CCN213 | Cinema and Nation in India: Exploring Identity, Politics, and Cultural Transformations

This course aims to explore the fascinating relationship between cinema and the concept of nationhood in India. Through an interdisciplinary approach and critical examination of the cinematic medium, it will provide students with an in-depth understanding of the unique form of Indian cinema, its role in shaping the Indian state, and constructing notions of Indianness-reflecting social and political changes, and contributing to cultural transformations in the popular imagination. Through a wide range of films and critical theories, we will analyse diverse identities such as rural-urban dynamics, secular-religious tensions, gender dynamics, and caste hierarchies and develop a critical framework to comprehend the state of contemporary India and its changing social fabric.