Indian Cinemas. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon, 2013. pp. xv+ 471. Tables. Illust. Notes. Bibliog. Index. Hb. £140. ISBN 9 78041567 7745

The vast majority of critical work on Indian cinema has focused on itsmost popular Hindi films: those emerging from the Bombay industryand collectively known through the problematic colloquial name, ‘Bol-lywood’. It is perhaps to be expected, since Hindi cinema is influential inthe national public sphere, is known globally beyond a ‘natural’ diasporaaudience, and is increasingly viewed as having the function of ‘softpower’. The derivative name positions one industry as internationallyrelevant, diminishing the context of regional cinemas through which itis produced. The Routledge Handbook of Indian Cinemas is an importantintervention which begins to correct this bias. It brings the breadth ofregional Indian cinema into a parity of discussion and provokes ques-tions about the way in which one regional cinematic tradition – albeitone that brings diverse cultural and representational forms together –has come to occupy the status of national representation.

In one sense the book is reclaiming Indian cinema for Indian approachesas the editors argue that recent Indian scholarship has relied “too heavilyon western theories”. The point is not elaborated on, but the Handbookeschews abstracted critical theory and post-modernist textual analysis,and locates its mode of analysis within a wider intellectual culture of his-toricism and cultural materialism. This makes the discussion of cine-matic form and content accessible to both scholarly and generalreaders, though it does not oversimplify. Critical observations about the-matic shifts are meaningfully situated in historical, political contexts.The contextualisation, through Indian cinematic developments as wellas those in other parts of the globe, gives a strong sense of the diversityof influences on the continuity and success of specific industries.

The Handbook comprises four parts and five sections. The first part hastwo sections, beginning with two essays on ‘Historical Analysis’: a film

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